Clarissa Knight
Professor Kenedy
English M01A
December 10, 2018
Rough Draft
“ One machine can do the work of fifty ordinary men. No machine can do the work of one extraordinary man” – Elbert Hubbard. This quotes exemplifies how society today has an excess amount of technology and the amount of people who own smart devices are rapidly increasing and while some of it is good, much of it is destroying our minds and ruining our ability to think, function and be creative. The amount of technology we have at our disposal is also emphasizing our lack of imagination. Because we have an excess amount of technology, that leaves a lot of room for development, especially in smartphones and tablets, particularly with social media and gaming apps. With the amount of people who own a smartphone or tablet, our future can drastically change because the youth of today are our future and with all the available distractions for infants these days, the future generations are at risk for improper development of cognitive, social, and emotional behaviors throughout their lifetime. Exposing a child who is not ready to have a smart device because they can easily become addicted is a hazard because for the most part, when an infant has a smart device in their hands constantly, it is usually the parents who has enabled them to know what to do to obtain that device.
Technology is not all bad. With technology we have been able to go to the moon, instantly call or text people in cases of emergency, create moving pictures, cars, and even miniature computers that can fit in our pockets. Because of the easy access we have to all of this, technology has become a drug to our brains and even though we know that we should limit the amount of time we spend with it and on social media’s, we continue to abuse it and have the need to constantly be in tact with people, some of who we don't even know. We feel the need to show our popularity by updating our social media pages to show what we are doing rather than enjoy the present moment. Parents feel the need to keep their children quiet in a restaurant by constantly allowing them to cry to get the tablet. Parents want to give off the persona that their child is quite and graceful by allowing them to have an ipad with a television show on it. The people of today are ruining the minds of tomorrow by not exposing their children to the world and what it has to offer. Kids in grade school are focusing on their gaming status on fortnite or how many followers they have on instagram rather than studying for their classes or preparing for their exams. Kids are not getting the proper amount of sleep they need to be successful in life because they lie in bed playing on their phones.
The first ever social media network was called Six Degrees. The network was launched in 1997 and was the first site where people could create an actual profile and find people who they could friend and chat with. The app had around one million users when it was bought in the year 2000 and the it shut down in early 2001. This paved the way for other developers to create an app where people could find friends, upload photos, keep up with current events, and promote themselves to the cyberworld. In today's society it would seem that the United States of America would have the most amount of technology available because it is a mass producing country with a lot of major cities that act as hubs for development such as silicon valley in northern California. California is particularly responsible for the birth and evolution of the iphone created by steve jobs in the year 2007. It was with this first major smart device that paved the way for similar technology to follow. This is also the beginning of the future deteriorating because of all the things a smart device can do for its user and all the things it can take away from them.
According to Ina Fried in her article on Apple’s mass productions, “the company sold more iPhones than ever before and set all-time revenue records for iPhone, Services, Mac and Apple Watch," said Tim Cook, Apple's CEO. The company sold 78 million iPhones in the quarter up 5 percent from a year earlier and roughly in line with what analysts expected… sold 13 million iPads…“We’re thrilled to report that our holiday quarter results generated Apple’s highest quarterly revenue ever, and broke multiple records along the way.” Because apple devices are so simplistic and easy to use, more and more people are wanting to buy them. With more people wanting to buy them, this has become a trend in most areas, everyone wants to have to newest apple device which is why Apple produces so many new devices a year. This past year in 2017 it was stated that the company had sold over seventy eight million iphones and over thirteen million ipads. That around 77.8 billion dollars with a $3.36 share for every person. When a new device comes out, parents tend to hand down their old phone to their children. This is how a child is introduced to the world of technology. The fact that Apple had broken multiple records and generated the highest quarterly revenue just proves that the amount of technology we have and the amount that we are producing is too much and rather than stop or limit the amount we produce we would rather give it to the youth so they can experience the cyber world too and become apart of it. According to Kathryn Zickuhr in her article Generations and Their Gadgets, she states that “Cell Phones are by far the most popular device among American adults, especially for adults under the age of 65. Some 85% of adults own cell phones overall…Tablets and computers, such as the iPad, are most popular with American adults age 65 and younger.” Millennials are more likely to use a cellphone because because of all the different functions it offers. People who are over the age of sixty five tend to only use the two most basic functions of a smart device which are texting and making phone calls.
