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effect of technology for the children in their lives
Technology surrounds everyone, every single day. Many people never stop to think about the negative effects all the technology around them can be. Not just for them but for the children in their lives. One thing that might open their eyes, is the fact that most three-year-old children know how to operate a tablet or smartphone. While some believe that is beneficial, it may be setting them up for failure in their adolescent years. By the time most kids get to middle school, they have a smartphone. In recent years, this has been more so the case. With the smartphone social media of some kind follows shortly after. Whether it be Roblox, Music.ly, Instagram, Snap Chat, or Facebook; children and teens are being sucked into their devices across the world. Parents should not allow their adolescent to have smartphones or social media.
It may sound odd to hear the word flip phone, but more parents are realizing that the problem is real. Depression in adolescents is real. That suicide among this young group is growing at an alarming rate. Some are standing up and telling their adolescent no smartphone and no social media. It is happening all across the world. There are many studies that show the use of smartphones or social media is affecting adolescents in big ways. Some schools are wanting to ban smartphones like France is doing. In France, the chief of education announced that when the students go back to school in the fall of 2018, there will be a ban on all cellphones for adolescents 15 and younger. The chief has seen the shift of kids playing outside to just staring at a small screen during play time (Wamsley).
There are many issues with handing a smartphone to any adolescent. One major issue is the fact that their innocents goes out the window. Regardless of the parental controls, the messaging applications are generally not part of that. This exposes any adolescent with a smartphone to sexual content they wouldn't see or hear about without a smartphone. Pornography is readily available because there is no way to supervise their smartphone when they are away from their parent. This leaves them unsupervised with the whole world at their fingertips.
One of the worst things adolescents are doing with their smartphones is sexting. According to one study, one out of every seven teenagers is sending sexts (Madigan and Temple). Sexting is defined as the sending of sexually explicit digital images, videos, text messages, or emails, usually by cell phone (Dictionary, LLC.). Some social media platforms make sending sexts easier.
Snap Chat deletes the image within a certain time period the sender sets. However, with technology, the receiver of the sext can take a screenshot of the picture or explicit language. With all the sexual content available, sexual activity may occur earlier than in the past. In 2012 a study was done on adolescents who were exposed to sexual content at an early age. The results were clear. Those who were exposed to more sexual content were three times more likely to have oral sex (Caroline C. Ross M.D.). This goes hand in hand with the unsupervised smartphone, sending and receiving sexts, depression, suicide rates, and having access to social media. Another danger lurking around every virtual corner, are predators.
A very real danger that adolescents don't always think about are pedophiles. They often approach adolescents on social media. They find the ones who are not monitored while on social media or a smartphone. While the adolescent may believe the person on the other side of the screen is a kid, that may not be the case. The person on the other side of any conversation may not be who they say they are unless the adolescent knows them in person.
This was recently the case with an 11-year-old girl from Florida. She agreed to meet in person, with the person that she thought to be a 13-year old girl on Minecraft (Tron). Thankfully she was found in Georgia safe. This could have been a tragic story. Parents must be vigilant to who their adolescent is communicating with on social media or smartphones.
Often the pedophile will groom their victims for a period of time before trying to meet up with them. They generally look for the kids who have family issues and may not have friends (Kenny and Fischer). The predator will give the adolescent attention that they wouldn't be getting from others around them. It makes them feel special that an adult is giving them attention. The predator often plays the hero role to get close to the adolescent as well.
Adolescents often share information with predators without even realizing it. Educating children on what not to tell strangers or acquaintances can be vital to their safety. Social media is making it easier for predators to access potential victims. Parents need to stand up and be the mean parent. Adolescents are at great risk for depression and suicide.
Recent data has proven that the mental health of today's adolescents is at great risk. Even better the numbers don't lie. Depression rates have raised to astronomical numbers in recent years. One study found that one to two hours of social media a day was the maximum anyone should have without it affecting their mental health. The more screen time teens have, the less happy they tend to be according to Jean M. Twenge. He has been studying generational differences for 25 years (J. M. Twenge).
