Mothers’ Perception Regarding the Influence of Interactive Media on Children’s Cognitive, Social, Moral Development in Pakistan

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to investigate the effects of interactive media on children's cognitive, social and moral development according to their mothers' perception regarding these influences in Pakistani society. The proposed research work examines influence on three levels, i.e. cognitive, social and moral domain. The researcher undertakes to find out how excessive usage of social media influences children' development and what are the developmental differences between mild users and moderate to severe users of social networking media. The major hypothesis of the study is the greater the exposure to interactive social media, greater the impact on children's cognitive, social and moral development". The study captured mothers' perception of the influence of interactive media on children development through survey using questionnaire as a tool of data collection. 120 respondents (mothers) (60 mothers of mild users, and 60 mothers of heavy users of social networking sites) were accessed for the current research from metropolitan cities of Pakistan. The statistical t-test was used for testing the hypothesis and differences in means were examined. The results and findings revealed that heavy users of social media tend to incorporate more developmental changes in terms of social, cognitive and moral domains in contrast to light users.