Digital technology is a leader in the lives of today's children. From birth, children are under its influence. They live in a technologically rich world and use various digital devices in their daily lives. These are so-called digital natives, indigenous people in the digital society, aged 0 to 8 years.
This age period is characterized by the rapid growth and development of the child, the mastery of the social space of human relations through communication with close adults, as well as through play and real relationships with peers.
Research on gender differences in children's interaction with digital devices has not been sufficiently studied. However, the relevance of this problem is growing over time and is related to the fact that the behavior of children actively using digital technologies differs from that of those who do not use modern technologies to the same extent:
- the nature of the use of certain devices has its own peculiarities;
- applications, games, cartoons, etc. are different for boys and girls;
- and the time spent on using digital technologies is different
Scientists have found psychophysiological differences in the development of different cortical zones of boys and girls. The boy's brain and the girl's brain work differently, so that the perception of the world, the way of thinking, and the preferred actions of each of the sexes take place according to their own scenario.
Girls' near-sightedness prevails, while boys' eyesight is farther away. Accordingly, girls choose games with objects at arm's length - games with dolls, beads, rags, and boys more often choose to catch up, throwing objects away, etc. Boys in preschool age have acute hearing, and girls are more sensitive to noise and touch. Boys' non-standard, spatial thinking prevails, while girls think in a stereotypical way, paying attention to details.
The empirical part of consisted of several stages and included such psychodiagnostic methods as a questionnaire on the use of digital technologies by children and observation of preschool children.
Stages and methods
At the first stage of, a questionnaire was conducted, which included questions about the time frame for using mobile devices, what kind of devices are relevant for children (interactive toys, mobile phones, tablets), and what children do (play, download applications, watch cartoons).
In the second stage of, children were actively monitored, using digital devices according to the observation scheme, where information about each child was recorded during the game. This included parameters such as willingness to help, shyness, assertiveness, penchant for emotion, tenderness, tenderness, dominance, etc. The results were recorded in the protocol.
Observation of children actively using mobile devices revealed that boys were vulnerable, arrogant, weak, dependent, and unable to cope with even the most basic difficulties. Girls, on the other hand, are persistent, emotionally cold and decisive even in the obvious situation when they cannot cope with it.
Despite these observations, boys' and girls' perceptions of men and women are traditional: children know exactly what qualities a man and a woman should possess, and other options (that do not correspond to traditional views of men and women) cause laughter or resentment.
The mismatch between children's behaviour and their gender roles is due to the influence of information tools, which are often misleading, and at the same time, the influence of the family in which the child is raised from birth, where the mother and father play certain gender roles.
The changes and the changes made to boys and girls using digital technologies have a number of consequences for their further development - they become the most susceptible to the negative phenomena of the social environment.
Thus, identified statistics on the use of digital technologies by boys and girls. Boys are the most interested in digital technologies, and they are more diligent when in contact with digital technologies, while girls show relative interest and quickly switch to other activities. In addition to gender differences, there are gender differences among children. Boys show feminine traits (softness, flexibility), while girls show masculine (tenacity, willpower) personality traits.