Many schools, parents, and other people believe that technology has expanded children’s knowledge, and has benefited everyone. In some ways, it has helped our society greatly, but starting to use technology at a young age can affect social behaviors in a negative way. There are many different types of technology that have been scientifically proven to produce negative outcomes on kids. Children spend so much time on different devices, they don’t get to experience the human interaction that children other generations have participated in. Because kids are so used to always being plugged into their phone, once they disconnect, they become angry.
Some scientists have also looked into the effects of texting, and how messaging affects children. It has become an easier way to communicate with people, but at the same time teenagers are addicted. Texting has taken away from social skills by ignoring face to face conversations. Over usage of technology has also taken away from being able to make conversation and keep a conversation up. People have admited that texting and/or being on their phones has affected their relationship with their family. Children growing up with computers and other technology have had influence on their cognitive and academic development. For example, there has been concerns with kids creating virtual friendships, which affect actual real relationships. Technology definitely has positive and negative effects on children.
http://realtruth.org/news/090303-008-society.html
http://futureofchildren.org/publications/journals/article/index.xml?journalid=45&articleid=205§ionid=1342
It is sad how technology consumes so many lives of people today. Most of us are so attached to technology because it makes doing certain things so convenient. I’ve seen how attached the younger kids I would baby sit at home became to their phones. They were getting iPhones when they were only 5 years old, meanwhile me and my sisters got our first phones in middle school. The kids I would babysit would only want to sit on their iPhones and play games or take pictures. They never wanted to go outside anymore. Technology is so dangerous and ruins so many peoples ability to socialize and experience the world around them. Every day you see people walking with their heads down on their phones. People will be at concerts and sit on their phone. Even on vacation people are on their phone. They are missing out on things right in front of their faces because their phones absorb all of their attention. Here are a bunch of facts and percents proving how absorbed we are in our cell phones.
I think the technology is taking over the lives of younger generations. Along with everything you said, I believe children are so attached to technology they are engaging less and less in physical activity. Instead of going outdoors to kick around a ball or play tag, they are sitting in front of a TV screen, playing their favorite video game, or browsing the web. Although we can’t prove that the rise in child obesity is due to technological advancements because it could be due to other factors, there is a chance that it could. Not only is technology creating a heavier society, I believe it is creating mindless unsocial individuals. Watch this youtube video on technology effecting society, I watched it in my english class, It’s great!
I feel that although technology takes away from some social opportunities kids could be engaging in, it also expands their minds to think more insightfully. Just looking at social media can get one involved in all the news stories of the day, and it will have that child thinking rhetorically on their opinion of these stories. For more, check out this article that speaks as a counter argument to what you have presented. http://www.erikson.edu/news/technology-can-benefit-young-children-when-used-appropriately-says-donohue/
I agree with you that there is a negative aspect to allowing children to have access to technological devices such as phones are iPods. The fact that it strays them from what we as kids got to experience will change the way kids grow up in the future. One thing I wish you had done in this blog was to post more positive and negative effects about this topic, but otherwise it was a great post!