Melissa Heise

Professor McLaughlin

English 1010

15th October 2017

How Kids have changed with Technology

A three-year-old today will probably never talk on the phone without seeing the other

person's face. Being one of the highest tech countries in the world is something to brag about,

but there are many downsides to the effect it has on children. “The average age for a child

getting their first smartphone is now 10 years old; 64% of kids have access to the Internet via

their own laptop or tablet, compared to just 42% in 2012” (Donovan). Today, kids rely on the

internet for everything, with it being so convenient and accessible. Parents buy their kid's

smartphones, let their kids watch tv, play video games and bring their phone to school. This

then leads to problems in the child's life. For example, it can lead to poor social skills,

cyberbullying and affects the way children think and focus during school. The social and

physical development of young children is so significant and has a direct effect on their overall

growth and the adult they will become.

Technology is always thought about in a positive way and contributes greatly to how we

go about our daily life. It is essential to see how it affects children in a negative way. According

to Pamela DeLoatch from Edudemic, “More than a third of children under the age of two use

mobile media. That number only increases as children age, with 95% of teens 12-17 spending

time online”. Teens have smartphones, smart tv, and computers around them at home and in

school where they spend the majority of their time. Children today are surrounded by

technology at a young age, and this can change the way children's brains work as they are still

developing. The brain doesn't stop developing until age 25 according to Childhood

Develment.org. The first digital generation was children born from 1980 to 1995, and that’s not

having an iPhone, that was having a computer not linked to the internet and having a phone

with a cord attached. Today children will never know what it's liked to not have instant access

to contact someone, find out news or look up information on the internet. Thinking and

problem solving will never be the same with technology because you can ask Google to solve

your problems instead of figuring it out yourself. Search eigians don’t allow you to problem

solve because it makes it a lot easier for children to cheat in school. This affects children's

education, how they act socially and the way they act towards their peers.

In the development of a child, technology affects how they think and focus. The average

child's focus and attention spans are between four to twenty minutes according to Childhood

Development Experts. During a 45 minute, long class with your phone next to you is going to

affect you academically. According to Jim Taylor PH. D “the technology writer Nicholas Carr has

observed, the emergence of reading encouraged our brains to be focused and imaginative. In

contrast, the rise of the Internet is strengthening our ability to scan information rapidly and

efficiently”. Reading allows our brains to think creatively and puts a picture of the story into our

mind. As he says, with the internet strengthening it's so much easier to sparknote a book or

look up an article online and that does not allow us to think creatively.

Technology is always thought about in a positive way and contributes greatly to how we

go about our daily life. It is essential to see how it affects children in a negative way. According

to The Megan Meier Foundation states, “it is estimated that about 2.2 million students

experienced cyberbullying in 2011. Of the 9% of students that reported being cyberbullied in

the National Crime Victimization Survey compared to 6.2% in 2009”. Children today are

surrounded by technology at a young Wage, and this can change the way children’s brains work

as they are still developing. Social Media is a big outlet for bullying because you're not just

posting it to get the victims attention, but you're posting it for the whole world to see. Social

Media is also a significant cause for, cyberbullying sexting and predators. Most kids make

positive choices on the internet, but nearly “39 percent of teens on the social network have

been cyberbullied in some way, compared with 22 percent of online teens who do not use

social networks” According to Suren Ramasubbu of the Huff Post. Social Media is a significant

factor in the world today; it’s easier than ever to connect and share information online. I saw a

traffic post on social media from someone who went to my high school. On Twitter, he posted

his Halloween costume. His Halloween costume was making fun of a kid in our school who has

Autism. He not only dressed up as this for Halloween but posted this on twitter for hundreds to

see. Social media is also making it a lot easier to spread things on the internet, which

sometimes is a beneficiary but can be harmful to others. According to No Bullying “,55 percent

of all teens that use social media have witnessed outright bullying online and 95 percent of

teens that witnessed bullying on social media reports that others, like them, have ignored the

behavior.” I think this is a perfect example of how kids are not matured enough with the access

they have to social media today.

Classrooms are using technology more frequently. Teachers are allowing students to use

Smart Phones in class as a tool to help students. Cell phones are the biggest distraction in

schools and are the most significant aid for cheating. Kelly Wallace from CBS News states,

“According to the new national survey of 2,000 middle and high school students, more than a

third of teens with cell phones (35 percent) say they've used a cell phone at least once to cheat

during a test and half (52 percent) say they've used the Internet to cheat”. With the Internet

and smart devices, it is getting a lot easier to cheat. This is making students rely on their phones

in class. When they cheat, they aren't thinking critically. This affects children in school, and it

will affect them in their further education.

