How Technology and Social Media Control Children and Adolescents

ENG122
December 11, 2013
How Technology and Social Media Control Children and Adolescents Incredibly many people look at their phones throughout the day to see if they have a text-message, email, notification from social media, missed calls, or simply just because it has become an addiction. Technology has been changing over the years, and new apps and newer upgrades for electronic devices are being developed. High tech is advancing at an incredible rate. Consider how technology has expanded and evolved in the last ten years. How to manage this new phenomenon was not taught to us as children because it did not exist. Many children and adolescents born in the 20th century cannot imagine their lives without TV, smart phones, computers, tablets, or iPods and many other devices; youth have technology surrounding them. As a result, many of the young people raised in the world of technology do not have the same level of emotional skills of those ten or more years ago. Adolescents and children depend on the Internet more than on themselves. They no longer have the same innovativeness. Obesity and cyber bulling has increased over the years. More suicides have occurred. Those who are exposed to violent video games, movies and TV programs have shown aggression. However, parents do not realize how those devices affect their child’s development. Social media already affects many adults; now think about how strongly modern technology affects toddlers and juveniles. High tech devices are damaging our brains more than benefiting us; children and adolescents do not have control over their phones, computers, and video games any more, as adults we need to recognize the devastating that these devices can be for juveniles. Social media is affecting people mentally and physically, and without a doubt has an effect on adolescents of today’s generation. Adults must use more cautious over this epidemic before they lament its influence. Technology has overpowered our lives and deprived us of the need for human physical and face-to-face social interaction, therefore damaging our interpersonal social skills. Studies have shown that “young people ages 8 to 18…spent more than seven-and-half hours engaged in non-school-related technology [a day]” (Price- Mitchell 2). That means that most of that time they are checking their email, texting, tweeting, chatting with people from different countries in different social media such as Facebook, or playing online games with people from all over the world. Young people use these devices and social media more than they speak to an actual person. Are teens capable of conversing in person the same way they do while chatting and texting? When it comes to meeting people in person, adolescents do not know how to interact, or what physical gestures to do toward the person they are meeting. The amount of time they spend using these social media websites and devices causes teens to be more shy and anti-social. They no longer develop the physiognomy necessary when interacting in face-to-face situations. Adolescents depend on technology more and more as time passes by. The Internet has every question already answered for them. Teens no longer have to go to the library to read a book to find out what happened on September 11, 2001. The moment they type September 11, 2001, in a searching website, such as Google, all kinds of sources, news, history, and images will show up in front of them on their monitor. “People can put out a problem, whether it’s ‘Where’s a good bar?’ or ‘What if I’m pregnant?’ and information pours in from all kinds of sources” (qtd. in Lewis). Adolescents do not need to struggle to get an answer to any question that they have; technology can do most of the work for them. If they do not know how to do a math problem, the Internet can help or give the answer. If they do not know how to fix something, the Internet can help them. If they want to learn how to activate something in their cars or phones, the Internet can help them; they no longer have to read the manual or instructions to solve problems for themselves. The Internet has all the information for their concern already consolidated for them. It is sad children depend on the Internet rather than tackling problems on their own. Why should they even bother to ask for the help of others or to get a book if they have the Internet that does the work for them. Technology has incredibly increased that it is impossible to keep up with it. Most of us have more than five electronic devices at our homes. For example, we own a TV, desktop computer, laptop, tablet, iPod, or smartphone. How can we manage the time of usage to children and adolescents? Very self-isolated, children are not as active as children used to be years ago. New educational apps are being introduced to these electronic devices for young children. Therefore, instead of playing with blocks and any other hand-on tools, children are now being exposed to educational apps that are supposedly teaching them to count, the sounds of words, and all the basics. In reality, these apps are taking children’s creativity from them. When children play with educational apps on tablets, these programs have already been prescribed by a programmer. “What the child does is play according to someone [else] rules and design. This is profoundly different from children having an original idea to make or do something” (Straus 2). Apps are being programed by other people who do not allow kids to be