Technology’s advancement has impacted society in both beneficial and harmful aspects. In the digital era, technology is used to benefit people in educational, medical, communications, entertainment, and other areas. Information has also been made easier to obtain because of technological advancements. Nonetheless, using technology innovations like social media too frequently can result in a set of problems.
To gather the necessary information for this topic, I am going to pay attention to the rising trends of online platforms usage by my peers. Additionally, I will conduct an interview with Jane, who is an influential social media activist, and a second-year IT student from Bernard College in New York. To further evidence the findings, I will review related academic sources and draw conclusions from the findings of the study.
This paper is divided into five segments. The first segment gives an insight into the meaning of technology and innovations, as used in this context. This includes an overview of the meaning and origin of th word technology. The second section highlights examples of technology trends that have been widely adopted by young people especially in New York City. It presents the findings as obtained from observing trends in technology usage among the New York teens. The third segment highlights technology from a user’s viewpoint.This gives a summary of the responses from Jane, who was the subject interviewee of the study. The fourth portion presents shreds of evidence on the negative impacts that technology has on the lives of young people. The fifth, as the last segment, discusses the remedies that can be adopted in ramifying the negative impacts of technology on young people.
- One-Liner: The prevalent technology advancements have impacted society in both beneficial and harmful aspects.
- Synopsis: In the digital era, technology is used to benefit people in educational, medical, communications, entertainment, and other areas. Information has also been made easier to obtain because of technological advancements. Nonetheless, using technology innovations like social media frequently can result in a set of problems. Through technology, I have witnessed negative impacts that most people are not ready to dig deep into. Occasionally, I have witnessed my peers get addicted to the use of technology innovations like smartphones and end up losing touch with reality. Conversely, every time I hear of a teen getting depressed to an extent of committing suicide, I feel the need to have lengthier talks about the social cost of advancing technology. This is because, at the root cause of this problem, lies the use of technology. This paper aims at giving an analysis of the various technological advancements, and how they have negatively impacted young people, who are the future of nations.
- The Audience: The purpose of this paper is to caution fellow young people on the negative effects that technology may have on the future lives of our generation. It also serves as a guide for parents to spot signs of technology addiction and suggests the necessary measures to remedy the prevalent concerns resulting from excessive use of technology.
This segment explains the meaning of technology and innovations, as used in this context. It reviews studies that have tried to give meaning to the term technology and explain the context of technology as used in this documentary. Technology has made life easier for people, especially the youths. It has become a key asset in creating social connections and solving problems on time. Severino (2021) explains that the word technology originates from the Greek word, “tekhnologia” which implies a systematic treatment of the art of science. He defines technology as the application of science or expertise to resolve issues or create helpful resources. The Internet is an example of technology that has made current content accessible to everyone (Severino, 2021). Innovators strive to take advantage of the presence of internet resources to develop or maximize the use of their technological advancements. Technology in this context is used to refer to innovations made from the use of computers and the internet, and that has been largely adopted by young people, especially in networking.
This section of the documentary highlights examples of technology trends that have been widely adopted by young people, especially in New York City. It highlights a few examples of the widely adopted technologies and their use. Emergent of digital platforms due to advance in technology continues to have a significant influence on the lives of young people. The rising use of mobile applications that provide image editing capabilities such as Snapchat, Canva, and Photoshop, has been largely adopted by the youths in New York City and other states. Social media platforms such as Facebook, Whatsapp, Twitter, and Instagram have also seen a great rise in use in the recent past. Additionally, other platforms like YouTube, videoconferencing software like Zoom and WebEx have not been left out. All these platforms have been made possible by the invention of the internet.
This segment analyses an interview with an influential and young social media activist. It attempts to assess technology from a user’s viewpoint, with results from the interview with Jane, a second-year IT student from Bernard College in New York. Based on the responses from the interview, it is clear that most technology users are only aware of the positive influence of technology and are ignorant of the negative outcomes. Jane, who is an influential social media activist on recent trends, appreciated the large adoption of networking sites that have enabled people to connect from all corners of the world. Jane notes that technology has handed her the power to reach large numbers of the audience that she would not have been able to if technology was not in play. She also pointed out that through technology, she had been able to learn many things conveniently and she was able to get expert help easily, whenever she needed it. When asked about the negative effects that she could have encountered as a result of technology, Jane did not seem to think of any.
From the interview, it is clear that most users of technology seem to enjoy the rewards that come with technology and are unaware of the cost that accompanies the adoption of technology. The lifestyles of 21st-century teenagers, who are the most regular users of rising digitalized services, are fundamentally altered by new technology (Ngonso, 2019). Many individuals are unaware that technology bears harmful consequences for societies, and its rapid advancements have transformed life for the worse in a variety of ways. For instance, family ties, have shifted as a result of technological advancements (Lindahl & Kirk, 2019). Family members cannot have a polite conversation because they’re engrossed in their computers, phones, and other smart devices (Lindahl & Kirk, 2019). This is the case for most young people on the campus.
