Does Technology Negatively Affected Our Society?

Technology is seen today as a ground breaking tool to advance every day, but in reality, it can be detrimental to a person’s development especially in children growing up in today’s culture.

In an era like the twenty-first century, it is not unusual for children all over America to be exposed to technology. The Pew Research Center released the “Teens, Social Media, & Technology Overview 2015,” which determined that eighty-seven percent of adolescents have access to a computer and fifty-eight percent have access to a tablet (Lenhart). In addition, the research center also reported that ninety-two percent of adolescents reported daily internet use. Before, children were playing outside with friends for fun, and socializing with their friends and family in person. Today, kids play and interact through laptops, tablets, and other media devices. Technology has become a part of most children and adolescent’s everyday life, through the way they interact with the world.

"It's Time to Let Go of Screen Fears". I can't help but be oppositional to this side of the argument. When it comes to the health of our society, we need to listen to people that can be trusted. That is why we can't ignore the advice of the American Academy of Pediatrics when they say the reccomended screen time for children is 1-2 hours. The growing number of different devices has been linked to a lower test scores and a decrease in kids' creativity that hasn't been seen in fifty years. Technology is one of the industries in this day in age that is always growing so we need to put a limit on how much screen time we're getting before it is too late.

Many people have a fear of children spending too much time in front of screens. Screen time isnt always a bad thing though. Technology has improved throughout the years, and it's no longer necessary to fear it. Screen use and technology have been proven to be essential parts of our everyday life. It only makes sense to encourage our children to take part in reaping the many benefits it has to offer.

Technology has been part of our daily live more frequently than before. Screen time has been more popularly used on kids and adolescents. On a daily bases many kids seem to spend more time inside on their tablets, instead of having to spend time with other kids. This is a problem that is becoming more popular over the years,on whether kids need to spend that much time on technology or not. Parents either seem to have strict technology usage, or they either don’t. There has always been a huge controversy with experts, who either think that screen time is beneficial or could cause problems later on in life. There are many views towards this topic, from hurting kids brains, to helping them during school, and socially.

The purpose of the research article from the scholarly journal Childhood Education (2014) is to discuss the arguments currently surrounding the topic of media, technology, and screen time (MeTS) and its use with young children, and create an international dialogue on what steps should be taken in the future on how to responsibly use MeTS in a way that is productive and developmentally appropriate. The authors first discuss what global issues currently stand referring to MeTS, citing statistics of television, video game, and computer exposure among young children (children younger than 6). It is described that in the United States alone, “83% of children under 6 years old use…two hours with a television and DVD player, 1 hour with video

Lately, the issue of excessive screen time is becoming increasingly important in pediatrics, and it has become a major risk factor for many chronic conditions such as vision impairment, obesity, and altercations to social behavior. While many parents realize that excessive screen time is harmful, children are still spending eight to ten hours on their electronic devices. Not many parents realize that proper regulation is also needed to keep their child safe from health risks. According to the National Heart, Blood and Lung Institute, 28 percent of parents set TV-watching rules, 30 percent set rules about video game use, and 36 percent of parents set rules about computer use (“Reduce Screen Time”, 2013). This is a problem because 60 percent of children are constantly stumbling upon explicit content every year, and their behavior shifts more negatively and aggressively (Lunsford, 510). I believe that too much screen time can pose much harm to a child’s health and well-being. If we don’t find ways to limit excessive screen time than children will face many consequences that will ultimately harm them as they grow older.

