Right now we are experiencing the sweet spot of the technology era. We as a society are mainly looking at the pros of technology advancing faster than ever, rather than the cons and how it potentially could have a negative effect on the future. A large part of our society now revolves around cell phones and social media. Today, we are interacting with our screens almost, if not more than we do other humans. I didn’t realize to what extent people were excessively using their phones until I broke mine and was without my dear sidekick for almost two weeks.  Beginning during those two weeks, I would walk to class looking up at my surroundings rather than down at my hands scrolling through my twitter feed. Today, I walk to class without the use of my phone and I see less people talking with peers, but rather plugged in and with busy fingers. This obsession with social media and cell phones is beginning to show a gap in relationships and a halt on the development of social skills. The modern day use of technology is demoralizing humanity and cause for concerns in society regarding social skills, development skills, and today’s relationships. 

Not only is technology a large part of everyday activity for teenagers and adults, but also for children, even those young enough to sit in high chairs. Technology is advancing at such a fast pace that “we have neither the benefit of historical hindsight nor the time to ponder or examine the value and cost of these advancements in terms of how it influences our children’s ability to think.” (Jim Taylor, Ph. D.)  Today, some parents are using cell phones and tablets as distractions for younger children. Working in the hospitality industry I notice this often. Adults will sit down and immediately hand the child at the end of the table a cell phone or tablet to brainwash them into a quiet and occupied state. Fifteen years ago this wouldn’t be a common proposition, instead, adults would sit down and incorporate the child into their conversation that in the end would benefit the child by beginning his or her social skills at and early age. Kids learn by observing, judging, and questioning, so by handing them a tablet to keep them occupied it is inhibiting their ability to learn. One of the main areas that researchers have found technology has most affected in developing children is attention. Studies have shown that the type of environment children are exposed to growing up determines the type of attention they develop. An example that Jim Taylor gave was in the past children spent spare time reading which requires the practice of “intense and sustained attention, imagination and memory”, but reading was later replaced with watching television which “altered attention by offering children visual stimuli, fragmented attention, and little need for imagination.” Today the Internet brings on an even more altered environment for developing brains thus resulting in children who have a much harder time paying attention for long periods. Another study done by pediatrician Dimitri Christakis was shown on mice. He first exposed these mice to a television set on the cartoon channel in their cage for six hours a day for one month. This revealed over stimulation in their brains, similar to what this type of exposure to television at a young age does to children. Christakis found that the more these mice watched television the harder it was for them to stay attentive and learn. Objects they had already seen and been around would also confuse the mice. Television producers making educational shows make an effort to incorporate children by asking them rhetorical questions on screen, but this isn’t impacting children because no matter what their response is it wont change what happens on the screen. Guy Raz, TED Radio Hour host, explained that children love to be able to have the feeling of “I did it”. For instance when you give a young child sitting in a highchair an orange they’re probably going to pick it up and drop it on the floor and be completely amused by this because they get the “I did it” sensation. Children are not reciprocating this while watching television showing it does not have as large of a positive impact on young children as we may think.  

Ironically, Steve Jobs did not let his children use IPads and he limited his children’s use of technology at home. Steve Jobs is not the only big figure of the technology world that limits technology use at home.  Chris Anderson; former editor of Wired and now chief executive of 3D robotics making drones, Alex Constantinople; chief executive of the OutCast agency, and Evan Williams; founder of Blogger, Twitter and Medium, are all examples of big figures who restrict the use of technology by their kids. Parents who don’t work in the tech community are found to give their children smartphones at the age of 8 whereas those who work in technology wait until their child is 14. One concern is that completely banning the use of technology could backfire and create a “digital monster” (Bilton). Dick Costolo, chief executive of Twitter, who allows his children to use technology unlimitedly as long as they’re located in the living rom, recalled when he was a student at the University of Michigan “there was this guy who lived in the dorm next to me and he had cases and cases of Coca-Cola and other sodas in his room … I later found out that it was because his parents had never let him have soda when he was growing up.” I chucked while reading this because it reminded me of my own roommate. Growing up she, as well as her older brother and sister, were not allowed to consume any sugar. Now every opportunity she or her older siblings get they binge on sugar products. Her parents realized how this negatively affected the eldest of the children and decided it’d be a better idea to let their youngest eat sugar at her leisure. Children should not be completely cut off from the internet, but rather limited. Technology in smaller portions will allow kids to be able to develop important communication skills and also keep up with advancing technology. 

Another place we are seeing technology pop up is in the classroom. Technology in the classroom can be seen in two ways; the way that technology at home is affecting a child’s ability to learn and how technology in the classroom is affecting how children learn. As mentioned before, children at home are beginning to rely on technology for entertainment. Healthy child development consists of four major factors: movement, touch, human connection, and exposure to nature. These four skills are critical in the development of posture, bilateral coordination, optimal arousal states and self-regulation needed to eventually enroll in school. “A 2010 Kaiser Foundation study showed that elementary aged children use on average 7.5 hours per day of entertainment technology, 75 percent of these children have TV’s in their bedrooms, and 50 percent of North American homes have the TV on all day.” (Cris Rowan). The overuse of technology and lack of active playtime is essentially rewiring young brains. 

Further analysis of the impact of technology on the developing child indicates that while the vestibular, proprioceptive, tactile and attachment systems are under stimulated, the visual and auditory sensory systems are in “overload.” This sensory imbalance creates huge problems in overall neurological development, as the brain’s anatomy, chemistry and pathways become permanently altered and impaired (Cris Rowan). 

This is directly correlated to children’s struggle with attention skills necessary for learning and eventually turns into behavior management problems for teachers. Another risk technology poses on children in the classroom is the basic skills such as cursive, map reading, and mental math, are being left behind. It is imperative that teachers today prepare students for the technological world after high school, but also preserve the important skills once taught before in school. 

