Online Responses towards the Impact of Hand Held Devices on Children’s Social and Emotional Development

Abstract

This paper used responses from an online discussion forum to investigate people’s opinions towards the use of hand held devices for young children and their impact on children’s social and emotional development. Critical discourse analysis (CDA) was used as analysis methods in three-dimension framework via micro, meso and macro multi-level interpretations. Although online response showed different opinions towards the impact of hand held devices, all the 125 online responses agreed that young children should not overuse the devices, and they should have both technology time as well as non-technology time to meet development needs. Educators and parents, who are interested in the areas of whether or not young children should be exposed to and use hand held devices, will find this paper useful.