[The Course]
Introduction
Many decades now have passed, since children were solely limited to the essentialities of video games and watching TV. Now, in 2016 children are still exposed to such casualties, yet with an enormous abundance of alternate forms of technological devices and media realms that have completely changed the world forever, as it continuously accelerates. However despite the considerable successes in which this conformation has attained, alongside comes a long and dark shadow of copious negative and damaging factors. It is quite prevalent that in today’s day in age, children should be crucially and drastically limited of their technological/media usage.
Generally speaking, in today’s society parents have not been nowhere near as vigilant as they have been in the past several decades, when it comes to their children watching TV or listening to music. More so it is the many other alternate and more advanced forms of technology/media (such as the internet, smart phones, iPhones, iPads, and video games) in today’s world that have been doing the trick. These modern day devices offer exceedingly monumental amounts of information, social media opportunities, conveniences, games and leisurely activities, etc. Yes, this can be very educational and convenient when it comes to young children in the very prime of their youth; statistics prove that the present common sense media and its effects on children have been the cause of vast unsustainable lifestyles, untenable aggression, addictions, and a multitude of health impediments and long-term issues (Jung, Dr.PhD.,).
Social networks have become very popular mean of communication since early 2000s: this led to the fact that in 2015 Facebook once per month attendance amounted up to 1.6 billion (Statista). Because of its popularity, social media created a significant impact (both positive and negative), which is reasonable to examine. When social networks have just appeared, people preferred to pay attention only to its benefits. And it was easily explainable phenomenon: social media gave new impressing possibilities of communication, which had never existed before. However, in the course of time, negative effects of using social media became clearer. Researchers stated that in case of improper usage websites like Facebook or Twitter could become a serious threat to the people. Social networks could potentially cause serious psychological problems, mental diseases, tech addiction etc. (Jung, Dr.PhD.,).
It seems that it is not reasonable to consider benefits and risks of using social media separately. Both advantages and disadvantages of it are in fact having common reasons. And it mainly depends on the person, whether positive or negative effect of social media usage will predominate. However each person must establish his or her own limits and boundaries of using social networks, yet when it comes to today’s youth these boundaries should indeed be established in co-ordinance with a parent(s) or guardian, at least until a certain legal age. It would be most appropriate to analyze social media usage benefits and risks together and to try finding a reasonable balance between them rather than just considering advantages and disadvantages separately (Jung, Dr.PhD.,).
Social Media and Personality The main advantage of social networks is the ease of connection between people. When one is young, the social aspect of his or her life is essential to the affluence of one’s growth and societal alleviation for that matter. Twenty years ago it was rather difficult to connect too many people at once – e.g., at a meeting or at a party, where a lot of people gathered together simultaneously. Yet, this non-commonality approach seemed to work wonders on the generation as these rare times in which communication and physical/social appearance was made/conducted, it was taken very seriously and social-success & time spent was significantly accounted for. On the contrary now in 2016, with the ultimate emergence of social networks and communication the world has ever seen, has been the unfortunate result of very false senses of connection, numerous reports of cyber-bullying and lack of face to face confrontation, decreased productivity (both youth and adults) and privacy issues (Jung, Brian, Dr.PhD.,).
If a person does not have specific set limits of online communication, he or she may have thousands and tens of thousands friends in social media. But isn’t it too much? Is it possible to establish deep mutual relationship with each of them? Obviously, it is not. In fact, this “friendship” list in Facebook consists only of 10-20 real friends, while the other 9900 “friends” are come-and-go people. And it is good, if at least some of them were met personally at least once. The truth is that 95% of people on the friends list in social network has never been seen and will never be seen by the person in real life. This tendency bears a huge risk: future generations may be unable to distinguish casual acquaintances and meaningful relationships.
Though it seems that social media is a unifier for the people of different social statuses and different nationalities, nevertheless if one and only way of connection between people is virtual it can lead to social isolation of the people involved in such communication (BBC). As the time spent in the Internet increases, a person experiences less real interpersonal communication. The topic of social isolation was investigated by many scientists, who made a conclusion that it can cause to different kinds of problems: mental diseases, tech addiction and others (BBC).
A special attention should be paid to social media influence on our youth. As they are not always able to control themselves, their usage of social media needs to be carefully monitored by parents. Susan Greenfield, a professor of pharmacology at Oxford University and the director of Royal Institution of Great Britain thinks that social media usage might be potentially harmful for children and can be one of the reasons of rising number of attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder cases: “If the young brain is exposed from the outset to a world of fast action and reaction, of instant new screen images flashing up with the press of a key, such rapid interchange might accustom the brain to operate over such timescales” (Wintout).
