Children and Digital Media

The use of digital media in early childhood education has to be guided and done in balance. According to Mannerheimin Lastensuojeluliitto, media education will provide important methods with which the child will be assisted to understand how to handle digitality responsibly. Media literacy involves skills to access, analyze, evaluate, and create media in various forms. According to the Finnish National Core Curriculum, digital competencies should be developed, along with critical thinking and collaboration, right from the beginning of ECEC. The curriculum places much emphasis on the balance between safe digital practices and arousing children's curiosity and creativity with technology.

Media literacy is likely to be effectively developed in preschool age with the help of practical activities. For example, digital storytelling allows children to create their own stories by putting together pictures, sounds, and simple recordings, which again nurtures creativity and communicative skills. Developing various cognitive development aspects, interactive learning applications can bring in teachings of the very basics of letters, numbers, and shapes for fine motor skills. Introduce digital art and music creation tools to enable self-expression, letting children express themselves. Or in other words, embedding screen-free playing into integration with some digital components, like the display of related images during traditional playing, reinforces the balance approach whereby the digital media support and enhance the physical and social activities. It encourages parents' involvement in discussions about experiences and ensures that consumption of media is monitored, therefore fostering safe and reflective engagement with technology.

Even though digital media use in preschools allows many advantages, such as longer learning opportunities, creative development, and the creation of technical skills, its drawbacks are not to be forgotten.This could eventually lead to physical problems such as eye strain and reduced physical activities, but even with social and emotional development, the over-stimulation of constant exposure could make the length of their attentions shorter or even hinder sleep patterns. Therefore, there does need to be a proper balance whereby technology introduced supplements conventional forms of play and social interaction instead of taking the place of activities.

In the end, integrating digital media into preschool education needs to be done with a lot of thought and consideration to ensure that young children develop necessary skills while still keeping a healthy balance with traditional learning experiences. By promoting media literacy from an early age, educators can help children understand and navigate digital tools responsibly, while fostering creativity, critical thinking, and collaboration.Technology should be introduced in a way that complements physical play, social interaction, and other enriching activities that contribute to a child's overall development. With the right guidance from educators and parents, digital media can become one of many tools that help nurture well-rounded, thoughtful, and empathetic individuals. This approach prepares children for safe and meaningful engagement in the digital world as they grow.