Mood Disorders By Kalle Lasn: An Analysis

The image of ideal families has changed and is now looked at differently compared to years ago. But does technology and devices how to do with the separation of family? In a short story in Rereading America called “Quality Time Redefined”, author Alex Williams executes many interviews to try and see how media has impacted the lives of family. According to one of his observations there was one family in particular that stood out. Ms. Vavra a cosmetic industry executive spoke about an evening with her family: “…Their son, Tom, was absorbed by a Wii game on the wide screen television. Their daughter, Eve, was fiddling with a game app called the Love Calculator on an iPod touch.” Ms. Vavra recalled, “The family was in the same room but not together" (94). She was advocating about how her and her family was all sitting together but all of them were in their own little worlds with their devices. Technology has become very popular and advanced throughout the years. This may be the cause for why families

Technology has taken away from the quality time people used to spend with families. “Kaiser Family Foundation reported that Americans between the ages of 8 and 18 spend on

Technology has been a large part of American culture for the last 200 years and continues to grow more each year. This has made a large impact on our everyday lives and how we interact with one another. The U.S. alone sends over 6 billion texts each day! (Textrequest). This takes away quality time engaging with friends and family. Phones and other devices have taken over our way of communicating, thus affecting our relationships with others.

Cell phones and technology are wonderful tools for us to communicate and to grow as society but even though there are many benefits of using cell phones in the various social environments, there is also the greater disadvantage of the usage of the devices. The effects of being rude to one another, “light” unimportant conversations, and weak relationships between peers or family members. In today's world people are way too connected electronically and disconnected emotionally. As there is a lot of controversy to if cell phones are running society's social lives or not, research has shown that they are in fact hurting and affecting how people are interacting and communicating with one another. Between the lack of empathy and the lack of face to face conversations, cellular devices “smart phones” are the major reasons society is seeing a negative effect in people’s social life

Mom turns on the television and sets the table, dad comes home from work, checks his personal digital assistant for an email he’s been waiting on, while his daughter sits at the table finishing up a “thumb lashing” on her cell phone that she is giving to her “BFF” because she just failed her history test. This scenario has become the norm in homes across America today. It’s the digital age, technology is booming at such a rapid pace we cannot even wear out our devices before the newer up-to-date models arrive. Technology has negative effects on society, because it is causing our critical thinking and social interaction skills to decline, it is disrupting the American family unit, and it has caused us to become a distracted society that is

Thanks to technology we have never been more connected-or alienated. Have you ever noticed when there is a family gathering the majority of the time the family members are spending their time using technology rather than socializing? One will notice that almost every person will be using technology whether it is cell phones, iPods, tablets or the television. After watching PBS Digital Nation I believe that “being connected” all the time ultimately does hinder us as a society in many ways.

Teens, and even adults develop a bad habit of being on technology 24/7, in which is hard to break, the article Health Experts Concerned Tech Habits May Threaten Speech, Language & Hearing as Communication ‘Time Bomb’ Looms by PR Newswire mentions this, saying, “New polling from ASHA finds that informing parents and teens of the potential risks that overuse of personal technology devices poses to speech and language development as well as to hearing health prompts an overwhelming unwillingness to change usage habits.” Our society has been so attached to technology that we can’t give it up, no matter what damage it causes. In fact, it is shown that technology has had a negative effect on relationships, the article Mobile Devices Are Detrimental to Personal Relationships states “While some analysts have argued that cell phones open up new possibilities of communication, fostering instant text messaging and social media connections that expand an individual’s personal relationships, some psychologists and sociologists have suggested that this type of communication and connectivity is both less meaningful and less developmentally beneficial than face-to-face and traditional communication.” People in relationships have relied too heavily on technology and consequently has torn their relationships apart. In addition, overuse of technology can affect your communication skills as well as speech. To demonstrate, in the article Overexposure to Media and Technology Deprives Children of Healthy Outdoor Recreation by Castaldy, Daniel, Collins, and Linda Rice, states, “Social interaction for adolescents is now largely achieved via text messages, Facebook posts, and tweets, while interpersonal interaction that typically accompanies outdoor recreation is on a decline… As a result, they don’t fully develop the interpersonal communication skills they need to interact successfully in

When her family got their first color tv, her father was so happy because now he could see the different football team’s colors when he watched the game. But no one really sat in front of the tv all day, because there weren’t many shows on. She then got her first computer in her house in ‘98, a little after she had her first 3 sons. She thought it was so neat that she was able to email her old high school friends and reconnect with people who she wouldn’t have ever talked to again. Of course, her boys liked to play video games, but they were largely outdoor people. Today she mostly uses an iPad, for business, research, and the occasional Netflix binge. Sometimes when work is getting hectic, she says, “It helps stop my mind from thinking about everything at work.” She can use it as a stress reliever, or a distraction. But even then, sometimes she feels that she has to pull herself away and take a walk. At work, she notices that when people are in the waiting room, they no longer reach for the magazines that have been set out, they are all on their phones. She deals with lots of parents at her job, and she realizes that parents seem to be using technology as almost a “babysitter”. When their toddler gets fussy, their mom hands them her phone so that they have something to do. That is starting the dependency from an

