Impact of technology on adolescents-The great debate

By Jasmine Semo-sethi
College of Education
Long Island University, C. W. Post
March, 2011

Today’s class was very interesting. I thought it was a great debate to talk about how technology impacts our world, especially for adolescents. Of course technology has its negatives and positives. For example it distracts them because when they need to use the computer for homework, they start to do the work but then their mind span just automatically wanders. They go off looking at other things whether it’s chatting with friend on Facebook or twitter, shopping online, watching programs or anything.

The point is that they get very distracted with things and they don’t get their work done on time or at all due to laziness also. Another reason for why it can be a negative thing is because students can abuse the tool too much. Being on the computer too long can cut down from being social and being creative. Instead of doing something productive like writing a book, doing homework on the books, fixing your room or anything students are stuck on the computer wasting their time because they “ find nothing else to do”. That is where the creativity comes in that they must learn how to look for. Cell phones are another huge distraction. Cell phones are destroying the adolescent world because all they do is text. They are always on it not knowing what is going on around them making them oblivious to the world. They way they text and the slang they use is so repetitive and common that they forget how to write formally sometimes when it comes to school work.

The positive impact is that anything can be looked up on the computer to help students with their work. Scholarly articles, videos, online news, and many other things can be searched for. The internet is also important and essential in general to be able to email professors and anyone else for anything. It isn’t the same thing to emailing than to confront someone in person but for time purposes, it helps to communicate faster. Cell phones are helpful also to make emergency calls or to get in touch with parents to make sure their children are safe. Technology for students with special need is not important, rather vital for them. Students with disabilities need technology to succeed and move forward in life for school or even working to maintain themselves.

I enjoyed the debate. Both teams got to defend their perspectives in respect to the topic. I think we all did well and we really juiced out the subject. In general, I believe technology has advanced, improved and it will always keep improving and advancing. There is nothing too bad about it, it just needs to be known how to use it and used in moderation. Too much can be too bad; it has its limits.