To my dad, I’m considered the symbolic teenage girl whose phone is consuming her life. Not only is that a biased statement, for he is the one paying my phone bills, it is only partially true. Like most teenagers of this generation, I too have a smartphone, and I check it at numerous hours of the day. The culture of teenagers having and using smartphones and other digital devices is not uncommon in our society. In Spring of 2017, it was found that 75 percent of teenagers own an iPhone and 81 percent said the next phone they will get will be an iPhone (Clover). In the United States alone, teenagers spend an average nine hours daily on media  (Joyce). But why is this generation so engaged about knowing what is going on 24/7? It is critical for people realize that disconnecting is the real way to connect mentally; if this is done, world would much more of a cultivated place. Although there are many positive reasons to using technology, society is consumed with the ongoing media, and it is starting to alter the way teenagers live on a daily basis by affecting the ways they interact with one another, the way they process information, and has recently been negatively affecting their mental health.

There is no question that our society is in a digital take over. The devices that surround us today affect us daily and have already altered the lifestyles we have. All of a sudden enormous paper maps are replaced by an app on a smart device that verbally gives directions and thick phone books are replaced by the internet that can fit in the back of your pocket. Teenagers today are now growing up in an era that is called the “digital age.” In years to come, there will be no need for paper maps or phone books or maybe even novels. With today’s technology, everything is online and can be accessed in less than a second, allowing new information and entertainment always at our fingertips. Although technology is making things easier for us on a day to day basis, several studies have shown that growing up with this new technology is already have negative affects to adolescents. 

One research study in particular was done at Duke University in May of 2017. The study looked at the correlation between adolescent’s mental health symptoms and how much time they spent using digital devices, such as texting, using social media and using the internet. The research study surveyed 151 adolescents between the ages 11-15 about their daily digital technology use. These adolescents were surveyed three times a day for a month and then were tested for mental health problems 18 months after. The research study found that the more use of technology led to later increases in attention, behavior and self-regulation problems for adolescents already at risk for mental health issues. The study showed that on days that adolescents used their devices more behavioral problems increased, such as lying and fighting, as well as difficulty paying attention and showed attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder symptoms (ScienceDaily).  Adolescents’ also reported that using digital technology and texting was associated with poorer self-regulation and that it increased conduct problems as well (George). This study shows that paying attention to multiple stimuli, such as using different gaming apps on a smart phone, playing video games, and using social media, can allow for the brain to start having attention problems and decreased memory, which is starting now at a early age. 

Technology is not just affecting teenagers, but it affecting children in our society today. Digital technology isn’t just affecting the way children think, it is changing the way the brain processes and receives information. However, this is a pattern that is shown throughout history. When new forms of technology are invented, our brain adapts and develops to how our lifestyle is going to be around that technology (Taylor).  Jim Taylor, Ph. D., specializes in psychology in parenting and explains that the rise of the Internet is strengthening our ability to scan information rapidly and efficiently, compared to reading which allows our brains to be focused and imaginative. Children today are now good at knowing how to find information fast through a search engine, but are starting to get worse on retaining information. Also, since reading isn’t as popular as it was in the past, children may not have as many opportunities to use their imagination or to think deeply about material, which is altering the lifestyle they grow up in (Pamela DeLoatch). The attention that people have is influenced by the environment that surrounds us. Today, the environment that surrounds our society is filled with devices that we are recommended to use for school and to use to communicate. Children growing up in this environment are going to have different cognitive skills and will process information differently than generations in the past due to the how the Internet is altering the way we take in information. 

Not only is technology affecting we process information; it is also altering the way that teenagers are interacting and communicating with each other in a negative way. 92 percent of teens reported going online daily according to a research study from Pew Research Center (Lenhart). Half of all teenagers say they feel addicted to their mobile devices (Joyce). The weird thing about this “new culture movement” is that teenagers themselves don’t question it. Many teens think it is normal to have and use their phone all day. This easy access to the internet is allowing constant entertainment to be the social “norm,”. The raise of social media has caused a culture shock in this era of the digital age. Amanda Lenhart, a researcher in teen behavior with technology at the Pew Research Center, says, "Simply, these technologies meet teens' developmental needs. Mobile phones and social networking sites make the things teens have always done – defining their own identity, establishing themselves as independent of their parents, looking cool, impressing members of the opposite sex – a whole lot easier."  Because of how social media does meet teens’ developmental needs, time consumed online has increased. The more time you use technology, whether it is playing video games or using social media, the lonelier you become (Cornish). Jean Twenge, a professor of psychology at San Diego State University, discusses how the more time spent with using technology, the more alone one feels. Twenge explains how feeling lonely is one of the main gateways to mental health problems, especially among teenagers. Teenagers today are said to be more likely to say they are more anxious, have symptoms of depression and have thought about suicide than teenagers five to ten years ago (Cornish) This is due to the amount of time that teenagers are now spending on technology, especially social media. 