as creative as when they play with blocks or Playdough. Playing with hands-on tools allows them to have better emotional health, imagination, original thinking, problem solving, and self-regulation. When children play with educational apps, they are incapable of using their creativity and intuition. To play a game, specific rules have already been made. Therefore, they are not being as innovative. Also, instead of moving children are seated playing with a screen that tires their eyes and causes them to gain weight. Children do need to learn how to manage technology because unfortunately, technology has become the primary use at schools, colleges and jobs; if children do not know how to manage with technology, they will be at a disadvantage in society. First, children need to play with blocks and hands-on tools to enhance creativity and open the mind. Then, children must learn how to manage computers and tablets. When they do end up exposed to these electronic devices, it is recommended to only use them for a very short period of time before they become addicted to these devices. Obesity among children and adolescents in the developed world has increased over the years. Children from this generation spend a great amount of their lives playing video games, watching TV, navigating the Internet, or on their smartphones that they no longer are physically active. Adolescents enjoy sharing their lives in their social media. They spend hours fixing their profiles and uploading pictures, instead of going out and enjoying the gorgeous things that Earth has to offer us. Why even bother when instead of going out they can be sitting in the couch eating their favorite food while interacting with friends and people from all over the world. Therefore, kids’ weight is increasing because all they do is mindlessly snack while seated all day. Also, have you ever paid close attention to the food commercials on TV? What do you see? What we see the most on TV commercials are processed and fast food. Kids are exposed to fast food even while watching TV, causing them to have cravings those foods being advertised. The first thing they want to do is to try the spicy, crunchy, and juicy food that has been advertised on TV. Obesity in children is increasing because they spend all day seated and eating. Additionally, processed, fast food is being advertised to them more than healthy food, and kids prefer unhealthy food. In other cases, many adolescents, both girls and boys, are being affected by bulimia and anorexia nervosa because of social media. Most of the time what we see on TV, magazines, and on the Internet are attractive women and men who are in good shape. Some celebrities are so thin, so tall, and so unrealistically beautiful that many teenagers, mostly girls, who are going through the process of identifying who they are becoming more aware of their physical image. In the article “The Internet and Adolescent Girls’ Weight Satisfaction and Drive for Thinness,” the authors, Marika Tiggemann and Jessica Millce state, “Social networking sites also have the potential to increase pressure on adolescent girls to portray a particular image and provide increased opportunity for appearance and comparison…magazine and Internet appearance exposure were both correlated with internalization and drive for thinness” (81, 84). Girls become more aware of their physical image, and all they wish for is that their body would look like the celebrities on TV, magazines, or Internet. These beautiful young ladies then become more prone to eating disorders such as anorexia or bulimia, which can lead to death if left untreated. One of the main reasons why adolescent girls from the ages of 13-18 suffer from the highest rates of bulimia and anorexia nervosa is because all they see on the media are gorgeous tall and thin women. Now with Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and all those social media websites where pictures are uploaded every single second, the pressure of self-awareness increases. People take pictures of what they are doing, eating, watching, who they are with, things they think are interesting, but mainly they upload pictures of themselves; causing adolescents to worry about their appearance. Their main focus is to look “precious” in their pictures, and when they see that they may not look as marvelous as celebrities or others, they become more negatively conscious of their image and their self-esteem can plummet.
Social media only portrays one standard of beauty, neglecting others. Only showing super skinny and tall women as gorgeous allows adolescents to have only one perspective of beauty. Social media does make us see things in a different way. When we look at movies, most of the time, we see South Americans or Latinos portrayed as gang members, dangerous, always getting in trouble, criminals, and so on… which allows children to really think that these cultures are bad and mean when in reality every culture is like any other culture. Every culture has those who are intelligent, not intelligent, nice, rude, thin, overweight, etc. However, social media only focuses on thin people as beautiful, overweight people as ugly (sometimes kind), dark skinned color people as mean or dangerous, light skinned people as intelligent and caring. These portrayals children and adolescents to think of people and of themselves the way media portrays them. That is why bullying is becoming a greater problem among adolescents. “Don’t hang out with her, she is fat. He is dangerous because he is dark skin.”
