Parents are encouraging their children to spend an increasing amount of time on tablets and screens because they think it will improve their technological skills. Do the advantages of this development outweigh the disadvantages?

It is certainly true that

a

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knowledge of technology is an indispensable skill for today’s generation of children. Knowing how to ‘code’, we are told, will guarantee a stable and well-paid job in the not-too-distant future

where

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other jobs will be scarce.

Therefore

it is understandable that parents want to foster a child’s interest in computing.

However

, we have to question the extent to which these desirable

skills

are being acquired when a child is left for hours on a tablet, and the motives of the parents must be analysed in order to ensure the successful and healthy development of the child. As mentioned above, computer

skills

will be essential for young people to find employment in the future. For

this

reason, more emphasis must be put on developing IT

skills

in school, where provision still seems to be sadly lacking. Parents may feel they have to compensate for the lack of IT training

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the curriculum and believe they are doing what’s best for the child by allowing them to use computers at home. Unfortunately, in my experience, children left unsupervised do not learn anything of great benefit.

On the contrary

, they tend to spend their time watching trivial, mind-numbing Youtube videos. And though they may know how to digitally enhance an Instagram photo, what they produce is often worthless and

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very little talent. To sum up, I am not denying the need for children to develop expert IT

skills

, but using tablets at home is not the most effective way to achieve

this

. Training needs to be managed and targeted at specific areas which have been identified by experts as being the

skills

that will be in great demand. The government must do more to ensure

this

training is a priority on the school curriculum rather than leaving it to the well-meaning but uninformed amateurs at home who are just hoping for the best.