Drawbacks of Technology

  This past weekend I was babysitting my neighbor who is a young boy in first grade. I was prepared for a night of Nerf gun fights, reading stories, and playing games. However, when I got there I was surprised to see him already perched in a chair on his iPad. When I asked him if he wanted to play, his response was "Sure, wanna see what games I have on the iPad?" The rest of the night was composed of the same occurrences. This led me to wonder, if technology has this much influence over kids at homes, how is it affecting them in the classroom?
  As I was searching the web for more information, I came across this video that explains two very different classrooms. One setting uses absolutely no technology at all and in the other, each student has their own iPad. While I do believe that technology is a great tool when used correctly and for relevant lessons, I do feel that overuse of it takes away from the learning experience. When the school that uses no technology at all is shown, the students are fully engaged and taking part in various hands-on activities. These students seem to be genuinely excited about their learning and their parents have no concerns about them being behind technologically. They can use the technology at home, but in the classroom learning is hands-on.
  It is concerning that students today barely know how to write because everything today is typed out on tablets and computers. Even coloring can be done on these devices. Is this taking away from early childhood education? As the video does state, we will not know the full effect technology has over students for many more generations, but it is certainly something to look into.