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Essay / The Effects of Technology on America's Youth: Rewarding or Risky
Table of ContentsSummaryIntroductionThe Overuse of Technology Among Modern YouthYouth Mental HealthIncreasing Youth AngerIncreasing Children's LearningProblems academics are increasingConclusionReferencesSummaryIn today's world, young people are increasingly attached to their cellular devices. This attachment often leads to dangerous consequences. The world's youth have lost a huge amount of social skills, as all types of communication can be done by phone, text or email. Today's children have higher and greater rates of depression, self-esteem issues, decreased social skills, and anger issues. Although technology can have many positive effects that allow children to study and learn from a young age and work electronically, these disadvantages eventually outweigh the advantages. As rates of violence increase and children's mental health deteriorates, children continue to abuse their phones, computers and tablets. Children are being bullied on and off the web, and almost nothing can be done to stop this rapidly growing epidemic. Although technology benefits children in many ways, young people continue to struggle with its many negative effects. Children are held back because they are so attached to speaking through devices that they don't know how to behave socially. Talking between two or more people is becoming a lost art. The use of technology has many advantages, but also a multitude of disadvantages, to which children do not pay enough attention. Are the advantages really worth the disadvantages? Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why violent video games should not be banned”?Get the original essayIntroductionIn today's society, young people have become increasingly dependent on technology and social media. Every behavior is done to live up to someone they admire, often following via social media. This form of communication is an extremely simple way to socialize with people, but the more socializing there is on social media platforms, the less there is in the real world. Children have lost the ability to hold a conversation without having a phone in their hand. It has become so important to post “good” things to look as good as your friends, but this causes self-esteem issues and even anxiety. Body image issues, anxiety, depression and more are issues that are gaining momentum thanks to social media. These losses due to technology in schools have begun to outweigh the positives, largely attributed to the excessive overuse of these media. The overuse of technology among modern youth The use of technology leads to a decrease in face-to-face interactions and causes forms of depression and a need for instant gratification. In fact, children aged 10 and over spend up to 7 hours a day using technology. This usually leads to a loss of social skills. Technology usage rates have increased as “a report from Common Sense Media shows that in 2011, 10% of children under the age of 2 were using a mobile device and today, in 2017, 38% of children under 2 years old have used a mobile device. » Rates are increasing because children are receiving tablets and phones early in lifetheir life. As children grow up with electronic devices, they begin to lose the ability to interact with the people around them. Young people in society are losing their socialization skills because they can just grab their phones to communicate; “There is a significant problem, not so much for young children as for adolescents. Kids pick up the phone to text or use Snapchat instead of picking up the phone and talking to someone. (French, 2017). Due to the excessive use of technology and mobile devices, today's youth are at a disadvantage due to their lack of communication skills. They spend so much time on electronic devices and talking to people electronically that they can't talk to someone in person. Speaking through technology creates a barrier to communication. Children become increasingly antisocial because they lose social skills, leading to the loss of clear communicative skills. Because many young people are attached to technology, they can feel lonely and sad: "teenagers who spend more time than average on screen activities are more likely to be unhappy." Teenagers these days are so attached to their phones that they are losing valuable skills, which can eventually lead to depression. More and more children are becoming depressed because of phone use. Teenagers have become too dependent on technology and don't know how to communicate without its help because everything can be done with phones, tablets, computers and much more. The world itself is not based on technology and texting, so without the ability to communicate verbally without a phone, the real world will be more difficult to experience. Communication skills are disastrous for a functional society. Youth Mental Health The increasing amount of technology is proving to be more detrimental to the mental health of adolescents, leading to a widespread mental health crisis. Children today are beginning to develop self-esteem issues, eating disorders, and anxiety because of the need to please their “followers.” Children in today's society are struck with anxiety and depression due to the negativity they see in the world around them on all social media platforms. Between the shootings, black lives matter, and what's more, it leads them to feel like the world is falling apart and, in some way, becoming evil. But social media platforms, even though they show all the negativity in the world, allow for new friendships between new people. Thanks to technological advancements, many children have found friends all over the world and become closer to the friends they already had. According to Price-Mitchell (2012), “young people report feeling closer to their friends through technology and being able to connect with a wide variety of people who share common interests.” With access to social media, today's youth have a wider range of people their own age with similar interests. By constantly being on media platforms, children expose themselves not only to friends and family, but also to predators and bullies, as it is now easier to hide behind a screen. This makes it easier for bullies and predators to find personal information about young people. By being exposed to internet users, they are exposed to negativity and possible harm. The Monitoring the future study said:“Teens who spend more time than average on screen activities are more likely to be unhappy, and those who spend more time than average on the Internet are more likely to be unhappy. average people who engage in screen-free activities are more likely to be happy. Eighth graders who spend 10 or more hours per week on social media are 56% more likely to report being unhappy than those who spend less time on social media” (Orem, 2017). Children who do not receive electronic devices or who do not abuse them are ultimately happier than other children who use technology excessively. As technology advanced, so did the suicide rate. For the first time in many years, this figure even exceeded the number of teenage homicides, meaning more children are choosing to kill themselves and fewer children are being killed by others or choosing to kill others. The increase in anger among young people Technologies, such as video games, have sparked aggression among today's youth. As children play more aggressive and deadly games, their aggression may also get worse. For example, the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooter was an avid video gamer: “The shooter, Adam Lanza, 20, spent most of his time playing violent, non-video games alone at home. » (Puiu, 2018) People suspect that this could be one of the reasons why he attacked the school. Because of statistics like these, California passed a law that places an eighteen and older limit on violent games. Children who are younger and at a more sensitive stage of socialization are affected differently and perhaps more negatively than older children. It can also cause them to become violent and reckless. Violent video games can also lead to antisocial behavior in children, causing them to avoid social interactions that harm their social skills. This can cause the child to become a target for bullying. These violent games could also cause children to become bullies, which is the opposite for some children. Although not all children become extremely violent or antisocial after playing violent video games, it could still lead to negative behavior, regardless of what age group they belong to. The Increase in Children's Learning Although technology has many negative effects on adolescents, it does indeed have many negative effects. positive effects on very young children thanks to the learning tools and websites set up for pre-school ages. Studies have shown that when young children watch educational television shows and play educational games, they are positively influenced and are better prepared for the start of their education in a school. An example of a television show would be the well-known show Sesame Street: "The show is famous for its catchy songs and clever storylines enriched with educational messages, teaching children the alphabet, the importance of sharing, how to facing grief and countless other social messages. This show prepares children for kindergarten, before starting their school career. By starting to learn by watching an engaging TV show for children, they all have an advantage and a head start at school. Because Sesame Street is important for young people, they launched the Sesame Workshop which allows the viewer, via the media, to listen to the radio, read books, watch the television show and attend