Cognitive development of children involved in the digital world to varying degrees

The sudden shift in the child's ratio between real and digital worlds due to the pandemic has raised the question of the benefits and harms of gadgets and the conditions of their use at different stages of ontogenesis. Forced to study online and then do homework using a computer, schoolchildren violated all norms regarding healthy lifestyle.

The aim of this study was to describe the reality of children under 11 in the digital world and to create evidence-based recommendations for teachers and parents regarding the norms of gadget use for different ages and the conditions under which this interaction will promote the cognitive development of a child of a particular age.

An online survey of parents and children was conducted to realise this objective. Two questionnaires were developed, one for parents (to describe the gadget situation of pre-school children) and one for school-age children. The data were analysed using spss software. A total of 866 parents and 32 children participated in the survey.

It was shown that 10.2% of children under the age of four had their own gadget. More than half of children (53.7%) were introduced to a gadget before the age of two, and 4.5% of children received a gadget before the age of six months. 64.4% of parents admit that they give their children a gadget to do their own thing or to rest from their children. 37.5% of primary school age children have a social network account, and only 10% of them have an account with their parents, others do it themselves. The main conclusion of the work is that parents are ignorant of the possibilities of today's digital world aimed at creating apps for the cognitive development of the child, and thus accustom the child to the passive absorption of digital information.