Firstly, as most parents stated their children had access to digital devices at home, it could be believed that parents thought this was a sufficient amount of technological use for their children at this age. Consistent with this, parents expressed concerns that children are exposed to too much technology. As the American academy of Paediatrics recommends, very young children should have no more than one to two hours of screen time per day (Radesky, Schmacher and Zuckerman, 2015), children under two years of age should have no screen time at all. Furthermore, children having limited screen time of one to two hours per day also impacts on screen time within the Early Years Setting. Practitioners will not be aware of the screen time children have used at home and if technological devices are given to children's free play then children's screen use could be well over the two hours per day that is suggested. Secondly, parents stated that the development of other skills were important, such as their emotional and social skills. Consequently, Brook (2014) argues that technology distracts children from engaging in social interactions with others. Significantly, parents stated technology did not provide skills that could not be developed from other activities in setting. Parents, whose children had access to technology, expressed a time limit on their child's use of technology, this could indicate parents understanding that too much screen time may be detrimental to young children's development. This links to Sigman (2014) who believes the amount of children's screen time that they engage with now, will impact on the amount of screen time in later life. There is a proposal in Plowman's et al (2010) work that children should have access to technology equivalent to home access, as the home offers a richer digital environment. In comparison, parents

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends children under the age of two years have no screen time, with the exception of video chatting. Children younger than two benefit from a hands-on learning approach, therefore, introducing them to a digital device takes away time they need to be socially interactive to develop their cognitive, language, motor, and social-emotional skills. By the age of two, and through the preschool aged years it is recommended that children have no more than 1 ½ hours of screen time per week, and that screen time should be monitored to ensure it is educational as well as age appropriate. There are even television channels and computer applications that are dedicated to creating educational, engaging, and enjoyable content for such young viewers, however, it should be noted that

In this era, many will say its not good for young adults to not have access to electronical devices, for their social stability, or to understand how the world works, this may be true but children should definitely be limited. The gudelines from the American Academy of pediatrics (AAP) stating that children older than 2 years should be limited to 1-2 hours of "screen time" and that is what parents should be instiling upon their kids.

There are around seventy-five million children in the United States as of 2016. The population of children and the estimated amount of time they spend looking at a screen is a tremendous one. On average children thirteen to eighteen years old spend around nine hours looking at a screen. Children that ages range from eight to twelve years old spend around six hours looking at a screen (Shapiro 1). But is it all that bad according to a study done by OECD the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development it actually can help improve on skills such as reading science and mathematical skills. “If a teenager plays a single-player video game between once a month and almost every day, they have been found to perform better on average in maths, science, reading and problem solving than children who play single-player games every day, and even those who rarely or never play video games at all.” (Loulla-Mae

The current generation of children is completely different than the preceding ones. They are living in the digital age. “Technology has blended in with daily activity to become a way of life and children today take for granted all of which is automated. It is hard for kids nowadays to imagine a world that existed without all of the gadgets, electronics and seamless operations that computer technology provides.” (3) “Children in the United States devote some 40 hours a week to television, video games and the Internet.” (12) Many psychologists and researchers are concerned about the impact that technology has on children. Children, tomorrow’s future parents and leaders, are being consumed by the negative effects that technology had on their

Today’s technology has greatly impacted the young children’s everyday lives. Phones, tablets, and computers are all a form of technology that impact the way kids are influenced. Some children get phones or computers at young ages and it can cause kids to depend on it to entertain them. Eventually they will allow the technology to take over and have it become the form of communication between friend and family instead of face to face. As parents continue to buy their children new technology they don’t monitor the amount of time their children spend on the Internet. Technology is becoming more advanced overtime which causes children to become more attached and unable to function without it near by.

Technology and these devices are addictive. To tell parents and children that they should not limit themselves or their children on the amount of time they spend looking at screens is foolish, and sometimes it dooms

Tears spill over the crystal clear blue eyes of the blond little boy. Screaming at the top of his lungs, he shakes the dead iPad as if his life depends on playing Super Mario Run. Like this little boy, many children today are extremely familiar with and even dependent on technology. In the 1980s, children may have had Nintendo Entertainment Systems and Gameboys, but that does not compare to the smartphones, tablets, and game devices that exist today. Children, people under the age of eighteen, who grew up in the 80s had to suffice with playing with action figures or participating in activities such as board games, tag, and hopscotch. Although kids obviously still do these things today, technology has become a huge part of many of their lives. According to one magazine, 75% of children under the age eight use mobile devices (Fast Company). Technology can be beneficial when used for education; however, if not monitored by parents, children can become addicted. Children’s play has greatly shifted towards technology, and it can negatively affect their mental and physical health.