Consequences of Technology

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Anyone who uses technology in excessive amounts could also be at risk of emotional affects. Social media has been the big thing for about the last 5-10 years now. You see everyone on it a least once a day. But some kids spend hours at a time on it. And a lot of teens find themselves either bullying others or getting bullied themselves on social media. “According to DoSomething.org, nearly 43% of kids have been bullied online. 1 in 4 has had it happen more than once. That means almost half of our teenagers have been bullied by their peers through social media posts, comments, texts, etc. What’s even worse is that 90% of kids say they have ignored it,” (Solstice Residential Treatment Center, 2015, paragraph 5). Being aware of our surrounding in the world, as opposed to social media, teaches us about emotions. Communicating with others face to face will help will help us

NEGATIVE CONSEQUENCES OF TECHNOLOGY

understand a lot more about emotions than surfing the web. By limiting yourself to

a minimum amount of time on social media of any sorts, the number of bullies and bullied would decrease. In turn, any kind emotional consequences will also minimize.

The final affects that is earned when tampering with technology for long periods of time are social consequences. We all know that in the past 5-10 years, everyone has been relying more and more on technology, whether it is text messaging, social media, or even just playing games. Everything has become a lot less personable. As children, teenagers, and young adults, we need to learn how to minimize our time on all of those things. Not doing this will continue to make everything done from screen to screen. I don’t see anyone sitting down at a job interview a few years from now and being able to understand what the employer is asking them and them being able to answer the question in a substantial amount of time. “Increasingly, we are seeing companies talking about their young workers lacking these basic social and emotional skills,” Nass says, (Greenwood, 2013, paragraph 8). Kids today can read a message and wait until they come up with a decent response before responding to them for a while. There are people today that physically cannot hold a conversation because they grew up just clicking send on an electronic device. “The girls who reported being avid online media users and

NEGATIVE CONSEQUENCES OF TECHNOLOGY

multitaskers, and spending less time engaging in face-to-face communication, had

lower self-esteem, felt less accepted by peers, had more friends whom their parents considered bad influences, and didn’t get as much sleep,” (Greenwood,

2015, paragraph 5).

Conclusion

The children who are growing up with technology, not being able to limit themselves to a minimum of social media, games, and even messaging will not be able to grow up with healthy habits. If children or teenagers are on these devices all the time, they will have severe consequences. When it comes to their mental health, they could have memory loss issues. With their physical health, it could danger their backs, necks, or even vision. Emotionally, I don’t feel they will be able to connect with another individual on an emotional level. They will not have learned how to understand emotions by looking at a screen. Also because of that, they may be bullied or even become one. Socially, children who grow up talking to their friends through a cell phone, will probably not be able to hold lengthy conversations face to face, which could jeopardize jobs and long-term goals. Overall, there will be many consequences if this generation of children and teenagers grow up continuing on this same path with technology.

NEGATIVE CONSEQUENCES OF TECHNOLOGY

Works Cited

Federici Greenwood, K. (2013, April 3). Look Me in the Eye. Retrieved April 16, 2015, from http://paw.princeton.edu/issues/2013/04/03/pages/1177/index.xml

How Much Physical Activity do You Need? (2015, February 11). Retrieved April 16, 2015, from http://www.cdc.gov/physicalactivity/everyone/guidelines/children.html

Reynolds, A. (2013, August 16). The Physical Impact of Technology on Children. Retrieved April 16, 2015, from http://www.livestrong.com/article/561008-the-physical-impact-of-technology-on-children/

Technology’s Affects On Teenage Mental Health. (2015). Retrieved April 16, 2015, from http://www.solsticertc.com/blog/technologys-affects-teenage-mental-health/

Wedner, D., & Geehr, E. (2015, March 26). The Real Effects of Technology on Your Health. Retrieved April 21, 2015, from http://www.lifescript.com/well-being/articles/t/

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