He noticed a dramatic shift in 2012. Over 50 percent of Americans owned a smartphone at this point. Since 2011, the rate of teen depression and suicide has skyrocketed. Twenge puts the fault of this increase on their phones. Suicide rates have gone up over 100 percent in the last decade. For the first time in over 2 decades, teen suicide rates are higher than teen homicide rates (J. M. Twenge).
The depression and suicide rates are so bad in Utah, one local man has taken to social media to make parents aware of the epidemic (FOX 13 NEWS). Collin Kartchner has been spreading awareness across Utah and America on just how toxic smartphones and social media are for everyone. That's right, not just adolescents but entire families are affected by social media and smartphones. Bullying plays a large role in the depression and suicide rates as well. Cyberbullying takes place behind smartphone screens and social media constantly. The internet never turns off. This makes bullying available twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. This constant abuse wears on the victim. This all leads back to the depression and suicidal tendencies.
The adolescent brain is still developing. There is now proof that smartphone use and social media can be addicting. One study found that using a smartphone and social media created a chemical imbalance (Cohut). During this study, the adolescents who had internet and smartphone addiction also had depression and anxiety. Research shows that the adolescent brain is not fully developed until age 20 or so (Ritter). This also affects decision-making skills. The average adolescent's decision-making skills are not fully developed (Blakemore and Robbins). This can lead to poor choices. The brain is the command center of the body. If not maintained properly, development is hindered.
Sleep deprivation is becoming more common in adolescents. Teens will be up on their smartphone and social media all hours of the night. They are constantly looking to fill the void they feel. Always being judged and wanting to compare themselves to those around them. When the body doesn't get adequate sleep, there will be a toll. In 2014 a study on teens and lack of sleep was conducted. The results were stunning. 80 percent of the adolescents said they used their smartphone when they were told to go to bed. This lack of sleep not only affects their brain development, it can lead to bad grades in school. Sleep deprivation also has side effects that include depression and anxiety (J. Twenge, Analysis: Teens are sleeping less. Why? Smartphones). This is alarming. Parents must make changes to save the kids. Social media might be a great place to begin.
Social media was created to bring people together. Since its creation, the exact opposite has happened. A new obsession and danger were created. There are many platforms of social media. Snap Chat is notorious for its ability to make images and text disappear quickly. This can make those using it feel that they are safe to send and receive sexually explicit photos because they will disappear quickly. Unfortunately, the senders are learning the hard way that they can and will be screenshot for later use however the receiver would like. Snap Chat also has many filters to alter the face of whoever is in the photo. This can lead to low self-esteem.
Instagram is a photo sharing application that was created in 2010. Coincidently, the suicide rates have increased astronomically since social media was more widely used (Twenge). They also have a direct messaging area where people can message in private. Not only is it unsafe due to predators, it also creates a way for cyber bullies to attack others and inappropriate conversations. Some studies suggest that sexting occurs more often with those on social media (Shapiro and Margolin). There are many social media applications that parents are not aware of. Music.ly is a lip sings application that allows people to upload videos of themselves lip singing and dancing to popular songs. Other people can see them and contact the person who posts the video. Roblox is a gaming application that has messaging as well. These all create very real dangers to adolescents. They don't know who is on the other side of that screen.
With smartphones being a normal part of so many adolescents' lives today, schools have also found themselves in an awkward position. In turn, they are allowing more use than in the past. Teens often have them out in class. Some send and receive sext messages while at school as well. Smartphones are taking a great toll on students. They are extremely distracting. With the tiny screen always sending push notifications from new text messages to Instagram updates, it's never-ending. Schools are beginning to see the horrendous consequences of smartphone and social media obsessed teens.
With so many suicides and high depression rates, schools are finally looking into making some changes. Other countries are already beginning to enforce no cell phone policies within their schools. More parents are reaching out to their schools for answers. Some parents don't agree with the idea of banning cell phones. They like to get ahold of their child if needed. More parents worry about mass shootings today as well. They are often forgetting that the problem begins with the tiny device the parents just hand the tiny being with no training. This is similar to handing an adolescent a gun and saying good luck. The parents are at fault here.
Most people that live in a developed country today own a smartphone and some kind of social media. Not everyone, but almost everyone. Technology can be a great tool but it should remain just a tool. Technology is taking over the lives of many people. There are few children that are outside playing with other children. Parents are not out socializing with neighbors. It is rather uncommon now days to even know their neighbors.
