# Mini Essay

S #維哲
As the techniques of mobile media devices (MMDs) such as smartphones and electronic tablets have developed, not only the populations of adults but pre-school-aged children users rapidly increase. A study in America revealed that almost 75% of children aged eight and under can access those devices at home, and that proportion is expected to continue growing (Rideout, 2011). This phenomenon results from MMDs making the Internet more accessible and providing more learning opportunities and leisure activities, thus presently becoming a necessity in children’s daily life. However, the potential negative consequences associated with MMDs overuse also come to the surface. Overuse of MMDs is considered to be spending excessive time on those devices or replacing their real relationships with the virtual world. As the severe side effects derived from overusing MMDs on children’s ophthalmological diseases, the Taiwan Ministry of Health and Welfare recommends that children under 6-year-old should not use MMDs over one hour per day（黃 2022）. Other than ophthalmic symptoms, Children suffering from MMDs overuse problems tend to have poor emotional management and disconnect from actual interaction with people (Park and Park, 2021). As a result, the importance of how to let children use MMDs appropriately can not be overemphasized.

REF.
Rideout, V. (2011). Zero to eight: children’s media use in America. Common Sense Media.
Park JH, Park M. (2021). Smartphone use patterns and problematic smartphone use among preschool children. PLoS One.

黃皓筠 (2022)。調查：家長育兒仰賴「3C保母」，台灣幼兒使用3C比率超過9成，3歲每天盯螢幕逾2小時。關鍵評論，取自
https://www.thenewslens.com/article/164912

荃伊 p1 physiological health
The first problem is physiological health. Physiological health means the health of the body's functions.According to merican Academy of Pediatrics (AAP, 2011), overusing MMD by children caused the negative effects, such as myopia(近視), attention deficit, and impaired construction of three dimension visual spatial perception. Furthermore, Lin et al. (2017) have reported that children who used MMD experienced significant decreases in fine motor precision, fine motor integration, and manual dexterity.

ref.
American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). (2011). Children, adolescents, obesity, and the media. Pediatrics, 128(1), 201–208.

Lin, L. Y., Cherng, R. J., & Chen, Y. J. (2017). Effect of touch screen tablet use on fine motor development of young children. Physical & Occupational Therapy in Pediatrics, 37(5), 457–467.

(感謝家蓉提供的 paper :heart: )

敬翔 p2 cognitive development
The second problem is the lack of development in cognitive functions. The research (Portugal et al 2021) points out that it is critical for children to learn to control themselves, and ignore outside interference. Yet, with the increasing overuse of MMDs, children nowadays tend to be more easily distracted and unconcentrated. Furthermore, since many apps are elaborately designed to be intuitive, this might result in difficulties of deep thinking for children.

p3 social interaction
p3+s3_家蓉 (R11429002)
Another issue raising from overusing of MMDs is the problem of developing appropriate social skills. Social skills are the competence for interacting and communicating with others, including verbal, nonverbal, comprehension and adaptation. One research showed that more usage of MMDs caused fewer expressions of positive emotions (Lee 2017). Overusing MMDs also impedes the development of verbal expression. One case study discovered that a child with screen dependency showed significant lag in oral communication and social-emotional competency behind her peers (Liao 2021). What’s more, another study found that children’s screen time was an important factor affecting language development (Lu, 2020). These social interaction problems are caused by overusing of MMDs.

李佩芬 (2017)。中部地區幼兒3C產品使用情形與正負向情緒表現之相關研究。國立台中教育大學碩士論文，臺中。取自https://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/cgi-bin/gs32/gsweb.cgi/login?o=dnclcdr&s=id=%22106NTCT1094002%22.&searchmode=basic
廖珮君 (2021)。學齡前超時使用電子螢幕產品的個案研究：幼兒園和國小一年級的社會適應。國立台中教育大學碩士論文，臺中。取自https://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/cgi-bin/gs32/gsweb.cgi/login?o=dnclcdr&s=id=%22109NTCT1094011%22.&searchmode=basic
盧姿伶 (2020)。中部地區幼兒3C產品使用情形與其語言理解及表達之相關研究。國立台中教育大學碩士論文，臺中。取自https://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/cgi-bin/gs32/gsweb.cgi/login?o=dnclcdr&s=id=%22108NTCT1094011%22.&searchmode=basic

