CHILDREN'S USAGE OF INDIVIDUAL TECHNOLOGY AND SCHOOL READINESS

This quantitative study examines the link between a child’s recreational usage of individual technology, such as tablets and smartphones, and their school readiness. The study surveyed the parents of transitional- kindergarten through first-grade students to determine children’s recreational device usage and media consumption habits. The study matched these student’s overall usage with their teachers’ perceptions of their performance in 5 subcategories: General Cognitive Readiness, Reading Skills, Writing Skills, Math Skills, and Social Skills of the students. These categories were then combined to make indexes to determine the students’ Academic Readiness and Social–emotional Readiness and their Overall School Readiness. This study found significant findings in terms of the different subgroups and their school readiness. Students from traditionally disadvantaged subgroups (lower-income and less parent education) had a positive relationship between technology usage and Academic Readiness, Social-Emotional Readiness, and Overall Readiness for school. Students whose parents reported higher incomes and higher education levels experienced adverse effects in Academic Readiness, Social-Emotional Readiness, and Overall Readiness for school when their recreational individual device usage increas