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Clayton Caldwell

Mrs. Scaife

Composition

05 April 2017

Technology and Its Potential Addicting Effects

I love technology and the internet as much as the next college student but some people

can take their love too far. Technology and the internet have brought many positive changes to

mankind, but there are also potential downsides brought about by overuse. Technology addiction

can lead to people not giving each other full attention and hurting conversations, abusive

relationships, and adverse health effects on young children.

Technology addiction can lead to people not giving each other full attention and hurting

conversations. Smartphones have done much to alleviate boredom during periods of time where

there is nothing to do, but there is a time and place for everything and people can potentially

miss out on important events in their life. The Pew Research Center researched and found 89

percent of cellphone owners said they had used their phones during the last social gathering they

attended. But they werent happy about it; 82 percent of adults felt that the way they used their

phones in social settings hurt the conversation. (Turkle) Many people become conditioned to

look at their cellphones any time there is a lull in the conversation or they lose interest. This

weakens conversations greatly due to the fact it encourages participants to keep the

conversations light so people can enter the conversation at any point if they havent been paying

attention. This leads to a situation where the conversations are uninteresting, so people look at

their phones until the end and then realise theyve missed the whole talk. Conversations arent
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the only thing that could be potentially ruined through social media however, relationships can

be made negative as well.

Social Media can have a negative effect that allows partners in a relationship to engage in

abusive behavior. Healthy relationships are founded on trust but in the article Teens,

Technology, and Romantic Relationships by the Pew Research Center states that they found

that 31% of teens with dating experience report that a current or former partner has checked up

on them multiple times per day on the internet or cellphone, asking where they were, who they

were with or what they were doing. (Lenhart, et al.) Checking up on a partner once in awhile is

normal behavior but once it starts happening multiple times per day it becomes potentially

abusive and shows that there is some potential trust issues. If the partner is using the information

against the other or threatening the other with going through social media to find out what the

other is doing it becomes controlling behavior. If social media wasnt such an important part in

relationships, then weak-willed people may not engage in abusive or controlling behavior as

much due to the fact that they can hide behind a screen. While the effects technology has on

relationships seems bad enough the effect technology can have on young children is even worse.

Excessive technology can negatively shape a child's development just through staring at a

screen for too long. In the article Screen Addiction is Taking a Toll on Children the pediatrics

academy states that before age 2 a child should not be exposed to electronics because a childs

brain develops rapidly during these first years, and young children learn best by interacting with

people, not screens. (Brody) Playing violent video games at a young age can remove empathy.

Empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings of another, a vital skill for a child to

learn. Brodys Screen Addiction is Taking a Toll on Children states that children act more
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violent without empathy. Even with all the downsides I agree that technology has many benefits

and that we shouldnt stop using altogether.

One of the big positives of technology, social media, and the internet is that they can be

effective teaching tools. Unfortunately in a report by the Pew Research Center they found the

internet plays less of a role in lifelong learning for those with lower levels of education and

income. (Horrigan) So even if the internet helps some people for the majority it doesnt help at

all. Which means that even with technologys plus the old style of teaching through school and

training in person is still the most effective. Technology can only help those with the money to

afford it.

Technology addiction has many downsides. It can lead to hurting conversations, abusive

relationships, and adverse health effects on young children. If used poorly technology can harm

more than help.

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Works Cited

Brody, Jane E. Screen Addiction Is Taking a Toll on Children. The New York Times, The New

York Times, 6 July 2015. Accessed 9 Apr. 2017.

Horrigan, John B. 5. The Internet Plays Less of a Role in Lifelong Learning for Those with

Lower Levels of Education and Income. Pew Research Center: Internet, Science & Tech, 22

Mar. 2016. Accessed 10 Apr. 2017.

Lenhart, Amanda, et al. Teens, Technology and Romantic Relationships. Pew Research

Center: Internet, Science & Tech, 1 Oct. 2015. Accessed 9 Apr. 2017.

Turkle, Sherry. Stop Googling. Let's Talk. The New York Times, The New York Times, 26

Sept. 2015. Accessed 7 Apr. 2017.