Zickuhr, Kathryn. “Generations and Their Gadgets.” Pew Research Center: Internet, Science & Tech, Pew Research Center: Internet, Science & Tech, 28 July 2015, www.pewinternet.org/2011/02/03/generations-and-their-gadgets/.
In this picture you can see that the amount of people who own a phone and use it for more than just texting and calling is rapidly increasing. In the future these statistic will increase dramatically to where everything will be near one hundred percent if we continue to have this excess amount of technology at our disposal and continue to hand it down to our children.
For the people who do not already own smart devices, why do they feel the need to buy them? Perhaps it gives them a sense of connection, a feeling of importance that whatever they do or wherever they go, the user can take a picture or video and download a social media app to then share with the world what they are doing. Or perhaps it gives them a sense of security that they can be in constant contact with a person. According to Apple, “Apple leads the world in innovation with iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch and Apple TV. Apple’s four software platforms — iOS, macOS, watchOS and tvOS — provide seamless experiences across all Apple devices and empower people with breakthrough services including the App Store, Apple Music, Apple Pay and iCloud.” Since Apple has such a huge influence on society today, they are able to control the minds of tomorrow. The company is constantly finding new ways to make their devices more adaptable and more addictive by providing a “…seamless experience…” for its users. This and the four basic platforms that almost everyone knows how to use it the reason why more and more people want to buy a smart device. People who see others engaging with their friends, posting on social media, or simply playing games through their different devices are showing a sense of intelligence and even their wealth which makes others want to buy those same devices to feel a sense of connection to the modern world.
I did not receive a phone until I was ten years old. My first phone was an old slide phone that only had call, text, and a limited amount of data for internet access. It was not until I was 14 that I received an Iphone. I only got an Iphone because my parents saw all the other kids getting one and it was something I had been asking for so I could play games and use social media apps. I noticed that I had been spending an increasing amount of time on my phone messaging my friends on snapchat or Instagram rather than talking to them in person or even paying attention in class. I also noticed that kids would hide their phones under their desk to do the very same thing, but these kids would end up failing their tests and some would even end up failing the class. Michael Ungar says that, “children are on their phones eight or more hours a day…and…kids today are more anxious than ever before, with spiking rates of depression and suicide.” For kids today, it is extremely easy to become distracted so it is no surprise that they are spending more time on their phones than they do at school or for some it is more time than they sleep! With all this time kids spend on their phone, they are more likely to either witness or be a victim of cyberbullying.
Most people have the most common social media accounts such as: Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter. These five social media web pages are the most common places for cyber bullying to occur.
Smith, Aaron, and Monica Anderson. “Social Media Use 2018: Demographics and Statistics.” Pew Research Center: Internet, Science & Tech, Pew Research Center: Internet, Science & Tech, 19 Sept. 2018, www.pewinternet.org/2018/03/01/social-media-use-in-2018/.
