On one hand, you know that capturing monsters in Pokemon Go or taking a portal to the Nether in Minecraft is probably not the healthiest way for your children to spend the afternoon. On the other hand, they are so happy and content when they are bathed in the glow of a smartphone, tablet, or TV. And not all of those apps are harmful, right? What if they are watching educational programming? Can screen time ever be beneficial? Screen time has been a catalyst for argument in many homes as screens are becoming more and more prevalent, some would say necessary, in today’s society. However, limiting screen time has been a vague and foggy topic for many years. Parents today are not concerned with the amount of screen viewing their children engages
Screen time Did you know that the average teenager spends nine hours a day on their devices, and kids from ages 8 to 12 spend 6 hours a day staring at a screen. That is way too much time spent on cell phones, computers,etc. A recent study by the Researchers at the University of Gothenburg found that a person who is constantly on their computer or mobile device can develop stress, sleeping disorders, and depression, staring at a screen for too long can stain your eyes.If that is not enough you can get carpel tunnel syndrome which affects your hands, and you can also develop epilepsy, also called seizure disorder. This is why I believe that screen time should be limited to the recommended 2 hours or less.
Some may believe that screen addiction, or screen obsession is a concern for teenagers. Depending on the use for the screen time that may or may not be the case. In the article "Teen and Screen Time is a Problem, But More Study Is Needed" by Marc Potenza he states, "Some individuals game to the point of dropping out of school, or isolating themselves from real-world socializing" (Potenza). Although this may sound very disturbing, these cases can be considered extreme and most of the consequences may be mostly video gaming. In contrast, there are other uses for screen time such as educational purposes, or learning new things. Technology is all around us and it is not something that's going away anytime soon. Many kids these days have technology devices, even schools encourage students to further
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
Technology is Negatively Affecting Young Children According to a 2010 Kaiser Foundation study, which involved elementary children, concluded that on average 75 percent of parents allowed their children to have bedroom TV’s, North American households keep their TV’s on for 50 percent of the day, and use 7.5 hours of technology entertainment per day (Rowan). Technology is becoming a problem throughout the United States, especially in elementary aged kids. Parents are introducing technology as early as infants so that they understand certain information at an early age. When parents introduce technology at such an early age they are giving their children the advantage to be addicted to the wonders of it. Young children are at a high risk of brain damage with the advancement of technology. The more adults introduce technology to younger children the higher the chances of problems it causes. Technology has a negative effect on younger children and should have limitations on the age in which it is being introduced.
“How Screens Turn Kids into “Digital Addicts” by Lynch March is about how technology makes kids get addicted to it. Many studies have shown that kids experience overall attention deficit, boredom, and apathy when kids are not looking at screens. Electronic devices have a similar effect as a drug , they affect the frontal cortex, the part that controls execution and impulses the same way cocaine does. This “digital addiction” is harder to overcome than a drug addiction. On the flip side, Lynch says you cannot deprive your children of technology. Classrooms are transforming into digital playgrounds, with Smart Boards, smartphone, educational apps, games, etc. More and more jobs will require at least basic computer knowledge.
Today children are exposed to a different world than the one their parents grew up in. Consumerism plays a significant influence in children’s lives, including technology. This has led to over usage of technology as a reason for increased health issues in children, and basic building blocks of healthy development being ignored. Children are no longer interested in creative play, which is vital to problem-solving, learning, imagining and thinking. Instead, children can often be found sitting in front of a television, for up to seven hours a day, with their back hunched over and in an almost zombie like state of mind.
Young American's Use of Electronics: Finding the Solution Through the overuse of technology, young Americans damage themselves physically and mentally. Children's screen time has gone up steadily throughout the years, and with it, the number of kids developing nearsightedness. Constant overuse, leading to dependence on the product, brings social consequences for
In conclusion, it is very evident that screen time needs to be limited for the fact that it can cause obesity, lack of sleep, and eye problems. Can you imagine how bad our future generation will be if screen time does not get limited? The evidence cited above shows that too much screen time can be a very dangerous master and we have to be careful that it is not allowed to take over our
In an era like the twenty-first century, it is not unusual for children all over America to be exposed to technology. The Pew Research Center released the “Teens, Social Media, & Technology Overview 2015,” which determined that eighty-seven percent of adolescents have access to a computer and fifty-eight percent have access to a tablet (Lenhart). In addition, the research center also reported that ninety-two percent of adolescents reported daily internet use. Before, children were playing outside with friends for fun, and socializing with their friends and family in person. Today, kids play and interact through laptops, tablets, and other media devices. Technology has become a part of most children and adolescent’s everyday life, through the way they interact with the world.
We have all been there- the fourth hour of non-stop “screen time,”. Most the washed away hours consists of loosing yourself in another world, or accomplishing a specific operation. But just like fast food, or alcohol, why should “screen time” be limited? After absorbing multiple resources the people have come
Christopher Ferguson’s study provides researchers and parents with a better understanding on the impact of screen time on a child’s well-being. His research furthers the understanding of screen use and how understanding its effects on modern society is crucial to developing better recommendations on usage time. The most critical aspect of his research is that he found that the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recently recommended restrictive screen time of two hours or less for youth are quite low and that moderate excessive screen time (6 hours) produces the same positive, healthy outcomes (Ferguson, 2017). Only excessive screen time use was weakly associated with negative outcomes such as delinquency, grades, and depressions (Ferguson, 2017). This means that the
According to CNN.com tweets spend at least 6 hours a day on technology. Teens spend at lest 9 hours a day on technology. There are so many different social media websites that you can go on. Do you know which one gets used the most? I looked at a survey on statista.com and 72% of people use Facebook, 66% of people said they use Instagram 36% said they use Twitter, 27% said that they are on Pinterest, 26% of people said they use vine and filly 24% of people use tumblr. The last thing is from ikeepsafe.org and it says kids ages 8 to 18 spending on average 44.5 hours per week in front of screens, and parents are increasingly concerned that screen time is robbing them of real world experiences.
Today, children and teenagers spend more than seven and a half hours a day using smartphones, computers, televisions and other electronic screens. And because they’re so skilled at multitasking, all that texting, TV watching and Internet surfing adds up to nearly 11 hours of media consumption packed into those seven and a half hours.
“Everyone looks like teenage zombies who are glued to their phones.” Stated Terry Greenwald (a custodian at a high school)(Wallace). As technology advances, teens are spending an increased amount of time using it. This is creating technology addiction. Technology addiction is becoming more and more popular; some cases of technology