Hi all!
Could you please give me feedback on this practice language analysis piece:
'What Steve Jobs taught me about parenting' (p. 16-19, teacher originally printed out the text, this is closest source I could find)
https://bcenglishyr11.wikispaces.com/file/view/prac+exam+S2+2015.pdfThanks in advance!
--
The duration children spend on digital devices has sparked a response about the adverse effects it has on a child’s growth and wellbeing. In her letter, ‘What Steve Jobs taught me about parenting’, published in Wattletree Primary School’s weekly newsletter, Tania Hardy contends that electronic devices have detrimental effects on a child’s development. Addressed formally in a concerned tone, Hardy pushes her audience of Wattletree parents to carefully monitor their children’s screen time, using her background as a parent to support her position.
The use of digital devices is not negative in its entirety, as Hardy acknowledges the benefits it presents for both parents and children. She notes that she frequently uses technology to ‘keep [her] kids quiet’, adding that it can have her children ‘mesmerised’, outlining that it allows its users to be completely immersed on their electronic activities. This experience enables Wattletree parents to understand that such devices aid in times where children are unable to ‘settle down’. In addition, technology is also seen as helpful in stressful situations or ‘those mornings’. The usefulness of technology as a reliever is further demonstrated by Hardy, stating that her family iPad plays ‘sleep-time music’ as well as doubling as a ‘night-light’, highlighting the relaxation electronics could offer for parents; prompting them to believe that such devices are efficient in calming and soothing their children to sleep. The prevalence of technology is emphasised in the life of her family, listing ‘television’, ‘X-box’, ‘computer’ and ‘iPad’ in the same paragraph. In turn, has parents more aware of the increasingly subtle dependency on technology, implicating its almost unnoticeable integration into our everyday lives. Hardy motions to parents that it is advantageous in keeping children contained, however not without simultaneous consequences.
As a parent, Hardy constantly questions children’s activity on electronic devices. Emphasising its popularity, she suggests how ‘reliant’ parents are on technology, indicating its ability to ‘expose children to new things’, as well as ‘provide answers to curly questions’. Such notions serve as a reminder to parents that they are unable to provide their children the answers to the questions they ask, further highlighting parents’ reliance on technology. In turn, children’s development is hindered by not acquiring information from elders that, like books, ‘encourage a sustained level of concentration’. Although digital information enables more efficient access between sources, it is inevitably a ‘superficial engagement’, distancing the informational connection between children and their parents. Hardy also has parents contemplate the level of value of their children’s learning. Using her son Braiden, she compares his process of researching to that of a ‘timed obstacle course’. Although she recognises that her child is grasping the content he reads, she questions his ‘learning quality’, inclining parents to reflect on the benefits of the interactions between their children and digital devices. Consequently, Hardy wants her readers to believe that technology shapes children’s learning processes by negatively factoring their approach to research and information gathering.
The image featured in Hardy’s letter is a photograph. In the foreground there is a child heavily focused on a mobile phone, demonstrating the fixation a child has on digital devices as Hardy proposes throughout her piece. For this reason, has parents wary about their child’s attention to electronic devices. In contrast, the background has a display of games and activities, particularly a chessboard and two boxes showing aeroplanes. In this case, the author emphasises the lack of acknowledgement to activities that require more thought and effort, presenting the child as attentive to technology upholds her contention; where electronics are having an adverse effect on kids’ mental thought and processes. Furthermore, the distinction between the blurred background and clear foreground makes it evident to readers that there is a distinction between activities that require lesser and greater engagement and judgement. Below the photograph is a slogan that reads “Between computers, tablets, smart phones and television, many Australian children spend hours looking at screens every day.” Formatted in italics, the sentence distinguishes itself from the main text and alerts to parents a generalisation of how long a child would spend on a digital device. This also makes reference to an earlier statement made by Hardy when questioning the ‘amount of time our children spend’ on technology. Since there is no clear statement on the correlation between the hours spent on electronics and the harmful effects, parents as a result are instilled with the fear of the outcomes that may come about on their children: if they do not act upon it. Overall, Hardy stresses that the true essence of learning is lost when digital devices are in use.
Learning is not the only aspect of a child’s development that is affected. Hardy also presents readers with health risks associated with the use of electronics. She notes that continual exposure to backlit screens further ‘eye strain…on developing eyeballs’, as well as ‘dehydration and sleep problems’. Additionally, she instigates that such focus on backlit screens at night ‘can affect sleep patterns’. Through these facts, parents grasp the extent of the harm of backlit screens, especially on their developing children. Hardy also extends the detriment of digital devices to a child’s mental wellbeing. She states that ‘cyberbullying and exposure to adult content’ is prevalent within the use of the internet, pointing out that an ‘estimated 30 per cent of Aussie children have seen something online that ‘upset or bothered them’’. Parents altogether become more cautious of the content that is present within the digital space, provoking them to ‘ensure’ they are knowledgeable of the material their children observe in order to prevent any distress that it may cause later in life.
Tania Hardy uses her position as a parent, contending that technology has negative effects on a child’s development. Acknowledging the positives of digital devices, she was effective in swaying the reader to believe that it is almost detrimental. In particular, she undertakes a concerning approach in addressing the effects it has on children’s learning and wellbeing. Her language and use of anecdotal, factual and statistical evidence elicited parents be more alert and aware of their child’s activity on electronics, thus driving them to want to monitor their children more carefully.
Home
Help
Search
Login
