Mental Health
123 Technologies Influence on Developing Adolescents
Tatum Weaver
Technology today is not like the technology even 10 years ago. It is highly accessible and challenging for parents to regulate, even when used for educational purposes. It is an addictive resource that many parents have begun to take advantage of because, for some reason, it makes parenting easier than before. However, it is nothing but the contrary because it leads to behavioral issues, social anxiety, and poor manners or any ability to understand authority and personal imagination.
Connection to STS
As technology is continuously adapting it is going to effect the younger generations as well if it is affecting the older generations. If screens are addicting to adults then its going to be even more addicting to younger kids because they have have more adrenaline, they don’t have the understanding for what is good and what is bad for them, and they surely don’t understand how their addiction affects the people around them. They won’t remember the fits they have today in ten years, but it will mold them into the kind of person they will be in the future. Will they be able to have their own imagination and think for themselves? Are they going to be able to be physically active or is the future of society going to be a complete picture of obesity?
New Technology vs. Old technology
This starts with electronic media because social media drastically impacts adolescents today. Specifically, tweens, meaning middle school- high school era. Today, the time spent on social media is much broader than it was 10 years ago. Now there are multiple different types of social media, depending on which app and how you’re using it, which depicts how regulated it is. Regulation may be spam accounts, catfishing, or cyberbullying. All occurred 10 years ago and still occurs today. It is more likely regulated now because social media has been around for at least 10 years now, so there is more knowledge about criminals on the internet today . When you dissect these issues it can be defined as comparing body types, risking sexual initiation, and exposure to drugs and/or alcohol (Ray et al. 2010). Stereotypically, baby boomers have the strongest disagreements with the rising use of modern technology. It is theorized that as the new generation grows old they will use less technology than when they were young, but by this theory it doesn’t make sense that a 10 year old used less technology when they were 10 versus when they were 17 (Mallborn, S et al. 2021). Based on data this theory is incorrect and as the newer generations grow older they will become more reliant on modernizing technology and will always want the next “new” thing. Every generation is going to grow up differently and create a reputation fit for their time period, such as baby boomers, gen x, y, and z; but now there is gen alpha who has grown up differently than any other generation to date. This generation has been ultimately given the name “ipad kid” and these children typically have a screen everywhere they go. Studies are showing that majority students under the age of 10 can’t read or write (Quinney 2024). They are growing dependent to an addiction.
Influence on Adolescents
Children and adolescents tend to struggle to separate fantasy from reality. This is why it is so detrimental when exposing violent video games to young kids because then they go to school or in public and pretend to “shoot other people” as if they were in the video game. After all, they don’t understand that it isn’t socially acceptable to pretend to murder people. It creates this fake world in their mind and creates many issues outside of the family. Social issues begin and difficulties learning begin to form because their mind is distracted and wants to be elsewhere because video games and social media are highly addictive(Ray et al. 2010). It creates a fantasy world that their minds can’t understand.
Diving into social issues even before social media, and the rapid development of modern technology, many adolescence experienced social issues, whether that be making friends, public speaking, or strong personality traits. It is crucial for children to have social interaction because it will frame all future interactions for them as a person (Bosacki et al. 2021). It provides emotional support which everyone knows is a key component for an adult to live independently. Watching television and playing video games has become part of every American life, taking 2-5 hours work of time for most children under 7 (Rowan 2010). It’s becoming a dominant problem in the Americas and increasing obesity rates for children due to lack of exercise and constant stagnancy in the dark while playing violent video games. Growing adolescence need to stimulate their brain in order to cope with the millions of new hormones they will be experiencing(Marshall et al. 2012). Learning how to cope and manage their emotions is part of growing up and since technology has been put into the parts of parenting, it is taking away that part of development. In a video game or behind a screen your brain is dull and not being stimulated, so the children aren’t experiencing the frustration that they would be with physical exercise.
Conclusion
As society advances into the future there needs to be acknowledgement for how much screen time and digital media adolescence are allowed to witness day to day or overall. If not, there will be a generation that is 10 or more years behind all of their elder peers. No one will be able to think for themselves, imagination will cease to exist and the world that is constantly evolving today will be run by mindless screen addicts. The next generations will suffer with not being able to control emotions, morbid obesity, and never being able to live on their own independently with a thought of their own. Physical stimulation will be a figure of speech from the past and the human race will stoop to a level of stupidity never seen before.
References
Mollborn, Stefanie, et al. “A Life Course Framework for Understanding Digital Technology Use in the Transition to Adulthood.” Advances in Life Course Research, vol. 47, 2021, pp. 100379–100379, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.alcr.2020.100379.
Ray, M., Jat, K.R. Effect of electronic media on children. Indian Pediatr 47, 561–568 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13312-010-0128-9
Białecka-Pikul, Marta., Stezpien-Nycz, Małgorzata., Szpak, Marta., and Gangriel, Paweł., Devine, Rory T., Bosacki, Sandra., Hughes, Claire. (2021) Journal of Research on Adolescence, 31(4), 1202- 1217.
Rowan, Cris. (2010) “Unplug—Don’t Drug: A’Critical Look at the Influence of Technology on Child Behavior With an Alternative Way of Responding Other Than Evaluation and Drugging” https://web-p-ebscohost-com.libproxy.clemson.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=0&sid=b709061c-93a4-4ed2-8d53-0f6e2a2e3215%40redis
Marshall, Richard M., and Sharon Neuman. The Middle School Mind : Growing Pains in Early Adolescent Brains. 1st ed., Rowman & Littlefield Education, 2012. http://libproxy.clemson.edu/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=e025xna&AN=433573&ebv=EB&ppid=pp_16
Quinney, Ella. (2024) “The Generations: From Boomers to Gen Alpha” HS Today The Student News of Liberty High School. https://lhstoday.org/51164/features/the-generations-from-boomers-to-gen-alpha/