From television to Twitter and texting, it seems kids are always plugged-in to technology.A recent study says kids these days are spending more time with multi-media than they do at school.
Video games, cell phones, computers.
It seems these days kids are hooked on technology.
But is that good or bad?
Ten year old Kenan Young taught himself how to beat box from Youtube videos.
“I only watched this one simple one that I liked a lot that I played over and over again,” Kenan explained.
And video's on Youtube also taught him and his older brother Zachary to do this!
The lion dance, a huge part of their Chinese culture.
“This was their dream, this is what they wanted to do and they were able to do it without taking any lessons. This is what I like about it, the fact that they can learn,” said Zachary and Kenan’s mother, Michelle Johnson, with a smile.
But kids aren't just using technology to learn, it's for fun too.
“I play games everyday and train on the game every day,” said 14-year-old gamer Gabe Almajose. “Yeah I got addicted.”
“It matters whether or not our kids are using technology in good or bad ways.” Said Dr. Yiyuan Xu.
Dr. Xu is a professor at the University of Hawaii and studies children's development.
He points out that kids who are plugged in for hours can become isolated, depressed and face development problems.
“It is those heavy media users that received lower grades and also showed some adjustment problems,” Xu explained.
Gabe earns game time by keeping up his grades.
But some parents don't monitor their kids and technology becomes an electronic babysitter.
‘Now younger kids for instance may not understand that not everything they see or read online is real and the people they met online may not be who they say they are,” warned XU of the dangers of kids going online with no supervision.
It's a double edged sword but some say technology in the long run is good.
“I'm confident that the appropriate use of technology will make the kids learn better, become more creative, cognitive more active, etc.” said Dr. Xu.
