Personal Narrative: How Technology Has Affected My Life

Most children today have access to devices such as television, smartphones, computers, and tablets. These devices can be used in a variety of ways, with both positive and negative outcomes. For example, preschool aged children may use a device to learn letters, numbers, or colors. School aged children may use a computer to conduct research, or watch an educational show. A child may also sit in front of the television for many hours, reducing physical activity, and become obese. I believe it is important for the parent or caregiver of the child to monitor the amount of screen time, as well as the content to optimize the benefits these devices can offer.

Technology has been part of our daily live more frequently than before. Screen time has been more popularly used on kids and adolescents. On a daily bases many kids seem to spend more time inside on their tablets, instead of having to spend time with other kids. This is a problem that is becoming more popular over the years,on whether kids need to spend that much time on technology or not. Parents either seem to have strict technology usage, or they either don’t. There has always been a huge controversy with experts, who either think that screen time is beneficial or could cause problems later on in life. There are many views towards this topic, from hurting kids brains, to helping them during school, and socially.

The article focuses on the importance of going “screenless” for a day and taking a break from technological impacts. In my opinion, it is important to take a break from social media and technology for a bit. My generation focuses our entire lives on social media. Ask any teen in modern-day society if they have Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, or Tumblr and I guarantee they will have at least one of these social medias. Going screenless for at least two hours of one’s day would leave them at peace and give them time to read, take a nap, or just

Teens’ screen time should be limited, not by a strict rule enforced by their parents, but by being taught guidelines as to how long and when are the appropriate times to use the devices. In his article, Don’t Limit Your Teen’s Screen Time, Chris Bergman argues that if technology is unrestricted, social events and time without supervision aren’t “an opportunity for… kids to binge on tech because they couldn't otherwise” (1). What Bergman is saying is the more you can not have something, the more you will want it, so by not enforcing strict rules about technology, parents allow their children to take social opportunities as a time to interact with others, rather than a time to sneak in more screen time. Although keeping a lenient rule over one’s

By setting in place time limits, parents can help their children to be more connected with the real world rather than their phone or device. Doctor Richard Graham, Adolescent Psychologist, say that: "It is important to restrict the time children spend using technology to help prevent forming an unhealthy dependence" (Daily Mail). Since technology is alluring to kids, they have to have parameters set so that they will not develop attachment to a device, and in turn overuse it. An important aspect to prevent the overuse of technology in young kids is to not allow television or tablets to be kept in the child's room. Television and such being kept in a child's room makes it harder for the parent to monitor how much time the child is actually spending on electronics (Scientific America). The basis of becoming attached to using a device is by allowing children to overuse them, and there must be careful rules set in place by the parents to ensure that the waste of valuable time does not

Technology has affected me in different ways. Using technology has help me to perform my job as a nurse more safely, improves charting and improves bedside nursing, to communicate with the coworkers and leadership team, to get education and get in-services online without having to attend physically to a classroom. In addition, with my phone, I use the GPS to find an address, or a new route when there is an accident, it will help me to get on time to my work place, since every day I hit traffic coming and going to work. At home, helps me to record my favorite shows in the DVR when I am not at home.

Technology has expanded more than we planned though, from being a learning tool for children to holding information of the utmost importance to run a business. Susan Greenfield, a British neuroscientist, mentions a survey conducted on 410 English teachers resulting in 91 percent believing children’s attention spans are becoming shorter as they chose for screen-based activities rather than conventional reading. Technology could be damaging our judgement from a young age. Susan Greenfield also warns us that screen technology is damaging our malleable brains, which could result in changing the way our brains function. We continue to use technology because of the convenience it brings to our everyday lives, but in the long run this laziness could be harming

The impact of technology in the 20th century is growing and benefiting numerous amounts of people to make their lives easier; sending an email, scrolling through social media, and reading newspaper articles can all be done in one device. With more advanced technology in the future, this is troublesome for many young children. Since children are becoming more attached to technology, this can lead to numerous factors that can defect the development of a child. In this case, technology not only affects a child’s psychological development but also their physical and social development. Provided that, as the years progress I have seen that less children are playing outside or playing sports with their friends, instead children are getting addicted to playing games or watching videos on their latest device. Parent’s are contributors to their children’s addiction and are not realizing that it is affecting their children’s development, therefore adults must educate themselves and most importantly their children to decrease the amount of time of technology usage. I believe that a decrease in technology usage will benefit numerous of people, such as a healthier lifestyle.

