Today's culture in America revolves around technology and we are so overwhelmed and addicted to the growth that the American society is being deprived through opportunities and also mentally and socially. I have a brother who for years didn't take school or our family seriously. Throughout these years he was overly obsessed with technology. There wasn't a minute of the day I didn't see him on his computer or playing video games. There were Even times when he refused to eat at the dinner table with us because his game was more important and interesting than his family. My brother never wanted to go to school which lead to dropping out in the 11th grade and as the years went on, his attitude got worse and worse. My brother was affected by technology and the over use of it. From dropping out, he didn't go to college, didn't get the opportunities he deserved and he wasn't able to thrive and live on his own as an adult. Once he realized the path he had gone down, he turned his life around for the better, but this wasn't until my brother was almost 28 years old. The effects of overusing technology affect some of my core values, especially for my future of making time for family and friends. Experiencing this at such a young age when phones and even computers weren't as popular as today, it scares me to think of how it would have been if this had happened in 2006 rather than 2003, just a couple of years later when smart phones, and Industries such as Apple became even more popular to the generations growing up. Addiction is defined, as stated by Zorbaz a Doctor of Educational Sciences " as an unpreventable desire and wish (489)." This is how the American society views technology--they desire and love the feeling of holding their slender smart phone and vigorously clicking away on their computer mouse's and feel incomplete with out it. The people involved in this issue are families and young adults in the American society where they grow up surrounded by technology so advanced parents aren't even sure how to use it. This will continue into the future for every new generation. There will always be new technology that each generation didn't have as a kid. Small steps starting now can make a vast difference, such as waiting longer to give children phones, restricting time use on the Internet, and possibly making an app that parents can use to control adolescents use. 

This generation is losing their mental awareness and capability to thrive as an individual. One way they are doing this is through not getting the proper amount of sleep. Peter Edwards, a retired New Wales science teacher in Australia explains deeper into the issue that, "The hormones that regulate sleep patterns and wellbeing are disrupted by long hours of illumination from computer or television screens, and skills of coordination are being lost (52)." With all of the technology that is widely available, it is hard for young adults to get the right amount of sleep. Surrounding them at night is their HD TV, smart phone, and probably some type of gaming system. According to WebMD, "An average adult needs between 7.5 and 8 hours of sleep per night ("Adult Sleep Needs")." With less than six hours of sleep people wake up in the morning feeling drained. Going to school with minimal to no sleep can be a huge determinate of adolescents productivity during the day. 

My first phone was a flip phone; I didn't get a smart phone until high school and I didn't get my flip phone until I was about thirteen years old. I now see adolescents getting phones at the age of seven-ten years old. Conrad, Kate, Verhoff, and Greene all apart of the Department of Communications at a college in California indicated that  "over 87% of Americans use the Internet, with an additional 90% owning cellphones and 58% owning smartphones (23)." Jean Piaget was a clinical psychologist known for his pioneering work in child development. Piaget's studies found that "cognitive development was a progressive reorganization of mental processes as a result of biological maturation and environmental experience. Children construct an understanding of the world around them by the experiences they have (Piaget)." At that age children should be outside playing and learning about the world around them, not inside obsessing over technology, because this is a stage in children's life that brain development is most important. Of course, there are healthy ways for children to use technology such as learning games, which will help children's knowledge expand.

With sleep the American society also deals with an increase in health issues including a key one, obesity. In a clinical study, found through the American Journal of Medicine, Doctor Uri Ladabaum, a medical doctor in the Department of Medicine at Stanford University, found that the increase in obesity rates in the United Sates isn't due to the caloric intake everyday, but the lack of physical activity due to adolescents spending so much time inside and being on the Internet (719.) Children learn how to live their life at a young age; this is why parents should start to teach adolescents when they are younger that exercise and education are important factors when growing up. With the overuse of technology children will not only lose sleep and possibly become obese but eventually it will lead to an addictive lifestyle.

