Summary: The Ambiguity Of Playtime

As we all know, technology has greatly changed everybody’s lives, specifically the development of children. I believe the major negative effect that technology has produced is that it has reduced the amount of playtime. Playtime is a powerful tool that aids in the development of children. Best of all, play is a free activity. According to the book called The Ambiguity of Play:

‘‘Play is the most ideally effective form of developmental aid because the child becomes familiar with the world, himself, and his limits’’ (Sutton-Smith, 2001)

Play helps children communicate and interact with other children. It is a form of exercise, which is beneficial to everyone. Because children are spending so much time indoors, they are starting to live a sedentary

lifestyle. A sedentary lifestyle is also referred to as an inactive lifestyle (U.S. National Library of Medicine, 2018). Having a lifestyle like this puts kids at risk for many health conditions. It increases the risk of obesity, heart disease, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, stroke, diabetes, and depression (U.S. National Library of Medicine, 2018). The increased risk for all of those diseases can greatly decrease by allowing kids to play, move around, and explore their environment. As mentioned before play helps in the development of children. Play allows kids to properly develop fine, gross, and motor skills. When babies pass their bottle or a toy from one hand to the other, it is an example of a gross motor skill. As children become familiar with their surroundings, they start learning.
People also have the miss-conception that allowing children to go outside to play puts them in danger. When people hear that kids are playing in the streets, they believe they are involved in some kind of illegal activity. Exploring the world is part of childhood. The streets are not always violent and terrifying. According to the reading ‘‘The street as third space’’, kids see the streets differently.
‘‘Urban spaces are places for social inclusion, arenas where people can get together to share and enjoy a range of informal activities, unhindered by the adult gaze.’’ (Matthews, Limb, & Taylor)
Children see the streets as a place where they can hang out with one another.

They see it as a place for socialization and interaction. Most parents do not allow their kids to go out to play in the streets. They believe that every person that would interact with their child will be a bad influence on them. It is understandable to a point. People believe the streets influence children making them more vulnerable to weapons, delinquency, etc. It is true that there is a lot of delinquency nowadays. It is also true that everyone is exposed to maladaptive behaviors, but not everyone is affected. The streets are not violent at all times. Teenagers need to hang out and ‘‘chill’’ with other people their age. They do so by going to the park. They do not necessarily use the slides, they mainly go to talk and unwind.

The 21st century is the century of digital media and new technology. Technology gives us many learning opportunities. However, it can be very addicting if not used wisely. Everyone uses online networks such as Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube, and online games. People seem to be addicted to such networks and tend to stay indoors to ‘‘keep up’’ with them. A research project called digital media youth research was conducted from 2005-2008. The project focused on the correlation between youth, new media, and learning. The following statement was extracted directly from the

project.
‘‘Today’s youth may be engaging in negotiations over developing knowledge and identity, coming of age, and struggling for autonomy as did their predecessors, but they are doing this while the contexts for communication, friendship, play, and self-expression are being reconfigured through their engagement with new media’’ (Ito & Mizuko)
The usual culture of socialization and self-expression is being modified by the new media. Youth prefer to communicate through social platforms. Platforms like Facebook are convenient to use. Mainly, if you have friends that moved to another city or state. Technology has made long-distance communication very accessible. In addition to that, we can get access to tons of new information with only a few clicks away. Do not get me wrong technology is amazing and makes life easier. However, it makes us stay indoors more than we realize. Most people are not aware of how important sunlight is. The sun gives us vitamin D, which we absorb through our skin. When teenagers decide to stay indoors to use social media, they are at risk for vitamin D deficiency. Vitamin D helps your body absorb calcium (U.S. National Library of Medicine, 2017). Without vitamin D our bones get weaker because our body cannot absorb calcium.
In conclusion, we live in the 21st century where most electronic equipment is considered ‘‘smart’’. Everyday technology surprises us with all the things we can do with it. It is an amazing tool. It just needs to be used with intelligence while setting limits. Children’s obesity rate has greatly increased due to the inevitable sedentary lifestyle as a result of new media. A sedentary lifestyle increases the risk for multiple health conditions that will affect our children’s future health. Technology also has made kids forget about real playtime. Kids now prefer to use smartphones or tablets than interact with other kids.