Technology has shaped our generation and helped make things easier and better. In past generations people would have to go to a library and find a book that has the information that they need. Now you just google what you are trying to find to trying to learn about and thousands of websites about it. Technology has made easier ways to store things and remember things by making your phone remind you with a clock. You can use technology to wake you up like with the clock on your phone. Technology can help you go places with a GPS and you can use technology to entertain you with videos. America’s gift to my generation is technology.

According to a New York Times article this January, the average kid, ages 8-18, spends over 7 ½ hours a day using technology gadgets equaling 2 ½ hours of music, almost 5 hours of tv and movies, three hours of internet and video games, and just 38 minutes of old fashioned reading according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, which adds up to 75 hours a week! These statistics are not just mere numbers; they are a reflection of the way our society is heading. There is a direct correlation of amount of hours spent with gadgets and obesity, poor grades, impatience, violence, and a loss of family interest.

It is no surprise that today people live in a world where technology is used on a regular basis. Classrooms everywhere with a tech based white boards, touch-screen cellphones that talks back to you, cars that can drive itself. However, technology could be harmful if being used too much that could lead to a serious long-term effect. The sad thing is, everyone uses technology, from little babies to teenagers, grownups and even the elderly. The scariest thing about it is that babies have access to so much technology today it is ridiculous. “More than a third of children under the age of two use mobile media. That number only increases as children age.” (Edudemic 2010), this just proves how much access the little ones have, which is pretty scary. This is a problem today because the usage of too much technology available at such young age could harm the young ones both physically and mentally. An article was written by ‘Psychology Today’ states how technology can alter the wiring of the brain, “too much screen time and not enough activities, such as reading and playing games, will result in your children having their brains wired in ways that may make them less, not more, prepared to thrive in this crazy world of technology.” Not only does it alter the wiring in their brain, but it also could lead them into

Living in a world of technology, media use is always increasing. Cell phones, tablets, televisions, and video games can be found in nearly every US home. Children of this generation are exposed to a variety of media and most incorporate it into their everyday lives. “A national survey in the US found that children aged 8 to 18 years had an average media usage time of 7 hours and 38 minutes every day” (Agarwal & Dhanasekaran, 2012). With this much media use, a child is sure to be influenced in some way by the excessive screen time. Studies show that too much screen time can have harmful effects on a child’s emotional, social, and physical capabilities.

Children are growing up with all this technology interfering with the children's childhood and health. Parents should limit screen time for their children two hours a day. Technology is over powering our world today. Parents shouldn't introduce technology to their children's life quite yet wait until the children are at least three or four years of age. The use of digital device during a young age can interfere with the child's health. If the children are exposed to digital devices when they are young they will have mental and health problems.

Reclusiveness has been a very deterring aspect in my life. It has affected me as an individual, as a team member and also as an emerging health professional. However, during my participation in this course I have come to understand that it is important to make myself better, and that will resonate in other aspects of my life. My journey started when I decided to select this course. Of course I just picked it on a whim because the title indicated complex communication, just to try breaking out of my shell, and becoming more confident. In just a few weeks, I have learned so much about not just myself but also other people. Yet I have more to learn as I have realized that I am not as knowledgeable as I thought. My reflection looks at not only what I have learnt so far but the surprises I discovered, my improved confidence in what I already knew, and ideas that have changed my opinions, what I wish I had done differently and the improvements I would like to make as I move forward. I began this course grudgingly, because I was going through a lot of transitioning at once, moving to a new home, starting a new job, and starting a new school, all contributed to my initial disinterest. As I look through my weekly reflections there were three reoccurring words I noted. Self, team and communication are all common denominators that summarizes my total weekly reflections till date.

I live in a world where everywhere I turn I see people on their phones or other gadgets. As I start to think about it, I notice how technology has taken over our brains by controlling us. You may not own a phone, but you own a tablet/IPAD. You may not own a tablet/IPAD, but you own an IPOD. You may not own an IPOD, but you own a computer. If you own all of the above, then you have seriously lost the battle. If you think about it, what do these all have in common? The Internet. The devices are only valuable if the Internet functions. Many people like to say that electronic devices are a negative influence, or that it has made us lazy. If you take away the Internet, it’s a whole new different story. The Internet is the key to everything and I have to admit that it changed my life.