Larry D. Rosen, PhD, professor of psychology at California State University, discussed the following ways of negative influence of social media on children and teenagers during his speech at 119th Annual Convention of American Psychological Association: “social media addicted teenagers tend to show more tendencies of inflated self-concept, while young adults who spend a lot of time in social networks, show signs of psychological problems like mania, elevated level of aggression and other examples of antisocial behavior; social networks can cause distraction and have negative effect on the quality of studying. It is known that different level students, who were psychologically dependent on connecting to Facebook during their classes, showed lower level of academic performance than other students, who didn’t experience such addiction”.
As a conclusion, Rosen urges parents to carefully monitor children’s social media activity and discuss with them refusal of forbidden content consumption and connections with problematic people. Parents should also keep abreast of the latest online tendencies and technologies in order to understand how it can influence their children.
People often tend to underestimate social media influence on society. But in fact their impact is even bigger than everyone could think. A lot of Facebook users have become really tech addicted. This led to emerge of Digital Detox initiative, which aims to help people break addiction to modern technologies. One of its most interesting projects is Camp Grounded, summer camp for adults. This is how camp is described by its creators:
Trade in your computer, cell phone, email, digital cameras, clocks, schedules, work-jargon, networking events and conferences for four days of pure, unadulterated off-the-grid camp fun. Together, we’ll create a community where status updates, job titles, bitcoins and “busyness” models are worth little and individuality, self-expression, community, friendship, and memories are what matter most (Haber).
It’s a place where singing ‘til the sunrise, hand-written love notes, pranks, sharing our last bites, laying under the stars, dancing barefoot, taking time to reflect, crying because it feels good sometimes, actually laughing out loud, getting our hands covered in paint, the endless smell of campfires on our clothes, holding hands, eye contact, and exploring the great outdoors are valued most (Haber).
These words prove that addiction to gadgets and social networks have become enormous, therefore such projects are in demand by those people who want to break it and get back to feeling of meaningful relationships with other people.
Matt Haber, The New York Times reporter, had a personal experience of visiting the camp. He tells that about 300 people gathered in a place, which is 2.5 hours driving away from San Francisco, “for three days of color wars, talent shows, flag-raisings and other soothingly regressive activities organized by Digital Detox, an Oakland-based group dedicated to teaching technology-addled (or technology-addicted) people to, in the words of its literature, “disconnect to reconnect.” (Haber).
The rules of Camp Ground were very simple: no phones, computers, tablets or watches; work discussion, talking about people’s ages and use of real names were prohibited. Men and women were separated and placed into separate animal-themed camps. Aside from a water-resistant pad, there was any other equipment provided: campers had to put their own efforts into comfortable being in the natural environment (Haber)
Surprisingly there were almost no complaints from camp residents, any interpersonal conflicts didn’t emerge there. As Levi Felix the 28-year-old camp cofounder, says, “When all the stress in life is removed, what’s there to fight about?” (Haber).
The time spent in the camp became a real revelation for most of the people, who were there. For majority of them this was the longest period of being without e-mail, cell-phone and social networking since these technologies came to their lives. Besides that, many campers came to the necessity of answering the question “Who am I?”, because technology became so important for them, that they even made it an inherent part of their personality. This question, asked by the people, who are not young, seems to be the most important result of experiment, because at least small part of technically addicted people could return to the true them and find appropriate balance between their personality and device usage (Haber).
Health Impediments and Long-term Issues
One of the more common negative factors of constant device usage with both children and adults is sleep deprivation. It is quite common for an individual to pick up their phone and play a game or text someone when they are having trouble sleeping. Before you know it, it is the wee hours of the early morning and one has probably passed the natural state of tiredness and has moved on to deprivation or their “second-wind” as we know it (Renner). This has been a large problem for children everywhere as they are submitted to all this technology right at their fingertips and it is an immense complication towards proper sleep levels and hour’s youth should obtain in order to possess a healthy, less-stressful and active life (Renner). “Restricting usage of technology and handheld devices will help ensure your child gets enough sleep” (Renner).
On another note, more recent studies have shown that youth being exposed to an abundance of device/media has subsequently increased occurrences of attention deficit disorder. “Watching so much on a screen causes your brain to “prune” the neuronal tracks that run to the frontal lobe, which decreases your ability to concentrate and form memories (Renner). Other studies look at the concept of “delayed development in youth and adults, where one is just sitting around doing nothing but touching a screen, this is a colossal neglect of the body and common healthy everyday physical activity. Therefore the individual is not using his or her muscles enough for full and proper structural development (Renner). “Physical movement enhances a child’s ability to learn and pay attention, so it’s important they use a lot of their body for playing and learning as they grow (Renner).
Lastly, health issues in which have drastically arisen with youth throughout the United States over the last decade or so has been Epidemic Obesity, mental illness (overexposure to technology), Unsustainable lifestyles, Radiation Emissions, and addictions. “Studies have shown that children with a TV in their bedrooms have a 30% increased occurrence of obesity. Limiting children’s exposure to technology and encouraging them to exercise and play outside will help decrease chances of diabetes, strokes, and heart attacks later in life (Renner). The issue of overexposure to technology has clearly shown an increase in childhood autism, anxiety, depression, attention deficit disorder, attachment disorders, psychosis, bipolar disorder and problematic behavior (Renner).
