The Effects Of Consumerism On Children s Lives - 1522 Words

Today children are exposed to a different world than the one their parents grew up in. Consumerism plays a significant influence in children’s lives, including technology. This has led to over usage of technology as a reason for increased health issues in children, and basic building blocks of healthy development being ignored. Children are no longer interested in creative play, which is vital to problem-solving, learning, imagining and thinking. Instead, children can often be found sitting in front of a television, for up to seven hours a day, with their back hunched over and in an almost zombie like state of mind. To understand the health risks in children due to technology, we first need to understand how society got to a point†¦show more content†¦Advertisers also know that parents are willing to buy more for their kids because trends such as smaller family size, dual incomes and postponing having children until later in life mean that families have more disposable income. Guilt can also play a role in spending decisions as time-stressed parents substitute material goods for time spend with their kids. Marketing to children has created pester power with a child’s ability to nag their parents into purchasing items they may not otherwise buy. Advertisers know what a powerful force this can be. Many studies and observations have been made on how technology can negatively affect a child’s physical health, mental health, emotional well-being, values, educational development and relationships. The results of these studies found technology exposure can be linked to childhood obesity, behavioral problems, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, autism, coordination disorder, unintelligible speech, developmental delays, learning difficulties, anxiety, depression, sleep disorders, poor physical activity and poor school performance. As early as three months of age, children are aware of technology. In the United States alone, forty percent of all three month old babies regularly watch television and DVD’s for an average of forty-five minutes per day. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that no child younger than two years of age should watch television as it can be