Tobias states in the Journal of Social Psychology, "Media exposure has been shown to be a powerful determinant of social behavior (499)." Everyone loves their social lives, and can't live with out them. It has gotten to a point where technology consumers no longer have the desire to confront people and they look to social media and the Internet as an outlet.  In an article by Fox, the Associate director of Pew Research center's internet rejects and Raine, the director of science for Pew Research, found through studies that "Currently, 92% of 18 -- 24 year old non-college students and nearly 100% of undergraduate and graduate college students are Internet users (Fox & Raine)." Today's American society relies on dating apps and sites to meet people. The emotion is no longer there. Showing our feelings through text has also been a challenge. Alex Lickerman, a physician and former assistant professor of medicine at The University of Chicago, states that, "We write things like "LOL" and "LMAO" to describe our laugh, but they're are no real substitute for hearing people laugh, which has real power to lift our spirits when we're feeling low ("effect of technology on relationships")." When the thought is no longer there, there may be a problem. The American society strives to be the best version of them. They go to lengths of faking who they are online and never coming out from behind their computer or smart phone. When striving to become the best the American society loses there self worth and can no longer face reality. With all of the upgrades to phones and computers, you can now see when someone reads your text, and people get upset when someone doesn't reply within two minutes. My mother would always lecture me about my phone, saying I needed to go outside experience the outdoors and real life friendships. When she was a kid there were never problems like cat fishing and confronting people because they didn't have a cell phone or the internet to do that. Cat fishing is essentially when you meet someone online and when you finally meet them in person, they're not who they said they were. Today, we have trouble communicating without feeling awkward or shy.  Peter Edwards states that, "This reduction of human relationships to a mouse click can even damage relationships and cause resentments that would not exist if people did not use such media as their main mode of interaction  (54)." The overuse and reliance of technology also leads to a lot of cyber bullying and makes it easier for kids to pick on others. People will say anything online without thinking but when flipped around would not say it in person. I feel as though Armstrong, an American Political Commentator said it best, in an article from New York Amsterdam News expressing, "between the numerous wireless gadgets, people are becoming metaphorically dead and blind. They are tuning out the world around them and focusing merely on their own tiny existence ("Technology Overload")." If people could learn at a young age about technology and the pros and cons, kids would grow up better understanding.  

Opportunities can be a huge determinant of your future if you make the best out of them. The American society has hundreds of opportunities, some including the opportunity to go to high school, college, to be apart of an internship, and the opportunity to meet new people. Education, employment and growing up are three big factors in joining the adult world. You must be educated to get a job, whether that is from high school or going on to college. Eventually teens or even early twenty year olds will have to face reality and grow up and step in to the world on their own. With unemployment rates increasing Scanlan and others from a research group partaking in the Journal of Occupational Therapy, claim that with unemployment, "the most notable increases have been demonstrated in television watching and doing nothing in particular" (112). The time is now for the American society to earn an education and experience the world. As the steadfast growth of technology rises so does the chance of not getting a job because they have a robot doing it instead. Jeremy Refkin, an American economist and published author stated that, "A technology revolution is fast replacing human beings with machines in virtually every sector and industry in the global economy ("New Technology")."This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but then the American society will feel more inclined to sit at home and let the robots do the work, which will lead to and increase in unemployment. People will spend more than half of their day online or playing video games and not even realize where the time went. Li and Chung, both apart of the Department of Early Childhood education state that "The Internet is used by a substantial subset of the population where younger adults alone spend on average 164 min a day online (Li & Chung)."

 There's a problem with the media overload and something should be done. Yes for some fast food restaurants machines will work better, but with the vast growth of technology the American society needs to stand up and fight for their right to be in the work force, making a difference. Having these machines in places, will allow people the dissatisfaction of not being able to talk to their favorite barista every morning or the worker in the Chick-Fil-A line as they come up to peoples windows to take their order and instead the American society will be talking to a computer screen everywhere they go. This can be limited by lessening the use of technology and controlling the time the American society puts into using technology. 

 I come to you all with a challenge, that I feel everyone can better from, take a day or two or three and put your technology down. Focus on the people around you in real life, the problems in your real life, and realize how the overuse of technology cannot only better individuals but hurt individuals as well. You can research and learn more from technology and you can communicate with people near and far, but lets not take advantage of the privilege these technological advances have given us. Given today are possibilities for the future and how the overuse of technology from the rapid growth can affect you through future opportunities but also mentally and socially. Hopefully one day the American society can have a class for middle school children, to specifically learn about the dangers of technology and how to manage their time spent on it. I don't want years to go by and then one-day technology becomes so advanced that the American society will be able to do everything from a click of their mouse. Parents these days don't know as much as kids do about technology because they didn't have the advanced technology that the United States has today, when they were kids, so they would very much appreciate support of the schools to show their kids how to properly use the Internet and manage time wisely. If I were to have had this class, I probably would not be as obsessed with social media as I am now. I recently visited my mother I Kentucky, where there was no Wi-Fi and no cell service, and although it got quite boring at times I was so thankful for the break I had away from my phone for a whole week. Yes the first day was hard, but it gets better. I want to strive everyone to try this at least once after reading my essay. Since then I have accidently left my phone in the car or in my dorm and have not even thought about it. It has made a positive impact on my life and I will continue to spare time away from technology for the sake of my dignity and wellbeing. I, in turn, hope you all can do the same thing. 

