Impact of Technology on Adolescents—The great debate

By Santiago Gomez
College of Education
Long Island University, C. W. Post
March, 2011

The technology debate was a very meaningful activity because it helped me and my classmates to discuss different perspectives about the influence of technology on adolescents. Although I had decided to go against technology, arguing that it causes youth to get easily distracted, procrastinate and have access to sources of information that they should not be exposed to, I ended up realizing that in the end the positive effects of technology overcome the negative ones.

Due to the fact that I changed my mind about my position on the very beginning of the debate, I hesitated to participate and I felt as if I had made a terrible mistake picking the “against technology” side deliberately. Since I knew that I didn’t really have a lot to say about the negative effects of technology, besides re-emphasizing what my teammates had already said, I choose to stay quiet rather than contradicting my own thoughts, nevertheless I learned a lot from the activity.

I think the debate was well conducted and that all my classmates followed the rules really well. I really liked the fact that everybody was respectful and that the judges were allowed to provide their own opinions. By listening to my classmates and their different points of view I got to improve my understanding of the role of technology in the lives of modern youth. In the end, I discovered that technology, if used wisely, may provide adolescents with truly significant opportunities for learning.