The Excessive Use of Technology is Harmful

Technology is one of the most important aspects in our lives; millions of children and teenagers use it on a regular basis, to interact with peers, play games and more. However, there is something behind technology that may have negative consequences for teenagers, such as development of serious mental disorders, for children they might get cyberbullied online, and later on doing something terrible. 

Doctors are warning parents about kids using technology for a long period of time. According to a quote “Many kids now watch TV online and send text messages from their bedrooms after "lights out." Yet few parents set rules about media use, the policy says.” Parents don’t restrict technology use, however it might lead to cyberbullying, weight problems, and lack of sleep. However, parents are mostly clueless on technology. Time limits are really helpful, and can limit kids internet use, however Mark Risinger, said “He said a two-hour Internet time limit "would be catastrophic." Kids won't follow the advice, "they'll just find a way to get around it.” It would be catastrophic, Time limits will make children and teenagers laugh, and they will find a way to get around them. When parents, on the other hand, do not set any boundaries, anything bad will occur. Two Florida girls were charged with harassing a classmate who later committed suicide. Police questioned the parents on why they didn’t limit their child's internet use.

Parents agree on limiting technology use, "I think some children have a greater maturity level and you don't need to be quite as strict with them," said Risinger”. Parents say that limiting will be helpful, and that parents should be more aware, with no time limit it might be bad for socialization. 

Teens who use technology, on the other hand, can develop mental health issues. Three universities in California researched a group of high school students. The students did not seem to have any issues at the start of the study, but researchers discovered that students who participated in more media interaction had symptoms associated with ADHD. However, the digital media use, and ADHD is limited, however this shouldn’t be ignored. Even long media use, it does not cause ADHD. However, the problem still cannot be ignored. “However, when almost all teens have access to a smartphone and nearly half said they are online "almost constantly," the study raises concerns about how well teens can pay attention.”

Mental health professionals are re-thinking, ADHD mostly happens in birth, however the numbers are increasing drastically, mostly found in older teens, and adults. Students later on said, spent too much time on at least one activity, 54% said that they used social media on a regular basis. Later on, researchers asked the students if they experience 18 of ADHD symptoms , such as trouble completing work. If they said they had at least 6 of them, researchers said that it was considered ADHD-Positive. 4.8%-6.9% had met the criteria.  From the article, this quote stated “There were 114 teens who engaged in seven digital activities many times a day. Of those, 9.5 percent were seen as symptom-positive during the follow-up. For the 51 students who reported high-frequency use of all 14 digital activities, 10.5 percent met the symptom criteria.” Some people are skeptical of the study, however the evidence is too much. 

To sum everything up that has been stated so far, kids and teens who use technology might experience a negative-effect. Limiting technology use for both kids and teens. The other side of this argument is that technology can help people develop new skills, like skills we use on a daily basis. However, I disagree with that, my sources have shown more on the bad side, using technology for long periods of time, may lead to ADHD researchers claim. Not restricting internet use, may lead to them being cyberbullied, and might be bad for their socialization. Teens who are ADHD positive, might have trouble focusing, and trouble completing work. For kids and parents, we must limit our technology use, doing different activities besides using technology. For teens, we must limit how much we use technology, if we limit our technology use, it will help us in our upcoming future.