Early Childhood in the Digital Era: A Systematic Review

The fact that children are using technology at an earlier age has changed the type of people expected in the modern age and revealed 21st-century skills. Ease of access to digital tools, such as tablets, computers, phones, and smartboards, as well as technological developments, such as artificial intelligence, augmented reality, and coding, raise important questions about the effects of digital technologies on children's development and educational processes. This study aims to synthesize existing literature and identify knowledge gaps by systematically examining the use and impact of digital technologies in early childhood in Türkiye. The YÖK National Thesis Center and DergiPark national databases were searched for studies on the use of digital technologies in early childhood in Türkiye between 2019 and 2024, and 110 studies were included in the analysis. The results showed that most of the studies were conducted in 2021 and were part of master's theses. The most frequently used method was the quantitative method, and the most frequently used design was the correlational survey. Teachers and parents were the most frequently studied group. Topics addressed in this study include "Digital Technology and Education," "Digital Technology and Children," "Digital Technology and Parents," and "Digital Technology and Teachers/Pre-Service Teachers." The most frequently studied topics are parents' and teachers' attitudes toward technology, teachers' technology self-efficacy, technology use in the classroom, technopedagogical content knowledge, children's technology addiction, and children's social-emotional development.