Nia McCullum

April 11, 2016

Comp 1- MWF 9:00 a.m

Technology: The New Best Friend

Do you know what kind of life your child is living on their cell phone, computer, or

tablet? Social media has become a new way to escape and sugar coat ones life. People can be

who they want to be. This sounds nice and all but is this causing them to lose empathy and social

skills? Digital technology is putting a barrier on todays youths growth and development by

decreasing empathy, and promotes a unhealthy self-identity, even opening the door to abusive

relationships.

Technology and relationship expert Sherry Turkle finds that 8 year olds on a playground

show little interest in interacting with the other kids. My own view of this is children are suppose

to play together on a playground; this build social skills and empathy. However, with kids being

introduced to technology, that will cause changes in their growth, thus missing out on the stage in

their life to be social and gain personal experiences with empathy and conversation. Without this,

it can cause a child to grow to be distant and reliant on the world that is technology or social

media. Katherine wont talk about it, today or any day. Not talking about it means she doesnt

need to think about it, except when the house is quiet and the thinking just seeps in. She doesnt

tell her friends how it feels. When shes asked about it, she crumples. Her shoulders hunch, her

eyes well, but no tears fall on her cheeks. Please, she would say if she were reading this, go back

to talking about her phone (Contrera). At an early age this begins a 13 year old girl goes to

technology to hide her feelings. This goes to show how much people confide in their technology
or the life theyve created through social media because reality isnt something they want to deal

with.

Another reason digital technology is harmful is that is promotes an unhealthy self-

identity. With social media, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, Pinterest, and more, people

are introduced to random people with similar interests. Some may even build themselves around

one trait to seem more likeable. For some, the main goal on social media is to build followers,

get likes and be noticed. Going out and living life is only a background for pictures to be liked

and not to actually live in the moment but living on the internet for the attention. As harmless as

it seems this can damage someones social skills and they could become dependent on this

attention so much that if it were to go away, their self esteem would decrease. My older brother,

age 26, has had a cellphone since he was 14 years old. And to this day he states, he feels naked

without his phone. In other words, in social situations he cannot hide behind a screen to avoid

awkward conversations, he would actually have to interact with people. A persons phone is

becoming apart of their identity. When you are around them you see this human but in their hand

they are holding the personality they have built.

Just giving a child new technology after a devastating time would only promote them

relying on it more. It helps block away the pain so if its taken from them they are vulnerable.

Becoming completely dependent on technology is a trait many people are inheriting because it is

given to them so early and thats all they know. Children see their parents on their phones all of

the time, even during family occasions. So seeing this growing up it becomes learned and a new

norm to develop.

The internet could be dangerous, if not used safely. Monitoring a childs post on social

media is a start. But you can be anyone on the internet, and sometimes you dont even know who
youre talking to. For teenagers trying to build followers, and likes on their posts, they are

willing to accept many strangers on their page. Because of this they are open to dangers that lurk

behind the screen. There has been children acting older on their accounts, posing a certain way

and posting mature things, attracting attention they may not be wanting. But because this is the

internet, nobody can truly know who you are because everyone is pretending. Eight percent of

all American teenagers has met a romantic partner online (Lenhart et al). Social media is a

playground for adolescents. They want to be portrayed as being desirable so they put what they

feel is their best feature out there and thats where the danger comes in. When dating online, you

are only getting a taste of how someone truly is through the screen you wont really know they

have a bad side until far too late. Catfish the TV show, shows this reality through episodes.

People have been dating someone for years through social media just to find they werent who

they really are. They want to change themselves because they were running away from their real

life problems and took comfort in social media. There have been cases where someone was being

completely controlled by their partner over the internet, she dropped out of college to meet this

person, she stopped dating other people, and even moved to another state. Come to find out the

man she thought she was dating was actually a female who didnt even love her the same, she

only wanted someone to talk to. This could be damaging to someone when theyve put their all

into something and it turns out to be something false. Everyone isnt out there pretending to be

someone different but online, everyone is hiding something.

Taking away teens technology isnt the answer, but if parents moderately monitor

youths social media account, it could save them from these potential problems. When a child is

exposed to technology early, they will develop around it. Social media is dangerous if whomever

using it isnt being careful. The goal is to just have fun, not turn the entire thing into life.
 Works Cited

Lenhart, Amanda, Monica Anderson, and Aaron Smith. "Teens, Technology and Romantic

Relationships." Pew Research Center: Internet, Science & Tech. N.p., 01 Oct. 2015. Web.

19 Apr. 2017.

"This is what it's like to grow up in the age of likes, lols and longing." The Washington Post. WP

Company, n.d. Web. 19 Apr. 2017.

Turkle, Sherry. "Opinion | Stop Googling. Let's Talk." The New York Times. The New York

Times, 26 Sept. 2015. Web. 19 Apr. 2017.