Conclusion
As an example of establishing such limits, advices by Dr. Larry Rosen can be taken. He suggests adhering to three simple principles which will allow not to be trapped to tech
addiction.
The first one is using technology not more than 90 minutes at one sitting. Every 90 minutes a 10-minute break should be made. During this break something non-technological should be made. It can be walking in the garden, making physical exercise, meditation, listening to music, having a shower or anything else bringing joy which comes to mind.
The second advice is limiting the ratio of tech-time to non-tech-time to 5:1. For example, if a person is working on a computer for two hours, he or she should set aside for about 20-25 minutes in order not to forget that life is something more than just staring into a screen (Rosen).
Finally, the last limit is teaching yourself to so called “technology breaks”. This method is proven to be effective in schools, big offices and even in families. It is also very simple. Everyone is given a minute to check their phone and after that each phone is turned to silent mode and place upside down on a desk or a table. The one person sets alarm for 15 minutes and when it goes off stands up and shouts “Tech Break!”. Everyone has one minute to check their statuses on Facebook, count likes and reposts, check-in in Foursquare or perform any other similar actions. After a week this tech break is extended to 20 minutes, then to 25 minutes and, finally to 30 minutes. The sense of this method is training the brain that it is OK to wait for 15 minutes or even longer: during this period of time nothing bad will happen (Rosen). These simple tricks will allow to tackle the problem that our brain is often setting up a feeling that we must constantly check, what is happening in virtual world – not to miss something important.
Just as it is done with children, everyone should establish boundaries on their own behavior and come out from addiction – sometimes very slowly, depending on addiction degree. It is important to understand and take action to instruct our children to drastically limit their technological/media usage, with common tech-breaks in between. Society must recognize the effects that technology has on our day youth, and do whatever we can to avoid these vast unsustainable lifestyles and the possibility of a multitude of health impediments and long-term issues.
Works Cited
Camp Grounded. Digital Detox LLC, n.d. Web. 18 Feb. 2016. <http://campgrounded.org/>.
Derbyshire, David. “Social websites harm children's brains: Chilling warning to parents from top neuroscientist.” Daily Mail. Daily Mail, 24 Feb. 2009. Web. 18 Feb. 2016. <http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1153583/Social-websites-harm-childrens-brains-Chilling-warning-parents-neuroscientist.html>.
Haber, Matt. “A Trip to Camp to Break a Tech Addiction.” The New York Times. The New York Times, 5 Jul. 2013. Web. 18 Feb. 2016. <http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/07/fashion/a-trip-to-camp-to-break-a-tech-addiction.html>.
Jung, Brian, Dr.PhD.,. "The Negative Effect of Social Media on Society and Individuals." The Negative Effect of Social Media on Society and Individuals. Chron; Demand Media. Web. 24 Feb. 2016. <http://smallbusiness.chron.com/negative-effect-social-media-society-individuals-27617.html>.
Lickerman, Alex. “The True Meaning of Friendship.” Psychology Today. Psychology Today, 15 Dec. 2013. Web. 18 Feb. 2016. <https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/happiness-in-world/201312/the-true-meaning-friendship>.
“Number of monthly active Facebook users worldwide as of 4th quarter 2015 (in millions).” Statista. Statista, n.d. Web. 18 Feb. 2016. <http://www.statista.com/statistics/264810/number-of-monthly-active-facebook-users-worldwide/>.
“Online networking 'harms health'.” BBC. BBC, 19 Feb. 2009. Web. 18 Feb. 2016. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7898510.stm>.
Renner, Allison. "These 10 Reasons Will Convince Anyone To Stop Giving Children Handheld Devices." Lifehack RSS. Family Lifestyle. Web. 24 Feb. 2016. <http://www.lifehack.org/articles/lifestyle/these-10-reasons-will-convince-anyone-stop-giving-children-handheld-devices.html>.
Rosen, Larry. “Poke Me: How Social Networks Can Both Help and Harm Our Kids.” American Psychological Association 119th Annual Convention (Washington D. C., August 4-7 2011). Current Topics in Psychology, 5 Sep. 2014. Web.18 Feb. 2016. <http://www.fenichel.com/pokeme.shtml>.
Rosen, Larry. “You Don't Need a Digital Detox: You Just Need to Learn to Set Limits and Boundaries.” Huffpost Tech. The Huffington Post, 23 Jul. 2013. Web. 18 Feb. 2016. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-larry-rosen/you-dont-need-a-digital-d_b_3637031.html>.
Wintout, Patrick. “Facebook and Bebo risk 'infantilising' the human mind.” The Guardian. The Guardian, 24 Feb. 2009. Web. 18 Feb. 2016. <http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2009/feb/24/social-networking-site-changing-childrens-brains>.
