Engl. transl.: Parental Behaviors in the Formation of Technology Addiction in Early Childhood

In recent years, it has been observed that long-term use of technological devices adversely affects children's personality development, physical, cognitive, affective and communication skills, and game playing habits. One of the most important problems of families; is that children do not leave the powerful mass media such as smart phones, TV, ipad and computer. It is scientifically proven that children, who immediately adapt to the developing technology, become addicted to technology in a short time and without realizing it, when they do not use these tools properly and sufficiently. Other harms of technology addiction on children aged 3-6 are adaptation and behavioral problems, posture and vision disorders, the risk of obesity caused by lack of movement, deterioration in sleep quality, atrophy of communication and language skills, and psychological problems such as mood disorders. These problems reduce the quality of life of the 3-6 year old child and negatively affect cognitive, affective and social development processes. However, there are very few parents who make an effort to keep their children away from technology. When we look at the comments of the parents on this issue; Some of them stated that they enjoyed the fact that their children were very good technology users, and some of them stated that they thought their children were very intelligent and were proud of them and that they saw the use of technology as an indicator of intelligence. Scientific studies are conducted and published on the physiological and psychological negative effects and dangers of long-term exposure to technology (computer, mobile phone, tablets) on development and learning of children in the 0-6 age development period, and these studies are carried out considering the effects on other periods of life. It is considered necessary by educators, child development and Psychological Counseling and Guidance (PCG) specialists. In this study, quantitative and qualitative mixed design, whose data are predicted to support each other, was used. The 'Technology Addiction in Early Childhood' questionnaire was applied to n=90 parents with children between the ages of 3-6 and their analyzes were made in SPSS 18. A focus group study moderated by the researcher was conducted by the PCG specialist in groups of 40 parents and informal face-to-face interviews were conducted, and they were asked to write their thoughts on technology addiction in the semi-structured 'Parent Thought Form' prepared for the research. Content analysis was performed on the written statements of the parents. In the light of the findings obtained from the quantitative and qualitative data, in order for such problems not to occur in children, for the mental and physiological processes to function in a healthy way, parents should take the necessary precautions regarding the presence and use of technological devices in their living environment, develop alternative methods for their children to develop correct play habits away from technological devices, and It has been concluded that they need to create suitable living environments, and various suggestions have been developed for the precautions and practices that families should take in this regard, to protect their children from technology addiction and to develop hobbies, handicrafts, life skills suitable for their individual abilities. (Translated by the coder)

In the findings of the research, it is seen that 66.7% of the fathers and 54.4% of the mothers have undergraduate and graduate education, and almost all of them have a smart phone. He stated that he played games with a smartphone for at least 2 hours a day. In the study, the children that we can define as the risk group are only children with a rate of 38%. 95% of the families contributing to the research live in apartments as a necessity of big city life, and the children of these families constitute another risk group with 21% who cannot find the opportunity to play in open areas. The majority of parents stated that they have all kinds of technological devices in their homes, 35% of these parents stated that children should learn to use all technological communication tools in early childhood, while 62% of them stated that technological devices should not be used in this period. The most striking findings obtained in the research are that 26% of the parents cannot prevent their children from playing games with smartphones, 32% of them say that their children calm down while playing with these devices, 15% of them have a crying crisis due to technology deprivation, and 12% of them say that their child has a technology crisis. They stated that they were addicted and could not prevent it. (Şaşmaz, 2016, p.562)