Technology Taking Over?

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In today’s society, technology is a crucial part of our lives. Many adults have become addicted to technology and tend not to be able to function without it. We use technology at home, school, and work, therefore we may become attached and dependent on technology. While doing a task we easily become distracted by our phones, social media, and phone calls. This makes it difficult to focus on the task at hand and shorter attention span. According to Bob Sullivan, a columnist from NBC news, “One found that people who are interrupted by technology score 20 percent lower on a standard cognition test.” Gloria Mark at the University of California, Irvine,

According to Bob Sullivan, a columnist from NBC news, “One found that people who are interrupted by technology score 20 percent lower on a standard cognition test.” Gloria Mark at the University of California, Irvine, stated, “typical office workers only get 11 continuous minutes to work on a task before the interruption.”  

Even adults become less attentive and productive when having access to technology. Since adults have become connected to technology, they now pass it down to the younger generations of society. There are many children who learn how to use a phone before they learn how to read. When they are exposed to the internet at an early age they can become easily distracted. This cycle affects not only children’s health but their intellectual abilities as well.

Children become less creative because technology does the thinking for them. When you go on the internet you can find the answer to any problem or find ideas from other sources without you having to exercise your brain. This prevents children from developing critical thinking, problem-solving, and use of vocabulary skills. Since the internet has multiple distractions and websites on the internet, children are going to school struggling with expanding their knowledge and attention skills because they are accustomed to a computer doing the work for them. Child obesity and diabetes have become a national epidemic in the United States and Canada due to the lack of exercise children get in their daily lives. Instead of going outside and doing physical activities, they would rather sit in the house and play.

Children become less creative because technology does the thinking for them. When you go on the internet you can find the answer to any problem or find ideas from other sources without you having to exercise your brain. This prevents children from developing critical thinking, problem-solving, and use of vocabulary skills. Since the internet has multiple distractions and websites on the internet, children are going to school struggling with expanding their knowledge and attention skills because they are accustomed to a computer doing the work for them. 

Child obesity and diabetes have become a national epidemic in the United States and Canada due to the lack of exercise children get in their daily lives. Instead of going outside and doing physical activities, they would rather sit in the house and play video games or watch television. Children tend to overuse technology, resulting in shaking, breathing and heart rate problems.

According to UCLA Chancellor, it is shown that “about one-third of American children and teenagers are overweight or obese, making childhood obesity the leading health concern for parents in the United States.” Gene Block also stated, “ the more time with computers and phones can make us gain weight not just because we’re more sedentary, but because of their effect on our sleep cycles.” Therefore children should not spend so much time on technology. 

As a society, we should create events and space for these children to become active members in their communities. For example marathons and sport tournaments could help children become more interactive with one another. By encouraging kids to become active and socialize with others, it will improve their communicative and problem-solving skills. This will also improve their health by decreasing blood sugar levels, weight loss, and increase stamina. 

Based on our experience, some ways that you can limit your use of technology is creating a schedule of all the tasks you want to do for the day. You can create time slots for when you will be on your phone, eat, sleep, watch tv, and go outside. It is a good idea to make plans to go on a run for the day or something simple like going outside with friends. Technology and social media shouldn’t control our lives. Instead, these should help us grow and develop ourselves and deepen our relationship with others.

Written by Alicia Jones and Diana Villacreses, WYA Headquarters’ Interns from the United States.

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