How technology affects the development of attention in children

The ability to pay attention and concentrate is a developmental achievement which requires certain environmental conditions. Without those conditions, concentration and attentional regulation skills do not properly develop, and this can lead to all sorts of mental health issues in adolescents and adults. 

Studies show that the interactions between caregivers and children affect the duration of, and ability for, sustained attention (Yarrow et al., 1982). Clearly, the ability for caregivers to be responsive to their children's play efforts, their bids for attention and their emotional state is a central feature of the healthy development of a child’s capacity for concentration and attention. 

Thus it is alarming to see the trends in technology use amongst caregivers in the presence of their children. What may seem innocuous to some, attending to our phones instead of our children, may have far-reaching consequences. 

The rapid rise in technology use has radically changed the development of attentional skills. Most homes are saturated with media and technology, and it is worth considering both the positive and negative effects of this social shift. Things which contribute to mindlessness and difficulty paying attention include multiple tracks of streaming news, frequent pop ups, high frequency of multi-tasking, high multimedia exposure and certain video games.

Fortunately, there are ways of training and developing attentional skills in both adults and children. A particular type of meditation, concentration meditation, is effective for developing this capacity. Concentration meditation simply involves sustaining attention on a selected object, detecting mind-wandering, and disengaging from distractions, bringing the mind back to the selected object. Concentration, once developed, is generalizable to many aspects of life and helps people to reduce the amount of distractibility and reactivity in their lives.

Sources

Yarrow, L. J., Morgan, G. A., Jennings, K. D., Harmon, R. J., & Gaiter, J. L. (1982). Infants' persistence at tasks: Relationships to cognitive functioning and early experience. Infant Behavior and Development, 5(2-4), 131-141. Chicago