Will Using iPads in Schools Help or Hurt Children’s Social Skills?

iPads or tablets are some of the most unique pieces of tech. These devices bridge the gap between a small-sized smartphone and a 12+ inch laptop that is called 2-in-1 tablet laptop.  There are tons of best 2-in-1 tablet laptops that can act and work as both according to the user’s need. For years, researchers have been emphasizing the fact that the implementation of technology in schools and classrooms can greatly improve the education system. The traditional ways of teaching and learning are time taking and students take less interest in learning from books and cramming topics. However, through technologies like iPads in school, students can have an interactive lecture with their teachers where they will take more interest in learning new topics and concepts.

Giving iPads to students in classrooms is a great way to test how children interact with each other while studying. Children learn human expressions and interactions through interacting=interacting with other human beings around. Giving them their dedicated iPads can enhance their social skills. However, the risk of hurting a child’s social skills is more considering these iPads are addicting pieces of technology that now always provides users with great learning and interactive content. Let’s discuss how positively and negatively using iPads can affect children’s social skills:

How iPad’s Help in Children’s Social Skills:

A child’s social skills help them to communicate effectively with children around them. It is human nature to talk and communicate with other people around. All humans need to socialize to survive. Having a basic set of social skills is one of the most major parts of child development. Giving children iPads in schools can effectively help them to enhance their social and cognitive skills. Following are some ways in which iPads help children:

• Technology Brings Children Together:

Children these days love to use the latest technology. They grasp its concept fast and learn to manipulate these technologies more easily than middle-aged people or seniors.  Having this same appreciation for technology and iPads makes children share their experiences with other children. They feel comfortable sharing their feelings and discuss their favorite games, books, and other features. This like-mindedness draws children close to each other, hence enhancing their social skills.

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• Become more Interactive During Class:

Having iPads in class, children can learn more effectively. This will also give them the confidence to interact and socialize with their other class fellows and teachers. This method helps teachers to maintain a quality experience for all students where they are bound to interact with other children around.

• Language Improves:

As told earlier, children can greatly improve their social skills through iPads. For socializing language is key. Using an iPad and playing interactive games that practice basic language skills and interactive sessions with teachers can greatly improve children’s language skills. Children usually struggle to learn language and linguistics but having a digital gadget like iPads has made children geniuses of modern time.

• Recognize People Faces:

Using iPads during classrooms, children can capture photos and draw illustrations. Photos can help children remember their favorite moments of the class or they can take cute pictures with their friends. Moreover, through digital illustrations children can become more expressive through their creativity shown through colors and drawings.

How iPad’s Hurt Children’s Social Skills:

Yes, having an iPad in classrooms is a good thing and it helps greatly in developing good social skills but all this is only possible when proper guidance is given on how to use this tablet and how not to use it. Proper supervision of teachers or parents can make sure that children’s brain development does not get harmed. Following are some ways through which iPads can hurt children’s social skills:

• Children Become More Self-Involved:

In one study it was observed when a set of students were given iPads to play games and learn things, they all got so busy using the tablet. Only one of them wanted to play with the dolls while the others were sucked into the trap of the digital screen. The children these days are hooked to modern-day gadgets like iPads and smartphones. They get attached to it at such a rooted level that they do not care about their surroundings and rather than interacting with each other they spend more time staring at those digital screens playing games and solving puzzles.

• Excess Use Makes Children Irritated:

Yes, you read that right! The excess use of iPads can make children irritated and grumpy. Excess use of digital screen interferes with the person’s melatonin and serotonin hormones that are responsible for inducing sleep in humans. This rush of constantly playing games and not letting go of iPads can become a cause of an environment where children are always irritated. Having irritated behaviors will result in either bad or no social interactions at all. To develop a good set of social skills, interacting and socializing with others is important. Children cannot function properly when they are tired. Children need to complete their proper sleep cycles to get refreshed and socialize with the children around them.

• Huge Distraction:

iPads are also huge ways to get distracted. Giving iPads to students in schools will demand a great level of supervision. Children are naïve and very much attracted to modern-day technologies. More and more parents are already giving iPads to their children at home. Incorporating iPads in classrooms will come with great responsibility as teachers would have to make sure that children do not get distracted by surfing on their iPads. This distraction will cause them to interact less in class. Having iPads in schools is to enhance the socialization and interaction of students with each other. But as soon as students lose focus, they start to lose their social bonds with others too.

Conclusion:

Technologies like the iPad are great ways to enhance the education system of schools. These methods of teaching are developed just to only enhance the learning experiences of students. Children who get to use iPads in their classrooms are part of a great establishment where they are learning important concepts through new and better ways. Education helps children develop good social skills but the rising problems of iPad usage and its negative aspects, it is greatly hurting children’s social skills. The right implementation of iPads in school and classrooms can help draw students close to each other by discussing their favorite games and videos while on the other hand having no proper supervision of children while using iPads can greatly damage their social and cognitive skills.