The basis of this segment is to present shreds of evidence on the negative impacts that technology may have on the lives of young people. It outlines both short-term and long-term effects of excessive use of technology innovations on the younger generation since it seems to be the primary target of these innovations. Twenge (2019) notes that the more time young people spend on the use of technology such as social media platforms, the less happy they are likely to become. This has been attributed to prevalent social media pressure that creates a perfect-looking world compared to the real one.
Some users, for instance, are likely to post edited photos of themselves or their perfect-looking relationships. Such users take advantage of filters and other innovative features to remove less attractive sections of their posts. Viewers who are mostly young people on the other hand remain ignorant of the fact that there is more than what meets the eye. They end up trying to modify their physical features to match those of the posted images. Owing to the expensive nature of some of the procedures, other youths are unable to go through with them and they end up getting depressed because of such pressure.
The addiction that results from the use of technology can also be detrimental to the health of users. Twenge et al. (2018) argue that technology use can create significant ailments in addition to cognitive issues. Sleep loss and glaucoma, are just but an example of the health conditions resulting from excessive use of technology like smartphones and videogames. Additionally, the young people have resulted in chronic laziness as they opt to sit around and use their devices instead of going out to play or do useful tasks. Antisocialism is another challenge that has resulted from the use of technology. Young people would rather be stuck on their phones than have a decent conversation with the people around them. This also leads to bottled-up emotions that eventually result in depression and suicide.
Issues of information privacy and security have been a major topic of discussion when handling vices of technology. While on the internet, young people’s information is exposed to threats from hackers and other malicious people. Additionally, applications like Facebook have been accused of collecting user information without their consent (Nield, 2020). This information collected can be used to harm young people and also expose them to cyberbullying. Cyberbullying has been a lead cause of depression amongst youths in New York (Fritsch et al., 2020). Moreover, not all information on the internet is true or comes from credible sources. Access to such information could lead to violence among young people who may not be aware that the information is false or has been posted with malicious intent.
These negative impacts of technology seem to target the young generation. If they are not remedied, they will result in an anti-social future for people and a nation full of health complications. This is especially because young people are regarded as the future of nations. Human beings need to interact to coexist harmoniously. Negative impacts of technology seem to hamper this goal as they are creating an environment where social interactions are a major challenge. Due to this, technology needs to be monitored and the negative impacts need to be remedied.
The first step in remedying technology vies is creating awareness of their existence. This segment discusses the remedies that can be adopted in ramifying the negative impacts of technology on young people. It acknowledges that most users are not aware of the negative influence of using technology, and as such, aims to convince all technology users to try and adopt some of the remedying measures. For instance, addiction is the most common result of excessive use of technology. Young people may not acknowledge that they are addicted to something unless someone points it out. To remedy addiction, young people need to learn how to be selective with the use of their time. Setting time limits could go a long way in ensuring that is achieved. With no addiction, comes benefits like better time management, fewer ailments caused by overuse of technology, and improved social interactions. Moreover, young people need to try participating in activities like physical games and interactions that will help them realize and appreciate the value of life outside technology.
Parents need to pay attention to the behavioral change of their teens. This will help them identify patterns that are likely to be influenced by the use of technology. To remedy threats that may be imposed on their teens by technology, parents need to create restrictions to technology use. This could be in from site restrictions and screen time. They also need to foster communication with the young people and encourage better interactions. This will help in preventing the use of technology as a hideout. Parents could also advocate the use of the New York Teens Connection program to educate the teens on the healthy adoption of technology and dangers that could be as a result of technology.
While enjoying the benefits that technology offers, young people may become ignorant of the negative impacts of these technological innovations. The use of platforms such as Facebook, Whatsapp, Twitter, and Instagram can be addictive and users may not even be aware of it. Due to the threats posed by excessive use of such technology platforms, the creation of awareness is crucial. Additionally, in mitigating threats resulting from technology use, both parents and young people should also play an important role in setting limits on the use of technology. Young people, for instance, need to learn how to be selective with the use of their time to achieve a unified and safe environment for technology use. Parents, on the other hand, need to pay attention to changes in behavior patterns of their teens to identify signs of addiction and depression.
References
Fritsch, J., Kofoed, J., & Reestorff, C. M. (2020). Strategic cyberbullying and the reorganization of political culture. Conjunctions, 7(1), 1-21.
Lindahl, B., & Kirk, S. (2019). When technology enters the home–a systematic and integrative review examining the influence of technology on the meaning of home. Scandinavian Journal of Caring Sciences, 33(1), 43-56.
Ngonso, B. F. (2019). Effect of social media on teenagers and youths: A study of rural Nigerian teenagers and youths in secondary schools. Global Media Journal, 17(32), 1-6.
Nield, D. (2020). All the ways Facebook Tracks You—and how to limit it.
Severino, E. (2021). On the meaning of technology’s domination. In Italian Philosophy of Technology (pp. 69-82). Springer, Cham.
Twenge, J. M. (2019). More time on technology, less happiness? Associations between digital-media use and psychological well-being. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 28(4), 372-379.
Twenge, J. M., Martin, G. N., & Campbell, W. K. (2018). Decreases in psychological well-being among American adolescents after 2012 and links to screen time during the rise of smartphone technology.Emotion, 18(6), 765.