Does Technology Benefits Young People By Lucy Dockterman

There’s no denying that technology has grown to play a major role in education and learning. Students are using laptops, tablets, and smartphones to research, complete, and even collaborate on assignments, both in and outside of the classroom. Timothy D. Snyder and Thomas L. Friedman both have written articles expressing their opposing opinions on technology in the classroom. Timothy Snyder is a Professor of History at Yale University who has written five different award-winning books. In his article, “Why Laptops Are Distracting America’s Future Workforce”, Snyder explains to students and teachers why he is against technology in the classroom. Thomas Friedman is a reporter and columnist for The New York Times, author of six award-winning

Technology has been around for decades and has been improving and developing ever since. Currently, the school board is debating whether or not the students and the staff should participate in “Shut Down Your Screen Week.” This is a national movement where nobody may use any electronic media for an entire week. In our generation now, modern technology is simplifying our lives to make it easier and better. This is the reason why it is almost everywhere. It is in homes, in our work, and in our schools. Although some individuals might argue that too much technology is bad for us, we should not participate in “Shut Down Your Screen Week,” because technology is able to help children become more interested in learning, can improve student’s skills, and it can also make work for teachers easier.

Technology has always been a controversial subject between conservative people and innovators. Some people believe that it is a great tool to connect cultures and improve education and innovation in our society today, but others view it as a menace in our lives. “Growing Up Tethered” by Sherry Turkle and “George Orwell...Meet Mark Zuckerberg” by Lori Andrews both view technology as a dangerous tool. They believe in the many drawbacks of technology and the harm it can do to our lives with no explanation of the positive effects it has had on our society. “Our Future Selves” by Eric Schmidt and Jared Cohen plays the role of a positive look at technology and its role in our lives today. It gives examples of how advancing technology helps us and improves so many peoples’s lives. We can use Schmidt and Cohen’s essay as a lens to view the other two texts and gain a different understanding of what they are writing about.

This technology revolution sparked a debate on children’s use of technology. Children are constantly using iPads, iPhones, tablets, and other computerized devices. By over exposing children to technology, they are being robbed of the mental stimulation that comes from doing real, non computerized, activities. It has gotten to the point where one can see a two-year-old navigate an iPhone with ease but struggle to speak. Sixty-nine percent of children aged two to five can use a computer mouse, but only eleven percent can tie their own shoelaces (Generation Tech More Kids Can Play Computer Games than Ride a Bike). Also, children are at an all time low in the creativity department

In this document Eliana Dockterman writes about how traditional views of childhood consumption of technology with emphasis on “screen use” is outdated and technology usage should in fact be embraced by children. Dockterman is able to effectively portray this argument through the use of a variety of persuasive techniques.

In this brief editorial adapted by Eliana Dockterman, "The Digital Parent Trap" portrays the current battle between a child's world with and without technology. As many schools and parents are split between the two decisions, Dockterman finds a way to be the tie breaker through her persuasion and smooth rhetorical devices. Docktermon tries her best to convince the readers that technology is okay in moderation, and builds her argument through word choice. With the formality of her diction and her many reliable sources to persuade the reader, she seems to have everything she needs to get the job done.

Many of our students have smartphones, laptops, and tablets they use throughout the school day for school work. While some students depend on their devices to look up the current fashion trends and football stats, we feel that technology has also enabled students to think in a different way. Many students are quick on their feet to Google information to prove their friend wrong, send texts and emails in less than 10 seconds, and get excited when they are allowed to use their

Today, every person lives in an era where technology rapidly develops. For this reason, in 2013, the culture writer for the online magazine, Time, Eliana Dockterman wrote the article “The Digital Parent Trap”. In this op-ed piece, Dockterman argues that there are more benefits than drawbacks in children using technology at an early age. Therefore, this article tries to inform its audience about how technology has advantages and disadvantages by using different people’s point of views. Although, Dockterman’s article may interest its audience, her argument is enfeebled because of her unsupported claims, credibility, and citations, being unable to support the tones used in two parents’ narratives and the crude humor by Jim Taylor.

Written by Eliana Dockterman in August of 2013, “The Digital Parent Trap” is an article from the Times Magazine that argues the growing use of technology by kids and the different opinions parents have on the use of this technology. She describes some of the benefits of exposing kids at an early age to the technology. In her article, she expresses different opinions from parents who either oppose or agree to give technology to kids. The author makes serious of arguments in the article, but her use of extensive ethos on her article building her own opinion it’s just facts and doesn’t really show a good argument.

According to the article “What’s the Matter with the Kids Today”, many adults believe that new technology is consuming the minds of young people. Amy Goldwasser uses research from Common Core surveys as well as Doris Lessing’s Nobel Prize acceptance speech to create her argument. Goldwasser uses these examples to explain that if parents and teachers better understood the use of technology, students wouldn’t be punished for their overuse of technology today.

Britland employ examples such as “Edmodo” and “Google Apps” to show the services that technology has that is beneficial but does not provide evidence to substantiate his points. He simply listed the examples that may be beneficial in terms of education but fails to use his evidence to elaborate how or why. Likewise, he stated that the iPad is indeed beneficial to education but fails to show the way in which cloud can be beneficial in the education system. In contrast, Freedman utilize his evidence more effectively to support his point. The reasoning that the increase in access to technology in the classrooms just serves as a source of distraction for the students, Freedman supported it with the fact that 'the percentage of college classrooms with wireless service has nearly doubled’ and that a ‘majority [of the students surveyed] had used their cellphones, sent or read email, and gone onto social-networking sites during class time'(13). He uses both this evidence to justify his point that the increase in access to technology in the classrooms just serves to be a source of distraction for the

The next generation of humans is rising, "27% of them use tablets, 43% use smartphones, and 52%" use laptops every day. In "The Digital Parent Trap", Eliana Dockterman uses sophisticated diction, relatable arguments, and a plethora of statistics to persuade and strengthen the logic and persuasiveness of her argument that digital technology is good. Dockterman's sophisticated diction in the essay improves her persuasiveness because using sentences such as "none of this means kids deserve unfettered access to the gadget of their choice - especially if they've already been caught abusing it. As with any childhood privilege, monitoring is key, but parents should keep an open mind about the benefits of tech fluency" makes the reader both impressed at her abilities to portray information and satisfied that they are not reading an essay that seems to be written by one of the children who just want to be on their electronics

Susan Pinker, a developmental psychologist and columnist, posted her article “Can Students Have Too Much Tech” in “The New York Times”, an American daily online newspaper,

The current generation of children is completely different than the preceding ones. They are living in the digital age. “Technology has blended in with daily activity to become a way of life and children today take for granted all of which is automated. It is hard for kids nowadays to imagine a world that existed without all of the gadgets, electronics and seamless operations that computer technology provides.” (3) “Children in the United States devote some 40 hours a week to television, video games and the Internet.” (12) Many psychologists and researchers are concerned about the impact that technology has on children. Children, tomorrow’s future parents and leaders, are being consumed by the negative effects that technology had on their

Today’s technology has greatly impacted the young children’s everyday lives. Phones, tablets, and computers are all a form of technology that impact the way kids are influenced. Some children get phones or computers at young ages and it can cause kids to depend on it to entertain them. Eventually they will allow the technology to take over and have it become the form of communication between friend and family instead of face to face. As parents continue to buy their children new technology they don’t monitor the amount of time their children spend on the Internet. Technology is becoming more advanced overtime which causes children to become more attached and unable to function without it near by.