what are the effect of technology on teenagers
Answers
Hannah Brewster, Contributor
November 29, 2017
How often do you find yourself using technology? It is very rare nowadays not to see teenagers using technology. According to the article “Technology’s Negative Impact On Teens,” “Everyday an average teenager spends up to 8 hours on electronic devices, which is more than 56 hours in one week.” Technology has a negative impact because it is an attention deficit, it can cause depression, cyber bullying, and it does harm to the physical health of a teen.
Technology is an attention deficit because many kids while doing homework have a phone, laptop, or even TV in front of them, which they constantly are going back and forth from homework to answering a text, or looking at a computer screen, or even going back to watch the television when the episode comes back on. This is known as multitasking; teens are not giving their full attention on school work so they are not doing their best work they could give. Technology is an attention deficit because it makes it so kids don’t give their full attention to one activity.
Technology can cause depression because social media shows things such as what the “perfect body” looks like so many people get picked on for being too fat or too skinny. Social media makes teens think that there’s a certain way they need to look and it makes teens compete to make themselves look like they have a better life than others. It also causes teens to have trouble being social, being face to face instead of through screen to screen. Many kids get so used to talking through a phone that they don’t know what to say in person. According to the article “Study Links Mobile Device Addiction to Depression and Anxiety,” “People who self-described as having really addictive-style behaviors toward the Internet and cellphones scored much higher on depression and anxiety scales.” Technology can cause depression because it convinces teens that there is this such thing as the “perfect body” and it makes teens struggle with communication person to person.
Technology has a huge impact on cyber bullying because many teens feel they can say something through social media instead of face to face. According to the article “New National Bullying and Cyber bullying Data,” “34% of students had experienced cyber bullying in their lifetime (17% within the last 30 days). Four out of five of the students who were cyber bullied said mean comments were posted about them online, while 70% said someone spread rumors about them online. Notably, nearly two-thirds (64%) of the students who experienced cyber bullying stated that it really affected their ability to learn and feel safe at school.” Some teens say they do it through social media because they don’t have the courage to say it to the person face to face because they don’t see their facial expressions. They don’t have to see the pain they caused. Technology places a huge role in cyber bullying.
Technology is also bad for teens because it causes physical health decrease. The amount of teens that go outside and play without any technology has decreased rapidly. The article “The Physical Impact of Technology on Children” said, “According to the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 10.4 percent of preschool children and 19.6 percent of children ages 6 through 11 are obese.” Technology is a huge reason why obesity has and is currently increasing. Teens would much rather use technology and binge eat instead of putting down the technology and going outside to play. The article “Rapid Increase of Worldwide Laziness as Global Physical Activity Levels Decline” said the future is only going to get worse. “The researchers also projected that things will only get worse in the future. Researchers using the metabolic equivalent of task (MET), used to measure the amount of energy spent on completing a task, determined that by 2020 an average American will spend around 142 MET hours per week. According to the researchers, the British will reach those levels by 2030 and Brazil and China will have similar physical activity levels as Americans and the British by 2030 as well.” Technology has a huge negative impact on the physical health of teens and it’s only supposed to get worse.
Technology has a huge impact on our everyday life, but we don’t realize it. It negatively affects teens because it is an attention deficit, it can cause depression, cyber bullying, and it does harm to the physical health of a teen. Next time you use technology see how much time you spend on and how much it influences your opinions and life.