This leads to the next concern. Parents are the problem. Parents often have a smartphone shoved in their own face ignoring their children, swiping through Pinterest or whatever social media they are into at the time. Children see their parents glued to their phones and think that is normal. It is not normal. There are many ways to change that. It has to start with the parents. They need to escape the addiction as much as the adolescents they are raising.
The more real attention parents give their children, the happier they will be. The relationship will grow and the parents can set good examples of limiting screen time and social media. It is normal to see 10-year-olds walking about with iPhones and that is pitiful. Adolescents that age should be running around and getting dirty, not taking a thousand photos of themselves with filters that change their appearance. These are the things lowering their self-esteem.
Removing the smartphone and social media from both the parent and the adolescent can open the relationship up. This can also raise their self-confidence. Once they are no longer worried about what everyone else is doing or looking like, they will focus on their happiness. The research is being conducted and studied often in recent years. With the massive spike in teen depression and suicide, it was time to step back and think about what happened. Parents need to save the kids.
One problem parents face is the pressure to have their children fit in. They give their adolescent a smartphone and access to social media because almost everyone they know has one already. Parents want their children to be liked and have friends. They want them happy but a smartphone and social media is not the answer. In fact, those things do the opposite. They make the adolescent feel inadequate to those around them. Social media takes their innocents and internet surfing gives them sexually explicit content at their fingertips.
Parents must stand up and band together to set the movement forward. Parents can tell their adolescent no smartphone for them. There are many articles about this but Naomi Riley says it well when she writes about how parents have lost their backbone and let the pressure of fitting in get to them (Riley). She goes on to say how parents always have some kind of excuse as to why their adolescent needs the smartphone. How did anyone ever survive before smartphones? She suggests taking the smartphones and being the mean parent. More and more parents are jumping on board. The flip phone is making a comeback.
The flip phone appears to be the future of many. Celebrities have been spotted in recent months with flip phones. There are also other options to keep in contact with an adolescent than a smartphone. Verizon offers a watch that has GPS tracking and has the ability to send and receive calls to preset phone numbers. This is a much more reasonable device for a young adolescent who has no business on social media or the internet. Giving them flip phones will give the future generation more time to live in the moment and not have to worry about fitting in. They will be happier with less time on social media or pressure to grow up too fast.
Over time mistakes are made and that is what being a parent is about. Taking all the research over the past 8 years and deciding if being the cool parent is worth it should be an easy decision. If a parent wants their child to have a phone, it should be a basic flip phone. They should not have any social media until their brains are more developed either. The data doesn't lie, and parents want their adolescents to be happy and healthy. Most of all they want them to be alive. Social media and smartphones have finally met their match. Parents, schools, and other teens are banding together to get the word out. Social media and smartphone are ruining the future generations. More often than not, the teens that were told no social media or smartphone thank their parents in the long run.
Works Cited
Blakemore, Sarah-Jayne and T.W. Robbins. Decision-Making in the adolescent brain.
Caroline C. Ross M.D., M.P.H. Overexposed and Under-Prepared: The Effects of Early Exposure to Sexual Content
Cohut, Maria. Yes, smartphone addiction does harm your teen's mental health
FOX 13 NEWS. Is social media causing depression, suicide among Utah's youth?
Kenny, Kara and Jordan Fischer. Convicted child molester says social media is giving more tools to predators.
Madigan, Sheri and Jeff Temple. 1 in 7 teens are sexting, new research finds.
Riley, Naomi Schaefer. Yes, you can tell your kids, 'No smartphones!'.
Ritter, Malcolm. Experts link teen brains' immaturity, juvenile crime.
Shapiro, Lauren A. Spies and Gayla Margolin. Growing Up Wired: Social Networking Sites and Adolescent Psychosocial Development.
Tron, Gina. 11-year-old girl found in hotel after allegedly being lured by man she met on minecraft.
Twenge, Jean. Analysis: Teens are sleeping less. Why? Smartphones.
Twenge, Jean As smartphones spread among teens so did suicide
Twenge, Jean M. Have Smartphones Destroyed a Generation?
Wamsley, Laurel. France Moves To Ban Students From Using Cellphones In Schools.