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Eric Turatsinze

Professor Dunham

ENG 1201

Mar 21, 2022

Literature Review

How is technology endangering today's young generation? In recent years

Technology has changed the way humans live. In just a few years people have come

from not being able to stay in the house for more than a couple of hours, to staying

inside the house all day and every day without seeing the outside world. This has had a

big impact on people, especially the young generation. People need to acknowledge the

impact that technology is causing on our children in order to move on to the future and

be their potential best. Because of all the cutout, it is having on young people, it has a

lot of people concerned about where it is taking us in the future. Technology has gotten

so far to the point where almost everything Humans do is done through technology.

There has been much research proving how technology is bad for child development

but still, parents are still continuously feeding their children more technology which is

very harmful to them.

We have built our homes for our children in such a way that they never want to

leave them and go outside. We try as hard as we can to make our homes as fun as
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possible by buying all these different technological devices like gaming consoles, Ipads,

phones, TVs, etc, without looking at the potential outcomes that they’ll have on our kids.

Today the Average kid in America only spends about 4-7 minutes a day outdoors. Did

you know that the air inside our homes is 5 times more polluted than the air outside? At

least the adults have a life outside of their homes. at least they go out and buy groceries

the day they are off work. what about the kids? What do they do after they get home

from their school which happens to be indoor?

It is an important factor in the children's developmental process for kids to save

some time for going out and socializing with one another. According to Pressbooks

“Socialization is just as essential to us as individuals. Social interaction provides the

means via which we gradually become able to see ourselves through the eyes of

others, and how we learn who we are and how we fit into the world around us.” If kids

do not understand the value of socialization then they won't be able to fit in with each

other which is very dangerous for humanity because us relying on each other is how we

have been able to accomplish everything we have today. Socialization within kids has

slowly been taken away with all these new technologies that have been introduced to

the world in recent years. Back then children would spend their day outside with friends

and later come home to talk and share dinner with family. It's crazy that today kids can

go a whole day without getting to talk to one person, not even their parents because of

how busy they are playing video games or watching movies on their phones. We have
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to show kids the value of socialization because they are going to need to work with each

other and that can't happen without the skill of socialization.

Enough exploration around life is needed for kids to truly understand life as it is in

order to be successful in this thing we call life. Dr. Jennifer F. Cross once said that

“screens could inhibit certain aspects of a child’s development by narrowing their focus

of interest and limiting their other means of exploration and learning.” Before technology

burst and got out of hand, kids had a chance to go explore the world and socialize.

Nowadays young people have lost focus on the real world and only want to put all their

interest and focus into things like video games, television, social media, etc. Kids learn

by example. Kids learn by looking at what the adults in their lives are doing, they grow

up with an idea of what life is like and know how to deal with it. So overall, Technology

has gone so far to the point where it is disturbing a child's development. It is

everybody’s responsibility to make sure that this young generation gets their proper

human development as everyone else did because they are going to be the ones we

depend on when we get old.

Not only is technology impacting human development, but it is also causing

mental health problems to the young generation. Most technological devices are built to

have everyone hooked on them because that's how they make their money. Things like

social media and video games have done a great job of keeping people hooked on their
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devices. It has gotten to the point where kids are addicted to their technological devices.

Today the average American spends about 7 hours off their day on a screen which

results in a lot of mental health problems. Researchers have discovered that the more

social media sites you use and the longer you’re on, the more likely you are going to be

depressed, have anxiety, have low self-esteem, and be sleep deprived. Because of all

of the pressure going on social media on how you should live your life and what you are

doing wrong, the young generation tends to have more anxiety, be depressed, and have

low self-esteem. Sleep deprivation is more real in the young generation nowadays than

ever in human existence because of all of the time that is spent on screen they barely

save any for sleep. You need more sleep when you are young because that's when you

are doing most of your growing. All of these mental health problems that this young

generation face needs to be fixed before it gets way out of control. If we do not take

care of these issues now they are going to have to live with these problems for the rest

of their lives.

Social media does not monitor or censor what is shown to the world which is a

big problem for kids. There are a lot of negative images and films on social media that

are too cruel for kids to see. As we all know kids are very naive and with social media

not being censored, it is very easy for kids to come across things like pornography or

dead bodies which can result in them being traumatized. Since social media does not

care about what they are showing to kids, parents need to be more cautious about what

their kids are watching and the kind of apps that their kids have on their technological
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devices. Parents should be aware of what their children are watching on their

technological devices.

Taking away all technological devices in kids' lives would not be smart as they

also do a lot of good for the kids, But educating them on how to carefully use it would be

a better approach to fixing this problem. Instead of parents feeding kids more and more

technological devices they need to introduce to them more and more outdoor activities

like sports and clubs. Parents need to acknowledge the causes of mental problems in

this young generation so they know how to deal with their children and how they can

help overcome those mental problems. Kids need a fair shot at life as we did when we

were growing up.

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Works Cited

Cross, Jennifer. Children's Health. “What Does Too Much Screen Time Do to Kids'

Brains?” NewYork-Presbyterian, 3 Nov. 2021,

healthmatters.nyp.org/what-does-too-much-screen-time-do-to-childrens-brains/.

Gordon, Sherri. “How Social Media Negatively Affects the Teen Brain.” Verywell Family,

Verywell Family, 7 Nov. 2021,

www.verywellfamily.com/how-will-future-well-being-be-impacted-by-technology-41

76165.

Rowan, Cris. “The Impact of Technology on the Developing Child.” HuffPost, HuffPost, 7

Dec. 2017,

www.huffpost.com/entry/technology-children-negative-impact_b_3343245.

VELUX Group. Future Generations Face Health Risks from Life Indoors, VELUX Group,

14 Aug. 2018,

press.velux.com/future-generation-of-brits-faces-health-risks-from-life-indoors/.

“Why Kids Need to Spend Time in Nature.” Child Mind Institute, 21 Sept. 2021,

childmind.org/article/why-kids-need-to-spend-time-in-nature/#:~:text=The average

American child spends,just enjoyable — it's also necessary.

[Author removed at request of original publisher]. “The Importance of Socialization.”

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Introduction to Sociology Understanding and Changing the Social World,

University of Minnesota Libraries Publishing Edition, 2016. This Edition Adapted

from a Work Originally Produced in 2010 by a Publisher Who Has Requested That

It Not Receive Attribution., 8 Apr. 2016,

pressbooks.howardcc.edu/soci101/chapter/4-1-the-importance-of-socialization/#:~

:text=Socialization is just as essential,into the world around us.