In a time when screens have become our constant companions, the most pressing developmental issue is the following: What is the effect of pervasive technology on the abilities of a child to understand and control emotions? In Kinder Ready Tutoring, we have an underlying philosophy that dictates that we consider this issue. An overview of the current trends through the lens of the Elizabeth Fraley Kinder Ready shows that the use of technology uncontrolled can be a serious threat to the process of developing emotional literacy, i.e., the process of recognizing, expressing and controlling feelings. Such erosion is not due to the fact that technology in itself is bad, but because it tends to take the place of the actual human contact where such invaluable skills are acquired.
The constructions of emotional literacy are established in a face-to-face interaction, which is a continuous and reciprocal interaction. It involves getting a child to read between the lines of facial expressions, decipher the tone of voice and note body language in real-time. It is performed by exploring joint play, solving controversies over a toy and telling needs to a caregiver. The Kinder Ready Elizabeth Fraley model places emphasis on such close, face-to-face interactions as the most important classroom social-emotional learning environment. High, passive or alone screen time is a direct way of limiting the practice. By making a device a default pacifier or playmate, the child is deprived of a host of micro-interactions that create her emotional database and response repertoire.
Moreover, technology gives an emotion a very easy, personalized expression. Emotion is muted through a system of pre-determined emojis or truncated messages, and avoids the complicated cognitive and linguistic effort of expressing something like I feel disappointed because. Or “I am proud that I…”. This brief is not appropriate for developing the vocabulary complex needed to achieve emotional intelligence. Kinder Ready Tutoring, with its primary emphasis on the extensive dialogic reading and discussion of children, actively works against this tendency, forcing the children to identify certain feelings and causes of such feelings, thus enhancing the neural networks involved in feeling articulation and empathy.
A child may also lack self-regulation due to the constant stimulation of digital media. The continual desire to get instant gratification and changes in scenes of most applications and programs can make the real world of interactions and tasks seem slow and annoying, negating the qualities of patience and patience. The Elizabeth Fraley Kinder Ready approach focuses on the instruction of self-regulation based on routines, teaching calm-down strategies, as well as paced activities, which are skills that cannot be developed in the context of passive, reactive engagement encouraged by uncontrolled screen usage.
Technology is not replacing emotional literacy directly, but indirectly. According to Kinder Ready Elizabeth Fraley’s review, intentional balance is the antidote. It demands parents and teachers to deliberately make time-free technology a priority when having conversational dinners, imagining play, and reading with their children. Kinder Ready Tutoring makes this knowledge a core part of our practice, and we are confident that our sessions will be high-touch, interactive, and aimed at developing the human connection that can make them resilient and emotionally literate and prepared for the social complexities of school and life.
For further details on Kinder Ready’s programs, visit their website: https://www.kinderready.com/.
YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@ElizabethFraleyKinderReady