*P*
This situation contributes to problems in three perspectives. The first problem is the negtive effect on physiological health. Physiological health refer to the health of the body’s functions. According to American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP, 2011), overusing MMD by children caused the negative effects, such as myopia, attention deficit, and impaired construction of three dimension visual spatial perception. Furthermore, Lin et al. (2017) reported that children who used MMD experienced significant decreases in fine motor precision, fine motor integration, and manual dexterity. The second problem is the lack of development in cognitive function. The research (Portugal et al 2021) indicated that controlling oneself and ignoring outside interference are important for children, as these skills are critical to their development in learning. Yet, with the increasing overuse of MMDs, children nowadays tend to be more easily distracted and unconcentrated. Furthermore, since many apps are elaborately designed to be intuitive, this might result in difficulties of deep thinking for children. The third problem raising from overusing of MMDs is the issue of developing appropriate social skills. Social skills are the competence for interacting and communicating with others, including verbal, nonverbal, comprehension and adaptation. One research showed that more usage of MMDs caused fewer expressions of positive emotions (Lee 2017). Overusing MMDs also impedes the development of verbal expression. One case study discovered that a child with screen dependency showed significant lag in oral communication and social-emotional competency behind her peers (Liao 2021). What’s more, another study found that children’s screen time was an important factor affecting language development (Lu, 2020). These social interaction problems are caused by overusing of MMDs.

*S*
There are three suggested ways to alleviate these problems results from overusing MMDs. First, parents should establish the concept of proper use of MMDs for their children rather than relying on MMDs as parenting strategy. Also, parents need to set reasonable time for screen use to minimize the risk of physiological harm. Second, parents should spend time on other activities with their children. With caregivers' company, children could do some activities, such as reading (黃 2022), to cultivate their concentration and to promote active thinking. Third, parents should encourage their children to participate more in outdoor acitivities and reconnect with peers. Outdoor activities provide a natural and collaborative social enviroment for preschoolers to interact with others and learn appropriate social skills (Shirley Wyver 2019). These methods are feasible and helpful to decrease the negative impacts stemmed from overusing MMDs.

~~First, parents should give a lead to decrease the use time of MMDs. The correlation between parents’ and preschoolers’ MMDs use frequency and time was significant (Wang 2018). Second, parents could smartly using interactive technology teaching materials as a medium to effectively boosts the motivation and effectiveness of language learning in preschoolers (Chuo and Yang 2018). Taking advantage of the characteristics of technique, MMD may be a good tool and bring positive effects for preschool children to learn appropriate social skills.~~

參考文獻

~~王譽樺 (2018)。中部地區家長和幼兒3C產品使用情形與幼兒專注力表現之相關研究。國立台中教育大學碩士論文，臺中。取自https://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/cgi-bin/gs32/gsweb.cgi/login?o=dnclcdr&s=id=%22106NTCT1094020%22.&searchmode=basic
Chuo, M-H., & Yang, C-T. (2018). Children's language learning motivation and achievement by using innovation interactive technology teaching materials - A case study. James and Cobanoglu: Proceedings of the Global Conference on Education and Research, 2, 220-221.~~
Wyver S. The Influence of Outdoor Play on Social and Cognitive Development. In: Tremblay RE, Boivin M, Peters RDeV, eds. Brussoni M, topic ed. Encyclopedia on Early Childhood Development [online]. https://www.child-encyclopedia.com/outdoor-play/according-experts/influence-outdoor-play-social-and-cognitive-development. Published: May 2019. Accessed October 20, 2022.

宇軒 conclusion
In conclusion, overuse of MMDs by pre-school-aged children could lead to physiological, cognitive, and social problems. In order to prevent children from these negative effects, parents should set time limitation and establish the concept of proper usage of MMDs. Moreover, spending time on other activities together could also keep their attentions away from the screens. With these measures taken, not only the negative impacts derived from overusing MMDs by pre-school-aged children could be decreased but the physical and mental developments could be improved. Furthermore, a good kinship could be built and the family relationships could be strenthen. Although the advent of MMDs has brought tremendous convenience to modern life and firmly attracted the attention of children, it is essential to concentrate on how to smartly restrict the usage of modern MMDs rather than forbidden it.

References

Portugal, A.M., Bedford, R., Cheung, C.H.M. et al. Sci Rep 11, 2205 (2021). Longitudinal touchscreen use across early development is associated with faster exogenous and reduced endogenous attention control.

黃瑽寧 (2022)。3C世代兒童的螢幕使用建議。親子天下，取自https://www.parenting.com.tw/article/5073207

黃皓筠 (2022)。調查：家長育兒仰賴「3C保母」，台灣幼兒使用3C比率超過9成，3歲每天盯螢幕逾2小時。關鍵評論，取自
https://www.thenewslens.com/article/164912