Walking on a college campus now, it is easy to see how big of a roll cell phones play in students lives. Whether they are using it or not students usually always have their cell phones in their hand. Some researchers have begun to wonder if cell phones and the fast advancing technology are playing too big of a roll in students social lives and in return are negatively affecting face-to-face communication and interactions. In a study done researchers found that conversations that took place without the presence of a cell phone were rated significantly superior to those that took place with a cell phone present. “People who had conversations in the absence of mobile devices reported higher levels of empathetic concern, while those conversing in the presence of a mobile device reported lower levels of empathy” (Misra et al., 2014). A study done by Przybylski and Weinstein shows similar results. They too found that having cell phones present during conversation negatively affects “closeness, connection, and conversation quality.” A study conducted by Emily Drago, an undergraduate student at Elon University, asked students on campus how they felt technology was impacting their face-to-face communication. It was found that 92 percent of respondents felt that technology negatively affected face-to-face communication and 89 percent noticed lack of quality in conversation within the presence of technology. Sadly, Drago found that “many students at Lakeside Dining Hall ate lunch with their friends, but neglected to engage in any conversation. Instead, a large majority of the students in the dining hall sitting with others (73%) spent their time texting or using their computers or tablets.”  These studies show how students see how cell phones are impacting their relationships. Cell phones are bringing people together via the Internet but tearing people apart face-to-face. 

As well as face-to-face communication, Saunders Medlock believes cell phones and computers are changing interpersonal communication. She mentions how people are in the habit of checking their phones in short intervals in fear they may miss something. Saunders believes that social medias and texting are “eroding peoples abilities to … communicate real meaning” by enabling people to communicate via a screen. The internet bypasses non-verbal communication and in return younger generations are growing up and have no clue how to read social cues that today older generations pick up on practically automatically. This disadvantage will follow and hinder them in future jobs and relationships. To avoid this downward spiral, MIT made a wearable that tells one how their conversation is going. This watch reads heart rate, blood pressure, blood flow, and skin temperature and listens to your conversation to pick up tone, pitch, energy and word choice. With all these cues this watch will tell you every five seconds whether your conversation is going positively or negatively. Props to MIT for creating a wearable that can read these social cues, but do we want our society to rely on a wearable to tell us how our conversations are going? No. People should continue to practice these nonverbal skills as they grow and be able to read them on their own during conversation so that we aren’t so alien to these simple social cues that we can’t even tell if someone were speaking to is sad or happy. 

“Cell phones today can be thought of as an extra limb”, proposed cyborg anthropologist Amber Case. A cyborg anthropologist studies the relationship between technology and humans, how technology changes over time and how it affects culture. People are becoming cyborgs. Our phones hold so much personal information on social media and through pictures and messages that they are being described as mental exoskeletons. Having this extra limb attached to us at all times craving attention is taking away from focus on everyday activities like driving or simply walking down the street. Don’t believe me? In February 2017 a man was shown texting while walking on the street when he runs into a bear, literally. When we focus on cell phones we are so caught up in this other world that we are not at all paying attention to what is happening directly in front of us in the real world. The Internet is giving people the opportunity to create a completely different identity. A “digital doppelganger” is how Guy Raz described it. We as humans crave a place where anything is possible, which is what the virtual world grants us. The Internet allows people to come across as an entirely different person. “Since the introduction of cyber world and social network individuals have postponed building personal identity and focused to virtual identity” (Brian P. Sutton, 11). In 2000, Stanford Institute for the Quantitative Study of Society concluded that “the internet…might be creating feelings of isolation among those who go online…if the internet causes people to spend substantially less time in real human contact, it might have negative social consequences” (Judith Galas, 126). By allowing people to be connected to others at all time it is giving us less time to mentally reflect on ourselves. Because of this people have no time to really create a real, true identity.   

Although I chose to focus on purely the negative factors of technology, it has had positive impacts on society as well. I mentioned earlier how children love being able to feel like they did something. This is where some interactive apps differentiate from passive media. Apps have been able to give children the “I did it” sensation because the screen reacts based on the players actions.  Secondly, in school some parents are worried their children are receiving too much exposure to computers and other technology, but do not think of how technology has positively affected teaching as a whole. Computers have proven useful in school for students when it comes to typing or researching, and also for teachers when it comes to keeping grades updated online or making a power point presentation to teach the class. Lastly, I appreciate the way technology has connected people across the country. I have exchange friends in Norway that I am still able to communicate with and grandparents in Florida that I can FaceTime. I think FaceTime is a great invention, but don’t believe it should replace face-to-face interaction. There are positive perspectives on technology when used limitedly, but we need to be aware of the negative consequences that the overuse of technology could have on younger generations and the future of our own generations. 

My fear is that if people, especially younger children, continue to abuse technology and social medias we will be living in a world where people wont have the proper social techniques to do simple tasks such as going to an interview. Children are frying their brains by over stimulating them with hours of television, cell phone and computer use a day. I think limiting the use of these “extra limbs” is a great way to preserve society. This paper made me think about the way I overuse social medias and my phone, so I conducted an experiment myself. I decided to temporarily delete my Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, and Facebook. By doing this I nearly eliminated the desire to use my phone for hours a day. It has completely changed how I spend my spare time. I now have more time to free read, listen to podcasts, I picked up horseback riding again and believe it or not I spend way more time studying. I have noticed a change in my vocabulary from reading more and a boost in my grades from studying more. Overall, I believe there are plenty of positive changes in society due to technology, but in order to maintain a functioning society we should limit these uses. 
