The Effects of Technology on Children

Growing up I always heard my mom say, "Put your phone away." As a teenager this always rubbed me the wrong way and I was always pissed at my mom because of this. From the age of 14 when I got my first phone, my parents had the craziest rules for me. Or so I thought. Now that I am older and matured, I know they had these rules and didn't want me on my phone because they want the best for me. They oversaw the future and didn't want me to be a 'slave' to my phone. According to NPR, "Just over half of children in the United States - 53 percent - now own a smartphone by the age of 11. And 84 percent of teenagers now have their own phones, immersing themselves in a rich and complex world of experiences that adults sometimes need a lot of decoding to understand." What my parents did for me in my teenage years with my phone was a blessing. Because of their rules and how much they allowed me to be on my phone, I truly believe I am more active and more efficient with my time simply because of that. I also believe that mental illnesses are more common with my generation than in the past and in my opinion, it's because of technology and the role it has played in our society. Nowadays, "Research finds that 1 in every 5 children between the ages of 13-18 have, or will have, a serious mental illness before they reach adulthood. Within this group of children: 11% are mood disorders. 10% are behavior or conduct disorders and 8% are anxiety disorders." There is definitely something to be said for these stats. There is also a correlation between parenting and how much time parents allow their children to be on their mobile devices. At a very young age, these days children are engaging with a television. In toddler years, introduction to a tablet or iPad makes it hard for toddlers to focus on anything else. Then parents give their children smart phones at young ages which doesn't help for their social interactions. All in all, I think technology really has effected children and it only is getting worse and worse with each generation. Technology can be used for a lot of good but it's such a big distraction.