Exploring the Effects of Transitioning from Technology Use to Non-Technology Activities in Young Children

Abstract

Over time, technology becomes more and more accessible to 2-5 year old children but 30 percent of parents are concerned about the impact technology has on their child. The amount of time children spend daily on screens can influence their social and emotional development. Understanding how children transition from being onscreen to offscreen is important to support development. The aims for this PhD are: 1. to understand and assess young children’s abilities to evaluate their experiences. 2. to understand how children transition from technology to non-technology. 3. to create new guidelines for apps to ease transitions in children. A set of studies will be completed across three phases: Exploratory; exploring children’s abilities to evaluate their experiences and surveying parents and teachers, Co-design; older children designing for younger children and Experimental; using the co-designs to create an intervention that will be tested on 2-5 year olds. Contributions will include guidelines for developers that benefit children and parents.