Even though technology is very convenient and positively impacts our world today, it is

affecting children's health in the long run. In a study done by David S. Bickham and Emily a

Blood, “children’s and adolescents’ lifestyles have changed, with dramatic increases in use of

television, video games, and computers, from 1999 to 2009, the average amount of time is 8- to

18-year-olds spent viewing TV content rose from 3 hours 45 minutes to 4 hours 30 minutes a

day, with the increase primarily being TV programs viewed on computers and other platforms.”

We spend so much time with our face plastered into our phone, TV and laptop. Looking at our

phones a common amount of time during the day will not cause us to have health problems;

but generations to come will have no other option. USA News explains increased screen time is

associated with higher rates of childhood obesity, behavior problems, ADHD, poor sleep quality,

poor physical activity and poor school performance. Too much technology when a child is

developing is affecting the child's health that can affect the rest of their life. Children don’t

know anything different since they are given so much technology at such a young age.

The opposition side argues that we need technology to have a successful future and we

must use technology to our advantage to advance in society. I argue: why do we want our kid's

health and development to be at risk to get ahead at a young age. Although we are all using

technology much more, we should limit technology to our kids and the younger generation. We

are risking their social, physical and mental development. New York Times argues that “there is

a widespread belief among teachers that constant student use of digital technology is affecting

their attention span and ability to face challenging tasks”. If we are forcing the future

generations to use technology, they won't know how to do tasks and problem solving on their

own.

Why would we give our children so much technology? We do it because it is so easy for

a parent to give a child a tablet or sit their child in front of the television so the adult can get

things done. We give it to them because our society is all about being ahead of everyone else.

Many believe giving children technology will make kids more successful in their future. Why

shouldn't we believe this? Dr. Jim Taylor from Huff Post argues, “This influence isn’t just

affecting children on the surface of their thinking. Rather, because their brains are still

developing and malleable, frequent exposure by so-called digital natives to technology is wiring

the brain in ways very different than in previous generations”. The norm of Previous

generations was not buying her child a phone at the age of 12. Not just because no one that age

had them cellphone but, t was never necessary for a 12-year-old to have a phone. Which makes

things busier on parents and adults will buy anything to make life easier for them. Though it

saves us time, we won’t learn anything from plagiarizing or cheating.

Over time people will see how the social and physical development of young children is

so significant and has a direct effect on their overall growth and the adult they will become. The

use of phones and technology will directly affect kids in their further education and how they

will be successful. The social and physical development of young children is so significant and

has a direct effect on their overall growth and the adult they will become. Social skills are vital

to be successful in our very competitive and challenging society.

Work Cited

Taylor, Dr. Jim. “How Technology Is Changing the Way Children Think and Focus.” The

Huffington Post, TheHuffingtonPost.com, 3 Dec. 2012, www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-jim-

taylor/technology-and-kids_b_2232502.html.

“Kids & Tech: The Evolution of Today's Digital Natives.” Influence Central,

influence-central.com/kids-tech-the-evolution-of-todays-digital-natives/.

DeLoatch , P. (n.d.). The Four Negative Sides of Technology. Retrieved October 26, 2017, from

http://www.edudemic.com/the-4-negative-side-effects-of-technology/

Wallace, Kelly. “High-Tech Cheating on The Rise at Schools.” CBS News, CBS

Interactive, 17 June 2009,

www.cbsnews.com/news/high-tech-cheating-on-the-rise-at-schools/.

Taylor, Jim. “How Technology is Changing the Way Children Think and Focus.” Psychology

Today, Sussex Publishers, 4 Dec. 2012, www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-power-

prime/201212/how-technology-is-changing-the-way-children-think-and-focus.

Bickham, David S., et al. “Characteristics of Screen Media Use Associated With Higher BMI in

Young Adolescents.” Pediatrics, American Academy of Pediatrics, 1 May 2013,

pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/131/5/935.

Strasburger, Victor C., et al. “Health Effects of Media on Children and Adolescents.” Pediatrics,

American Academy of Pediatrics, 1 Apr. 2010,

pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/125/4/756.