Vocational School of Justice
DO NOT USE TECHNOLOGY AS A BABY SITTER!
Parents are using mobile phones, tablets as “baby sitters”. Exposure to cyber world results in increased violence, consumption, neglect, abuse cases, studies show. The report by Ministry of Family and Social Policies’ “Workshop on Assessment of Protection and Prevention Policies Regarding Children in Turkey” states that children, as young as age 2, have access to internet, and warns parents about taking precautions against social media that includes neglect, abuse thematic content.
Betül Özkul Cura, Lecturer at Child Development Program, Vocational School of Health Services, Izmir University of Economics (IUE), stated that increased internet access rates indicate a new era in using media. Cura said, “Parents know little about what their children are doing online. Cyber world affects children’s lives just as much as the real world does. They may be exposed to different forms of oppression due to these effects. The internet brings negative effects such as violence and consumerism into view. Availability of access to internet in all age groups, expose children to content that may result in abuse. Parents being busy and spending less and less time with their children has an important role in the decrease of internet user age”.
The most effective way to deal with abuse for children is to be fully informed about use of media; stated Cura and she recommended new studies should be conducted on positive features that support development of children such as entertainment, education, and socialization. Cura, by pointing out to the fact that parents being busy and spending less and less time with their children having an important role in the decrease of internet user age, said, “Children who spend more time in front of TV have lower school performance. On the other hand, studies show that children, whose parents who use electronic and print media more carefully, have better performances at school. It is safe to say that it is very important for parents to put a limit to use of technology and monitor the period children spend online in terms of protecting them from potential harmful content online”.