Research Paper on The Role of Technology in The Social Development of Teenagers

📌Category: Child development, Psychology, Science, Technology
📌Words: 653
📌Pages: 3
📌Published: 23 January 2022

Brent Staples’s article “What Adolescents Miss When We Let Them Grow Up in Cyberspace” talks about how the recent advanced technology plays a vital role in the social development of teenagers. For instance, children being brought up in the current 21st century are surrounded by enormous technological media channels. Staples also uses this article to explain how the current technology has hindered children from essential social skills. Nowadays, teenagers and children no longer value real-world experiences. Most of them are now separated from family and friends. All things are now being done virtually, which makes everything seem so easy and immoral for future generations. Staples' main idea is teenagers growing via the internet. 

Staples has used several pieces of evidence to support his main idea. First, Staples argues that teenagers who spend most of their time on the internet rarely socialize with other people and are emotionally stunted in both mental and physical development. However, many people, myself included, do not believe in such kinds of statements simply because we believe that older people do not understand that the world has evolved and we are now living in a new era. Not all internet users are idlers and loners. Most of them are very productive and highly intelligent. They are using the internet to learn or do something that can make the world a better place for the future generation. Unlike human beings, the internet is non-judgmental due to its knowledge factor. For this reason, the issue of gender and race has become nonexistent. Nobody is too young or too old to be heard, too uninformed to give their views and no issue is for men or women only. Everyone is considered equal and important in cyberspace. Virtual interactive participation does not end on the internet. If anything, the existence and interaction through the internet have assisted the current generation of young people to mature tremendously faster compared to their adult counterparts. 

The internet has helped teenagers become more highly educated and enlightened without necessarily having to attend physical classrooms. The author contradicted his views on the experiences of teenagers growing up through the internet by telling us the story of Marcus who was very analytical and had a receptive mind. Another instance is when Staples visits his girlfriend’s house and is judged by her father. This experience makes him understand why physical interaction skills are important to teenagers, hence the need to embrace them. Staples states that “This was my first sustained encounter with an adult outside my family needed to be convinced of my worth as a person”. This instance depicts a time before the internet where Staples and other people had to have an unavoidable physical interaction with each other. Such an example is important because it gives a personal real-life experience of why real-life interaction is more important than just research. This then shows the importance for teenagers to meet their partner’s parents which shows commitment to their relationships. 

Staples uses his article to communicate his worries concerning the current generation of young people. He is concerned about the positive and negative effects that have been brought by the internet. As much as the internet allows young people to establish connections with others practically, many teenagers tend not to have the social aptitudes to have the capacity to physically connect with others. His instance of the first encounter with his girlfriend’s dad depicts the devastating experience he was compelled to persist amid the primary gathering. Staples' work remains a convincing example regarding one side of the argument. He uses this work to enlighten teenagers on the positive and negative impacts brought by technology. Besides, he challenges the young to make good use of the internet rather than using it for non-beneficial purposes. Alternatively, Sherry Turkle argues that dependency on the internet eliminates the ability to communicate across the community. In the TED talk, Turkle argued the case that we have come to expect more from technology than from ourselves. This belief has created in us a reliance of human beings on technology which in return has caused loneliness and isolation among people.  There is no doubt that the growth and development of technology have increased our dependence upon machines to facilitate most activities and aspects of our daily lives.

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