When using social media, we are in an economy of attention. When you give something a lot of attention, it contributes value, which would be good if we were selling a product such as a piece of jewelry or an album for a popular band. However, the problem is that in social media we are the product; we are selling ourselves to the public. Things such as liking a photo or sharing a post is the value that others are giving us when we do post something online. Society likes to post on social media only the things that we want a lot of positive attention from. When people don’t get the attention they desired, the feeling of being valued decreases and this is where mental health issues, such as anxiety or depression start to increase (Bailey Parnell). As a society, we feed off of this value that others are giving us and it either makes us feel better about ourselves or worse. 

Texting, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and Twitter are a few examples of social media and are forms of what teenagers use today to communicate and to entertain themselves. The years of adolescence are about self-expression and self-presentation. Social media and other websites on the internet now make crucial identity-establishing behavior easier for teens by not having to represent or express yourself face-to-face (Henley).  Many people are concerned that since adolescents aren’t getting face-to-face contact, many teenagers will face social disadvantages because they are not familiar communicating in person.  Dr. Catherine Steiner-Adair, a clinical psychologist and author of The Big Disconnect says, “There’s no question kids are missing out on very critical social skills. In a way, texting and online communicating—it’s not like it creates a nonverbal learning disability, but it puts everybody in a nonverbal disabled context, where body language, facial expression, and even the smallest kinds of vocal reactions are rendered invisible.” 

Teenagers today are missing out reading emotions and social cues from the peers around them because of the time they commit to communicating behind a screen. This goes with meeting people and becoming friends online. When a friendship is started online or through texting, personal aspects about face-to-face communication are striped. It is easier to say things over text or online because you don’t get to see how you affected the other person after you said something, which means less is at stake. Also, you have more time to respond to a chat or a message online because it isn’t directly presented at you. This is altering how teenagers will act in the future once technology is even more advanced. The consequence of communicating online is the raise of anxiety. If teenagers are not getting enough practice communicating and relating to people in person, they will start to become unfamiliar with reading others’ emotions and they won’t have that physical social support. If this form of communicating becomes more common for future generations, teenagers will be growing up in a socially awkward environment, where they won’t know how to communicate with others in person and won’t have the social skills to speak to adults and their peers around them face-to-face.  

Despite all the negative causes that digital devices partake in, communicating through technology has brought us further in improving the world. Those enormous paper maps and giant phone books don’t need to be created anymore because of apps and the internet, which is saving paper and trees. Through the use of cellular devices, people have the opportunity to connect with others instantaneously through the internet or other media devices. Some teenagers struggle to make friends, have interest that their “off-line” peers don’t share, and sadly, aren’t accepted by their community (Simeon). The internet has allowed these teenagers to have the opportunity to meet people online that share the same interest has them. Now, for example, a LGBTQ kid growing up in a rural, conservative community can no longer feel isolated or alone. Using smartphones not only reduces the amount of time it takes to do tasks, but it also helps educators communicate to one another quicker. The internet also allows a creative outlet for teens. Anyone with a computer or smartphone has the opportunity to share their work with others online, whether that is a short story, a photograph, film or other visual art. The internet is a way that teens can advertise their skills and also get inspiration from other around them (Simeon). In the Duke research study conducted in May of 2017, it was also found that on some days that adolescents spent more time on digital devices they were less likely to report symptoms of anxiety and depression. The study concluded that some teenagers aren’t isolating themselves with media usage online; however, they were using the media to distract themselves from those symptoms they were feeling of anxiety and depression. 

Technology is viewed in many different ways. Some people think that the growth and expansion of technology will make life too easy and cause laziness in our society while others think that the growth and expansion of technology will create more opportunities for people to live better and succeed. Whether we like it or not, technology isn’t going away anytime soon. Teenagers and children today are growing up in a “digital age.” The big issue is that we can neither get rid of or destroy technology, so we have to learn how to work with it. Parents and adults don’t understand how to discipline or create rules out of the usage of technology because they didn’t grow up with it. People need to be educated on how technology can be used for good but also know the negative aspects it can have, especially the mental health and cognitive effects. Changes can always be scary, particularly when it comes to social change in society. If we understand and know the ways to adapt better to changes that technology is doing to adolescents, we can decrease these negative effects of technology and use it so we can be powerful and impactful. 
