Technology Negatively Affects Children

How Technology Negatively Affects Children

In 2010, the Kaiser Family Foundation conducted a study showing that on average, children ages 8 to 18 use entertainment technology for more than 53 hours a week (Rowan). This extremely disturbing statistic shows how much children use technology in their day to day life. Astounding studies and educated researchers are discovering facts that substantiate the notion that technology is becoming a toxic factor in the lives of children and adolescents. Modern technology is immensely affecting children's health, thinking, and social skills in unfavorable ways. Therefore, the extent of technology use a child engages in throughout their life needs to be limited.

Although there is a tremendous quantity of negative problems caused by technology,

According to a UCLA psychology study, children who use technology are losing the straightforward skill of analyzing human emotions (Wolpert). Kids who acquire online friendships, instead of talking face to face with friends, are damaging their social development. Worse yet, some schools are even replacing human interaction with media (Shields). A journal entry written by Gwenn O’Keeffe and Kathleen Clarke-Pearson reviewed an in depth analysis that proved children who devote exorbitant time on their devices have an increase in feelings of loneliness and a decrease in social involvement (O’Keeffe and Clarke-Pearson 801,802). In a broadcast about the impact of media on children and adolescents, video games were said to be causing violence and aggressive behavior in children. Although video games have a potential to be educational, up to 90% of them involve violence (Strasburger). If the approach children take on technology is not supervised, then the danger of obtaining considerable problems in their social skills and other areas of development is at