THE IMPACT OF NEW TECHNOLOGIES ON CHILDREN FROM THE PARENTS' PERSPECTIVE - ROMANIAN EXPERIENCE

We live in an era of rapid change and evolving communication systems. The contact with these new realities requires proper education, a process in which family and school have key roles. Children are exposed daily to different technologies and new challenges arising from the use of them. To prevent unwanted effects that sometimes arise from the use of these technologies, it is necessary for the educational process to benefit not only from the support of teachers but also from the family. We present in this article a research that aims to explore the degree of involvement and information of parents on the use of new technologies in the personal development of their children. The research consisted on a survey that was given to 104 people - 50 parents, 50 pupils and 4 teachers from rural and urban schools - Prahova County (Romania). We used both quantitative and qualitative research with questionnaires for parents and pupils, as well as individual interviews for teachers. The results of the research show that both parents and teachers believe that new technologies are a great attraction for children, an attraction that is not always beneficial to their health and personal development. Whether children are not carefully monitored by their parents, they tend to use the new technologies longer than necessary. At the same time, children tend to take advantage of the low digital literacy of their parents, sometimes using the new technologies in excess. Teachers support the benefits and limits of ICT use in their pupils' education. In this article we will present the research and its main results.