• Attention Grabber
  1. This past Thanksgiving, I noticed something that caught my attention as my family had gathered at my Grandparents house for dinner. It seemed a bit quieter, and I noticed my younger cousins were not up to their usual shenanigans, tackling and harassing each other in their little made up games. Then I noticed something: a bright little screen. My younger cousins Kara, ten- years-old, and Josie, nine-years-old, had recently received iPhones. They proceeded to take “selfies”, send “Snapchats” to their friends, and text each other from across the room. They were more connected to these mobile devices than they were to the family.
• Audience
  1. Young adults with young children, anyone who plans on having children one day, and educators
• Thesis statement
  1. Children today should have less exposure to technology in their lives because it reduces the possibility of learning necessary social skills, causes mental and psychological disabilities, and generates physical health impediments.
• Sources
  • Barreto, Steven, and Sue K. Adams. “Digital Technology And Youth: A Developmental Approach.” Brown University Child & Adolescent Behavior Letter 27.6 (2011): 1-6. Academic Search Premier. Accessed 27 March. 2018.
  • McPake, Joanna, Lydia Plowman, and Christine Stephen. “Pre-School Children Creating And Communicating With Digital Technologies In The Home.” British Journal Of Educational Technology 44.3 (2013): 421-431. ERIC. Accessed 27 March. 2018.
  • Picard, Delphine, Perrine Martin, and Raphaele Tsao. “Ipads At School? A Quantitative Comparison Of Elementary Schoolchildren’s Pen-On-Paper Versus Finger-On-Screen Drawing Skills.” Journal Of Educational Computing Research 50.2 (2014): 203-212. Computer Source. Accessed 27 March. 2018.
  • Radesky, Jenny S., et al. “Overstimulated Consumers Or Next-Generation Learners? Parent Tensions About Child Mobile Technology Use.” Annals Of Family Medicine 14.6 (2016): 503-508. Academic Search Premier. Accessed 27 March. 2018.
  • Rowan, Cris. “Unplug-Don’t Drug: A Critical Look At The Influence Of Technology On Child Behavior With An Alternative Way Of Responding Other Than Evaluation And Drugging.” Ethical Human Psychology & Psychiatry 12.1 (2010): 60-68. Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection. Accessed 27 March. 2018.
  • Sook-Jung, Lee, Lee Changho, and Lee Cheolhan. “Smartphone Addiction And Application Usage In Korean Adolescents: Effects Of Mediation Strategies.” Social Behavior & Personality: An International Journal 44.9 (2016): 1525-1534. Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection. Accessed 27 March. 2018.
  • Turel, Ofir, Anna Romashkin, and Katherine M. Morrison. “Health Outcomes Of Information System Use Lifestyles Among Adolescents: Videogame Addiction, Sleep Curtailment And Cardio-Metabolic Deficiencies.” Plos ONE 11.5 (2016): 1-14. Academic Search Premier. Accessed 27 March. 2018.
  • Zhang, Tao, et al. “Promoting Children’s Physical Activity In Physical Education: The Role Of Active Video Gaming.” JTRM In Kinesiology (2016): ERIC. Accessed 27 March. 2018.

Outline of Essay

• Intro
  • Attention Grabber
  • Something is obviously very corrupt about the amount of time parents and children are spending together in the modern age. The growth of technology creates social isolation with children, which leads to addiction, attachment, and separation from real family relationships.
• Thesis
  • Technology is spectacular, and it is an amazing invention humans have created and continued to expand. The amount of intricacy and detail that is put into new devices is absolutely genius and breathtaking.
  • However, these new developments are beginning to take a negative turn on our growing generations, and that is why technology should be limited in children’s lives. Children are not being children anymore.
• Technology’s effect on social skills
  • An article by Ethical Human Psychology & Psychiatry in 2010 details a woman’s description of her teenage son. It states that “her son had few friends, preferring instead to spend his time alone in his room watching television or playing video games… [He] appeared pale with dark circles under his eyes, slightly obese, lethargic, and noncommunicative.”
  • Technology takes this social benefit way from them, and they are secluded to a childhood of isolation, which will lead to a difficult future.
• Mental impairments with technology
  • anxiety, addiction, depression, and ADHD
  • Technology’s addictive effect is has on children can cause further mental impairments, which are actually similar to psychological symptoms of other addictions, such as addiction to alcohol.
• Physical health impairments with technology
  • Given the fact that about two-thirds children are classified as overweight or obese, the increasingly active role of technology and video gaming has played a role in this.
  • According to a Journal of Teaching, Research, and Media in Kinesiology in 2016, “recent physical activity recommendations for children (ages 5-17) are to accumulate at least 60 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity per day… However, the number of children around the world who regularly participate in physical activity is staggeringly low, with experts estimating that approximately fifty percent of them fail to meet the physical activity recommendations.”
• Poor communication skills accumulated with technology use
  • Children stuck in “virtual” world
  • Negative and harmful websites
• Conclusion