Now, let’s stop and think for a moment. When we look at cartoons and advertisements untended for boys compared to cartoons and advertisements for girls, there is a difference. Boys’ cartoons and advertisements show more aggressiveness. Girls’ cartoons and advertisements are more sweet and caring. Both reflect stereotypical views this could explain why young boys play more aggressively with each other compared to young girls. Children do gain knowledge from what they see. Cartoons send a message to children; boys need to be aggressive while girls need to be nice and caring. All they hear and watch on TV, internet, video games, and music are what they want to do. “In video games, the player must identify with the characters and choose violent strategies, this choice being rewarded” (Eftimie 122). Because the player has to interact with their characters enabling them to win, adolescents can become more of an aggressive person. Children try to transmit what they learn to play in video games to the real world. They think that every problem in the world should have aggressive characteristics; therefore, they act violent towards every problem or situation they confront. Video games can desensitize teens to the realities of war and crime. Instead of benefiting them, games harms them, causing children to be more aggressive and focused more on crime and revenge. When children see their favorite actors fighting and killing in movies, they tend to see these actions as cool or “bad-ass” (in the words of many modern teens), making them to want to be aggressive as well.
Kate Martin in her article, “The 4 Negative Side Effects of Technology,” mentions that, “due to the excessive usage of online chatting and shortcuts, the writing skills of today’s young generation have declined quite tremendously” (20). Today’s youth have become lazier at writing words and instead they abbreviate them. For example, instead of writing “you” they write “u” or instead of writing “happy birthday” they write “HBD”. Because abbreviations and replacements of words are being used while texting and chatting teens do not notice they use the same abbreviations while writing an essay or while doing school work. Further, with technology so advanced, they do not have to worry about their spelling or mechanical grammar. They have “auto-correct” to fix any misspelled words automatically or help them to spell correctly by offering suggestions. Students no longer take the time to learn grammar or the different meanings and spellings of words. They have technology to do the job for them. Walking in the mall or street, youths often mention that they feel disconnected from the world without their phones; adolescents go senseless when their phones are uncharged. Teens feel empty and nude if their phone fails or get lost; this is irritating for many adults. Media use is so ubiquitous for teens, “like the air they breathe, the water they drink and the food they eat” (Lewin 2). Adolescents live from their phones. Keeping in touch with friends and family is important, but it should not consume the majority of a teen’s time. Adolescents feel lost and confused when they are not in touch with friends and family. Inevitably, technology has become part of their life. Their phone is the underwear they wear every day. Their devices are next to them all day, all night, when eating, when going to bed, when hanging out with friends, when going to the mall, when visiting their grandparents, when working out, even while driving. Their phones must be with them everywhere! A missing phone means the end of the world for teens. It depresses them. Social media detaches them from seeing what is happening around them. Adolescents are not aware of the importance of sharing and experiencing a conversation with their parents and family any more. They are so attached to their phones that instead of having a conversation with their family, for example, during dinner, they are in a different world. Teens are engaged in social media. When at a restaurant with a group of friends, they do not have a full conversation the entire time they are there. Half of the time adolescents are using their phones. These devices prevent adolescents from awareness of their surroundings, causing to be disappointing. They are highly attached to them that at the instant they hear a “beep” they have to look at their attached phones. Electronically committed adolescents, even when driving, grab their phones to answer a text message or even just to go on Facebook. What necessity is there to go on Facebook while driving? There is no necessity whatsoever. Adolescent are too connected to the world of social media, that they have to go on Facebook to see what they have in their updates, even while driving which can cause an accident. Later, not even a text message can bring their leg, their arm, or their life back. Social media detaches people from seeing what happens around them.
Adolescents love to take pictures of themselves, and post them on social media send them to their boyfriend/ girlfriend or friends. Youth use what is known as sexting. Sexting can be defined as sending, receiving or forwarding sexuality explicit messages, photographs, or images via cell phones, computers, or other digital devices. Adolescents often use sexting to demonstrate love to boyfriends or girlfriends. They send provocative pictures without realizing the consequences. Many times adolescents go through phases of curiosity through their teenage years, and sexting can be one of those phases. Teens hardly ever see the bad side of do. They do not realize that once those pictures are taken and uploaded to the Internet, “[the pictures] remain permanently in ‘cyberspace’... [and] if inappropriate images and/or social networking site pages are discovered, it could affect the applicant’s chances of being accepted [into college] or hired [in a job]” (Hua 6). Even if the picture was only published for a couple of seconds, the picture remains forever. There have been cases in which adolescents have decided to kill themselves as a result of the negative consequences of sexting. Sexting can harm people for their entire lives. Some people cannot find jobs as a result. Bosses have the right to look at a person’s history when hiring, and if these images are seen, it can definitely damage a person’s work opportunities. Images speak louder than words; therefore, even though the person who sends the nude picture is a smart and kind person, the pictures portray a different person to others. Adolescents who have engaged in sexting have been threatened or charged with felony child pornography charges. When adolescents are charged with these felonies at a young age, they get confused and depressed. They live under the stress of courts, jail, and people viewing their nude photographs. Some attempt suicide and as a result, some are successful.
