Back to Basics

As the technology advances it becomes more and more prevalent in our lives. If you look to your peers I’m sure you’ll see them using some sort of portable device for either; games, texting or on a social media website. Technology is everywhere you turn it’s even becoming mandatory in our schools, the old fashioned pen and paper style notes are now frowned upon. In the current day and age you are never alone or disconnected from society; with the touch of a button the world is accessible. The question then arises is this much exposure really good for society in specific teenagers.


A typical teenager gas a smart phone with access to the internet 24/7 seven days a week. There are many popular sites used to connect with peers amongst teens such as; Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and Tumblr. So after an entire day of school surrounded by their classmates, then they go home only to get on the various websites and continue to interact with each other. Which can be fun, unless the things being said on your page aren’t very positive?


The amount of teenagers reported for committing suicide due to cyber bullying is on an increasing trend. Behind a computer screen teens often find the courage to say certain things to people, had the conversation been face to face they would not have said. They leave nasty comments on others pictures about their appearance. Or make petty posts about others and their opinions on matters that are none of their business to begin with. But what cyber bullies are failing to comprehend is that even behind a screen the person on the other side is real and they have feelings that get hurt.


Or if teens aren’t bullying each other via the internet, they’re posting about how messed up they get over the weekends. Tweeting about being intoxicated or posting pictures high as a kite on instagram. What teenagers don’t realize until it’s too late that colleges and jobs look at your pages and make judgments based on them. We’ve been taught in safe internet 101 once you post it, it’s out there forever you can’t erase it even if you delete it. Jobs will see posts you made about being intoxicated, cuss words or anything of similar nature and think immature and unprofessional and definitely would

not want you to represent their company.


Or at the very least if teens aren't cyber bulllying or posting inapproproate things, social media websites are still causing issues in their lives. The typical teenager visits the various social media websites at least once every hour. Instead of paying attention in class, they spend their time with their faces glued to their phones. Scrolling, liking, scrolling, posting, scrolling etc. The amount of time teenagers spend on these sites is a lot more than they probably should, and it could even be argued its unhealthy.


In conclusion the prevalence of technology in teen’s daily lives is more detrimental than beneficial. Tennagers are jeopradizing their grades and learning by spending too much time online instead of disconnecting and paying attention in class. Then with the amount of bullying and negativity on social media sites it is greatly affecting their self-confidence. As well as teens inability to filter what they post and eventually negatively affecting their future due to inappropriate conduct. Face to face communication is becoming a lost practice and for the benefit of society should be preserved.