Mental Health
123 Technologies Influence on Developing Adolescents
Tatum Weaver
Technology today is not like the technology even 10 years ago. It is highly accessible and challenging for parents to regulate, even when used for educational purposes. It is an addictive resource that many parents have begun to take advantage of because, for some reason, it makes parenting easier than before. However, it is nothing but the contrary because it leads to behavioral issues, social anxiety, and poor manners or any ability to understand authority and personal imagination.
Connection to STS
As technology is continuously adapting it is going to effect the younger generations as well if it is affecting the older generations. If screens are addicting to adults then its going to be even more addicting to younger kids because they have have more adrenaline, they don’t have the understanding for what is good and what is bad for them, and they surely don’t understand how their addiction affects the people around them. They won’t remember the fits they have today in ten years, but it will mold them into the kind of person they will be in the future. Will they be able to have their own imagination and think for themselves?
New Technology vs. Old technology
This starts with electronic media because social media drastically impacts adolescents today. Specifically, tweens, meaning middle school- high school era. Today, the time spent on social media is much broader than it was 10 years ago. Now there are multiple different types of social media, depending on which app and how you’re using it, which depicts how regulated it is. Regulation may be spam accounts, catfishing, or cyberbullying. All occurred 10 years ago and still occurs today. It is more likely regulated now because social media has been around for at least 10 years now, so there is more knowledge about criminals on the internet today . When you dissect these issues it can be defined as comparing body types, risking sexual initiation, and exposure to drugs and/or alcohol (Ray et al. 2010). Stereotypically, baby boomers have the strongest disagreements with the rising use of modern technology. It is theorized that as the new generation grows old they will use less technology than when they were young, but by this theory it doesn’t make sense that a 10 year old used less technology when they were 10 versus when they were 17 (Mallborn, S et al. 2021). Based on data this theory is incorrect and as the newer generations grow older they will become more reliant on modernizing technology and will always want the next “new” thing. Every generation is going to grow up differently and create a reputation fit for their time period, such as baby boomers, gen x, y, and z; but now there is gen alpha who has grown up differently than any other generation to date. This generation has been ultimately given the name “ipad kid” and these children typically have a screen everywhere they go. Studies are showing that majority st