FFECTS OF OVERUSING GADGETS IN 21st CENTURY LEARNERS

CHAPTER 1

I. INTRODUCTION

BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Technology is an important part of human life. Gadgets are a kind of technology that most
widely used by humans. These include smartphones, tablets, iPhone, blackberries, laptops
and more others. Not only used for communication, gadgets also become a trend in
today’s cultures for life and knowledge. All information and daily activities such as
shopping, payment and entertainment are provided by this device. Users of gadgets are
very heterogeneous, from old people to young child. Nowadays, children use gadgets
often. However, too much use of gadget has some specific effects on children’s speech
development. The latter is among the major indicators of considerable growth in
children’s cognitive ability, and educational achievement during their golden age, that is a
period of 9 to 24 months.
Even though it has benefits, using gadgets can even ruin the moral and character building
of children which are not potentially expected by parents. (Journal Physics: Conference
Series 1175(1) 2019). Staring at electronic screen continuously for long time causes
distress. Kids suffer various problems like eye irritation or difficulty in focusing for a
while. Children use those technology gadgets for many purposes. Studying, chatting,
playing and searching for new information.. Mobile phones, internet, social networking
sites, and texting have changed the way we see the world. There are 6.9 billion mobile
users, almost many as people on earth. (The Egyptian Journal of Internal Medicine 31 (4),
2019). The roles that parent’s play in a child’s life is extremely significant and influences
the outcomes and opportunities in the child’s life cycle. Parental involvement may
mitigate excessive digital device usage by implementing strict rules and controlling the
amount of time spent on digital devices and type of media being consumed. divergently,
children that lack parental involvement or support tend to exhibit high usage of
technological devices and some may even consider themselves to have an addiction to
devices (Brito et al., 2017).
If electronic gadgets are used to a limit then it has fewer effects on humankind. There are
advantages of gadgets as they have made our lives easier but they have disadvantages as
well.(By Monica, 2023).

THEORITICAL FRAMEWORK OF THE STUDY

Behavioristic Theory

Nowadays, gadgets can be utilized as a tool to stimulate children language growth and
development. This research method employs a naturalistic approach. The result reveals
that gadgets as a stimulus for early childhood language development viewed from
behavioristic theory show different responses, namely 2 children give a negative response
and 1 child with a positive response. The negative response is the child experiences
speech delays, while the positive response is the child master’s foreign vocabulary and is
more expressive in retelling what the child watches from the gadget. Furthermore, it can
be concluded that gadget as a stimulus for language development generates negative and
positive responses for early childhood, so that adults should be judicious in facing the
children by paying attention in some cases, such as timing in using gadgets, content, types
of assistance, and giving them many proportions to interact directly.
The use of gadgets and the internet in early childhood can have both positive and negative
impacts. The use of child-adapted gadget technology as a medium for distance learning
can create an interactive and engaging environment. However, excessive use of gadgets
can cause several problems, including sleeping difficulty, decreased quality of work, lack
of concentration, and the need for treatment, pharmacological and psychological
treatment.
(Journal of Primary Education 10 (1), 71-78, 2021)

Computer use drastically improves academic performance Theory

This theory, at some point, is correct.Computers are now are now a necessity to all
students. It serves as an aid for all the research, paperwork and a whole lot more. It
improves academic performance in a way that it makes one’s work easier, but it doesn’t
directly affect a student’s performance result.
(Author Unknown, 1992)
“As more and more information is converted to multimedia, by integrating digital
processing of print, sound, and image data by computer, new entities will appear that go
far beyond classroom instruction and on the job training. As the use of computers
proliferates at schools, in the home and within the society, a literacy approach to
information processing will teach people what the computer is and how to use it (Author
Unknown, 1992).”
Berger and Trexter articulated on Libraries Unlimited that technology is important on
students’ education. They say that for students, learning in a way that they can really
understand makes them more motivated to learn and improves their academic
performance. According to Edutopia Mobile Learning Guide, one way to help students
reach their goal is to incorporate gadgets that they are already familiar with such as
cellphones, tablets, and smartphones into their learning environment. “The big potential
with mobile is that it really is the primary portal of social communication right now (Ito,
2008).” John D. and Catherine T. also supported Edutopia’s outlooks a “young people
learn best when it’s relevant to them, when there’s
social connection tied to it, and when they actually have a personal interest (John D. &
Catherine T., 2012). Nowadays, people are continuously facing development. More
gadgets are being introduced to the general public everyday. With this, the challenge with
students remains. Thus, they are encouraged to learn their limitations toward the usage of
these said gadgets.

CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

Input
Process Output
Profile of
respondents: Analysis of Data Completion of the
Age through: task:
Gender
Grade&Section a. Interviews Seekers benefits
Kinds of Gadgets b. Questionnaires Solvers benefits
used: c. Survey
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

The aim of this study is to determine the following problem:

1. What are the demographic profile of the respondent?

1.1 Age
1.2 Gender
1.3 Grade&Section
1.4 Kinds of Gadgets used

2. What are the influence of overusing gadgets in the 21st century learners?

2.1 Health Issues

3. Is there a significance to study and know the factors that effects the 21st century learners
in overusing gadgets?
HO: There’s a significance if we study and know how overusing gadgets affects the 21st
century learners

4. How will the 21st century learners could overcome the problem?
HO: They could overcome the problem through
Set the rules.
As parents and guardians, we can limit the time of their gadget use. Some parents allow a
maximum of two hours of screen time per day. While some impose a no-gadget-rule
during examination periods. Decide which will work best for your children and be
consistent.
Try outdoor activities.
Keeping them active on sports or other physical activities will encourage them to leave
the couch and move. Teach them how to ride a bike, learn a new sport that they can play
on a free open space. Such activities will not only distract them from those mobile games
but will also make them fit.
Let them be creative.
Painting, sketching, building lego/blocks, solving puzzles, learning to play musical
instruments and a lot more mind-boggling activities will allow children to use their
imagination.
Spend more time with them.
As parents and guardians, we understand that we are caught up with a lot of things to do
and to think of. But remember that our children should be our top priority and not least on
our to-do-list.
Spend time with them by doing things that will strengthen your bonds. Through this, we
will further understand the ways our children think and act. It will help us identify the
things that would be helpful for them and the ones that are not.

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

This study is conducted to benefit the following:

To Principal, the aim of this study is to comprehend the influence of gadgets use in daily
screen time on the physical and physiological well being of every learners.

To Teachers, the result of this study may help them to better understand and be more
aware on why students are not seeking their whole time to study their lessons. Guidance
and advice from teachers can help for more necessary outcome of the study.

To Parents, the study may give more information about the effects that your child may get
on overusing their gadgets.
As a parent and a child advocate, establishing a healthy lifestyle among kids can be vital
of how they take care of themselves during adulthood”, says Divine Relano, Program staff
of World Vision.

To Students, this study may help them identify what are the benefits and effects when
using gadgets. It may help them stop their unhealthy habits of overusing gadgets if they
know the effects that may cause them in the near future.
To Future Researchers, this study will be a useful reference for future researches who
would plan to make any related study.

Overall, this research study will aid: the Students, Parents, Administrators and Staffs,
Professors, and Future Researchers in knowing the effects of overusing gadgets in every
21st century learners.

SCOPE AND LIMITATION

The purpose of this study was to measure the role of modern gadgets and the frequency of
their use on every learners.
This study talks about gadgets and the effect on every learners. It also talks how important
the gadgets and reasons why we also need to overuse gadgets in our daily modern life.

DEFINITION OF TERMS

Gadget addiction is the use/abuse of gadgets to the extent that it starts to negatively
influence our health and life as a whole. It affects teenagers and children the most because
their mindsets compel them to explore things around them..
To make the study easier to understand, the following terms are defined operationally and/
or lexically:

Gadget.
This refers to an often small mechanical or electronic device with a practical use but often
thought of as a novelty.
In this study, gadgets refer to cellphones, tablets and laptops which are used by the
respondents in learning.

Impact.
This refers to the effect of gadgets on the respondents in their learning.

Frequency of use.
This refers to the number of times or how often the gadgets are used by the respondents in
learning.