Picture this, it is a quiet evening, you are at home with your family, there are no appointments or sports games to run off to, what are you and your family doing together? Did you find yourself visualizing playing a game together, maybe having a nice dinner, or talking about everyone’s day all the while there is laughter filling the air. Well, it just so happens that a similar circumstance transpired in my own home a while back, however, instead of interacting with family, there I sat curled up on the couch scrolling through my phone as if it was the only thing that mattered. Meanwhile, my family was doing the same thing, caught up with the stimulating imagines flashing before their eyes every once in a while, perking up to announce to the room, “Hey, you got to see this.” This reality made me realized how much I missed the time before smartphones, touchpads, any of those “personal” electronic devices that seem to be consuming more of our time.

When was the last time you drove to BestBuy for physically buying an electronic item? How often do you have traditional family dinner with all the members sitting at the dining table? “Such home may be full of people but they are really empty” and “the consequences of this accelerating isolation of individuals are dire” (Eitzen, 2000: p.28). Eitzen argues that, “technology also encourages isolation” (Eitzen, 2000: p.27). This is probably the leading cause of isolated society. We faced major shift toward isolation after invention of television, phones, and the Internet. Now days, we tend to spend more and more time watching television or browsing the Internet, rather than socializing with friends and neighbors. In addition, 21st century introduced whole new ear of communication means via emails and phone messaging. It has proven to reduce our person-to-person interactions. According to Eitzen, “we are becoming an autistic society, communicating messages electronically but without really connecting” (Eitzen, 2000: p.27). This affects how we interact with social problems. Days are not far when Disney fiction movie, Wall-E become a reality because our society is becoming more and more

Raising a family can be a lot pressure, especially in a Facebook-obsessed, Pinterest-Perfect, snapchat-happy world. Quality family time has changed from family games nights to kids texting, mom is on Pinterest, and dad is on snap chat; everyday home life of the family quickly transforming. Parents and children have a growing stream of technological resources at their fingertips, offering more opportunities for engagement, entertainment and education. With so many tech distractions available, it is more important than ever for parents and children to put down their phone, games, and tables and create sustainable relationships with each other. Families embracing the digital age can be problematic and is forever changing the family dynamic. It is a losing battle for parent to

Our young adults stay engulfed in their electronic devices that they are not developing the ability to effectively socialize. Youth have been showing signs of psychological issues that never existed before the creation of hand-held electronics or demonstrate signs of problems that related to loosing something substantial and/or meaningful. With this in mind, today’s youth have a countless advantages when they join the working environment due to the fact that they stay proficient at using electronics that they can cling to the way technology outlooks continue to always advance. The young should not have free range of the electronics however. The time and usage should be monitored by their parents or the authority’s in-charge over them. This could benefit the young adults grow-up with a knowledge and understanding of how the usage and abuse can affect young

Everywhere you go teens seem to be glued to their phones, tablets, or computers. Technology is an addiction that does not seem to be going away any time soon. According to the Washington Post, teens can spend up to seven or more hours on their digital devices a day and the usage is still increasing. Not surprisingly enough, more than a third of all teenagers own a cellphone, ranging from a smart phone or just a plain old-school flip phone. But can spending all that time on their computers and smart devices be such a bad thing? Today’s easy access, always on world presents a wealth of opportunity for teens as students, but also challenges them to retain them essential humanity and unique personalities.

Because of technology, family time is no longer a priority, unplugging from technology is necessary once a while. I take my daughter as an example, I am trying to have a conversation with her and all she is doing browsing through her phone and she got mad at me for asking to please put phone away for a bit, she had no time for mom. My husband is another one that will constantly look at his phone to play Word Chums when we are on a date. In fact, I am also guilty of using the technology of a way out of family time depending what it is, especially when my husband is trying to test me if I know a verse in the bible. We as a family can change our behavior tours technology, but we don’t take advantage of our time together. We need to unplug immediately,

Video games, however, are an even larger phenomenon with three quarters of households in America participating in gaming through social networking sites (Hertlein, 2012). According to Katherine Hertlein, because of the influences and independence video games, and mobile devices has on society, it’ll continue to create a larger divide and decline the interactions society has amongst families in America. Overall, people are so mesmerized by their smart phones or gaming devices that they are blind to others around them. Consequently, spending less time with family and more time with different gadgets can cause the loss of tight contacts with close relations.