Have cellphones become an addiction for teens? Adolescents do describe themselves as addicted to their phones. Many adolescents go into withdrawal when they cannot use their phones. “Cellphone use, like alcohol and drugs might act on the reward centers of the brain containing opiate receptors. “When the brain gets its perceived reward, whether is drugs, chocolate, or the excitement of texting consistently, it wants to do it more frequently” (Gittleman 1). Due to the excitement teenagers feel while texting, there is no debating that cell phones have become their stress and their depression reliever. Texting with others may help them to get distracted by getting their feelings out and having others comfort them. Also, texting and chatting can help them not to think of the depressing moments they may be going through. For instance, there are no longer those Nokia bottom phones (not touch screen phones) that only worked to call and send text messages to people; smartphones now dominate. Smartphones allow us to have immediate and constant access to the Internet. Researchers have proposed a new phenomenon called “Facebook depression,” defined as depression that is developed when teens spend a great amount of time in social media sites such as Facebook, just navigating to get distracted or posting all of their feeling in their status/ Facebook wall where all of their “friends” can see them, and some can make fun of. Cyber bullying in social media is causing critical depression among teenagers. Cyber bullying is known for sending or posting any rude messages, rumors, and embarrassing photos by an electronic device. Adolescents are always connected in the world of social media; Twitter, Instagram, Snap Chat, Tumblr, Reddit, Hi5, Facebook, and hundreds of other social media sites. They can receive any nasty and rude comments on these sites from anyone, and sadly nothing much can prevent this. Adolescents want to keep having these kinds of sites because teens like up to date devices and want to keep in touch with their peers. They stay quiet when someone bullies them on the Internet. Children consistently add people in their profiles whether they know them or not. It only takes a few minutes to create anonymous email, which can make it harder to know who the victim is being bullied by. As technology continues emerges, bullying is being seen more on social websites than in school or in public. That is because it is easier for bullies to be awful to someone when they cannot see their immediate reaction. Anyone who access to the Internet can make a websites just to make fun of a person, to bully a person where everyone can see, harming the victim even more. People have their own opinions and say every rude comment they would like to. Many post embarrassing pictures of others, so that they can be criticized, ending up harming people for the rest of their lives. Some victims of cyber bullying even kill themselves instead of telling their families what is going on or facing the world. As a result, when adolescents suffer from Facebook depression, they risk social isolation, and sometimes turn to risky internet sites and blogs for “help” that may promote substance abuse, unsafe sexual practices, and aggressive or self-destructive behavior. Social media can be full of abusive people. Adults take advantage of adolescents’ innocence; when adolescents are depressed and go to social media websites where they might not know half of their “friends,” they can get hurt. People often pretend and try to cheer adolescents up when they are depressed, giving them comfort. Adolescents trust those strangers, thinking they are of the same age. Some fall in love with their “Facebook friend,” and when deciding to meet in person, the Facebook friend is a fraud. That person can be someone looking for love or affection. When meeting in person the teen often experiences abuse. Some teens never come home from meeting with their “friend”. Adolescents need computers for many academic assignments and research projects; however, some teens find it difficult to stay on task with the temptation of surfing the web. Personally, every time I open my laptop to “do school work,” I go straight to Facebook to see what people are up to; YouTube to put music on; Hotmail to check my email or simply just because I know I have the Internet and begin researching. I do waste about an hour and a half per day in these websites instead of doing schoolwork. I have deactivated some of my social sites accounts just to focus on my work and school, but the temptation returns. I am not the only one who finds the Internet addictive. Studies have shown that adolescents’ grades in school decrease because of technology. Teens do not focus in their school work because they spend the majority of time texting, chatting on social websites, talking on the phone, and watching their favorite episodes on TV. Adolescents who abuse the Internet can definitely lose sight of priorities such as academic success and interpersonal relationships. Compared to years ago, we see more conflicts in relationships. This is in part because social media allows us to interact with new people or with people we might feel attracted to. It is hard to trust each other. Not only do problems with romantic relationships but with friendships as well. Friends have the tendency to get mad at each other when not invited to a place where the majority of friends went. This happens because of all of the gossips that people make up on these sites. Technology and social media are new to all of us, including to teenagers, and have become an overwhelming problem. Imagine how the media will evolve in future generations. The effect of technology and social media today will only worsen in the years ahead. Parents need more awareness of what their children watch and do on these devices. Limit the time. Make rules. Make a change. If parents do not take control of this epidemic, who will?