This chart shows how often people use these social media platforms daily. According to Elle Hunt, “A longitudinal study of 1,101 Australian high school students aged between 13 and 16 found poor-quality sleep associated with late-night texting or calling was linked to a decline in mental health, such as depressed moods and declines in self-esteem and coping ability.” Kids need about ten hours of sleep every night so when they are on their phones, they are not getting the proper amount of sleep they need. If you have your phone next to your bed, you are more likely to reach over and use it. The bright screen and loud dings can affect a child's mind because it keeps their mind constantly wondering and thinking about the next message they are going to recieve or when they next post will update. Because kids are playing on their phones during the time when they should be sleeping, it i affecting the way they perform in school the next day. Jim Taylor states that, “Technology has the greatest influence on how children think: attention information overload, decision making, and memory/learning.” Technology is limiting the way our children think and function because they are so immersed in the cyber world that they are not paying attention to what is happening around them. When a child is doing their homework, it is hard for them to focus because they are constantly taking a break to check their phones or they here a notification buzz. Smart devices impair a child's ability to make decisions because they are not used to the consequences that it could have in the cyber world. The ability to obtain information and then retain it moments later is also at risk because the child's minds is glued to what is happening on their phone in the present moment. Their attention span is so short because they are constantly scrolling through to the next post. Quoted in Janna, Anderson, and Rainie, Lee, “The long-term effects of children growing up with screen time are not well understood but early signs are not encouraging: poor attention spans, anxiety, depression and lack of in-person social connections are some of the correlations already seen, as well as the number of teens who become addicts and non-functioning adults.” This also shows that the amount of time kids spent on their phones put them at an increased risk for not developing the proper social skills they will need when the grow up which can lead them to be socially awkward, outcasts, and unfortunately a non-functioning adult.
Technology not only puts kids at risk for improper development, but it also put babies and infants at an extreme risk for emotional, behavioral, and cognitive deficits. According to Alexandra Sifferlin, “73% of surveyed parents let their kids play with mobile devices while they were doing chores around the house. Sixty percent said they let children use them while running errands, 65% to calm their child and 29% to put their kid to sleep.” With the amount of parents who let their babies have a tablet, the world tomorrow is almost guaranteed to change. Nowadays if you you go to a restaurant and a family with a baby walks in, the infant is most likely to have a tablet of their own that their parents give to them to keep them quiet or to use a distraction so they do not whine or have a tantrum. Parents today are enabling their children to cry to get what they want. If society continues on this way then the future generations will not know how to interact with society and will not learn how to cope if things do not go their way.
According to Babies and Toddlers Should Learn from Play Not Screens, “When parents are watching their own programs, this is “background media” for their children. It distracts the parent and decreases parent-child interaction. Its presence may also interfere with a young child’s learning from play and activities.” When parents are put on the television for their children, they are taking away the vital parent and child interaction that they need. Babies are learning to rely on automated programs rather than their parents. Most infants under the age of three really have no idea what is going on in a program, they are just staring at a moving picture because of the bright colors. My godson recently turned one and his grandparents bought him an Ipad. Now, everytime we go out his mother always gives it to him when he starts to get fussy. I have noticed a change in his behavior from being an interactive baby to being a baby that keeps his eyes open for minutes straight to watch the programs on the Ipad.
The most critical years for a child's brain is from birth to age five. If they do not have that social interaction with others, they have the possibility to have speaking delays, problems keeping attention, and bad sleeping schedules in the future. According to Dr. Nicole Burkens, “ Increased time with electronic devices can lead to a wide variety of serious health problems including insulin resistance, obesity, increase abdominal fat, and higher risk of Type 2 Diabetes.” While this may seem impossible for a one year old baby, this is what will happen in the future if kids continue to abuse the technology they have surrounding them. Because they are glued to the screen they are not physically moving which will lead them to sit in one place and eat unhealthy foods resulting in the health problems mentioned above.
There is an excess amount of technology in the world today. People are constantly trying to fit the societal norm of having the latest gadget in hand or are trying to show their families wealth by giving their kids these expensive phones and tablets which they don't need. Children today are being distracted by phones and tablets versus paying attention to the real world and interacting with people. Toddlers are being exposed to this type of technology too early in life which is resulting in developmental delays, social disorders, potential for physical health issues, and the decreased ability to be creative and use their imagination. To protect our future we need to limit the amount of technology we can have, especially at such a young age because the cyber world is not the real world.