Works Cited
Eftimie, Simona, Mihaela Suditu, and Alina Mărgăriţoiu. "The Impact of Mass Media Upon Aggressiveness." Petroleum - Gas University Of Ploiesti Bulletin, Educational Sciences Series 62.1A (2010): 121-126. Academic Search Complete. Web. 3 Sept. 2013.
Gittleman, Ann Louise. “Are Teens Addicted to Cell Phones?” Children’s Health (2011): 1-2. Total Health Magazine. Web. 14 Nov. 2014.
Hua, Liwei L. "Sexting And Social Media In Today 's Adolescent: Peer Norms, Problems, And Provider Responsibility." Brown University Child & Adolescent Behavior Letter 28.4 (2012): 1-6. Academic Search Complete. Web. 3 Sept. 2013.
Lewin, Tamar. “If Your Kids are Awake, They’re Probably Onlie.” Educarion (2010): 1-2. New York Times. Web. 9 Oct. 2013
Martin, Kate. “The 4 Negative Side Effects of Technology.” Master Health Informatic (2013):1-3. Edudemic. Web. 19 Sept. 2013
Price-Mitchelle, Marilyn. “Generation Tech: The Good, Bad, and Scary.” The Moment of Youth (2012):1-3. Psychology Today. Web. 19 Sept. 2013
Straus, Valerie. “Is Technology Snapping Children’s Creativity?” The Answer Sheet (2012): 1-4. The Washington Post. Web. 9 Oct. 2013
Tiggemann, Marika, and Jessica Miller. "The Internet and Adolescent Girls’ Weight Satisfaction And Drive For Thinness." Sex Roles 63.5 (2010): 79-90. Academic Search Complete. Web. 4 Sept. 2013.

Cited: Eftimie, Simona, Mihaela Suditu, and Alina Mărgăriţoiu. "The Impact of Mass Media Upon Aggressiveness." Petroleum - Gas University Of Ploiesti Bulletin, Educational Sciences Series 62.1A (2010): 121-126. Academic Search Complete. Web. 3 Sept. 2013. Gittleman, Ann Louise. “Are Teens Addicted to Cell Phones?” Children’s Health (2011): 1-2. Total Health Magazine. Web. 14 Nov. 2014. Hua, Liwei L. "Sexting And Social Media In Today 's Adolescent: Peer Norms, Problems, And Provider Responsibility." Brown University Child & Adolescent Behavior Letter 28.4 (2012): 1-6. Academic Search Complete. Web. 3 Sept. 2013. Lewin, Tamar. “If Your Kids are Awake, They’re Probably Onlie.” Educarion (2010): 1-2. New York Times. Web. 9 Oct. 2013 Martin, Kate. “The 4 Negative Side Effects of Technology.” Master Health Informatic (2013):1-3. Edudemic. Web. 19 Sept. 2013 Price-Mitchelle, Marilyn. “Generation Tech: The Good, Bad, and Scary.” The Moment of Youth (2012):1-3. Psychology Today. Web. 19 Sept. 2013 Straus, Valerie. “Is Technology Snapping Children’s Creativity?” The Answer Sheet (2012): 1-4. The Washington Post. Web. 9 Oct. 2013 Tiggemann, Marika, and Jessica Miller. "The Internet and Adolescent Girls’ Weight Satisfaction And Drive For Thinness." Sex Roles 63.5 (2010): 79-90. Academic Search Complete. Web. 4 Sept. 2013.