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James Chong

51866405

Writing 39C

Dr. Lance Landon

Education: Technological Harm

Education is without a doubt one of the most important things in one’s life. The United

States government sets up a mandatory education system, almost as an investment, for hopes

that young children, starting in kindergarten, will make a large impact when they mature. What is

unseen however, is the many hidden factors at home that will affect their behavior and learning

process. In this day and age, the most prominent factor is technology. Just 7 years ago, only

41% of each household in the United States, owned a smartphone, and now, just last year that

number has shot up to 95% (Rideout 3). Technology may not seem all that bad considering is

has provided the education with system online courses, homeschooling, and resourcefulness,

but in actuality only 3% of all digital media time is spent on creating and expanding the mind

(Rideout 13). This means only 3% of the time are students (but not limited to) writing an essay,

reading, or drawing a picture. Because advance mobile technology has not been around for

very long, so there is no hard evidence that proves mobile devices are changing the way

children think, but there are many studies done that show correlations and short term effects.

Because mobile technology has not been popularized and widely used until 2005, the target of

this paper will be children and teenagers, ranging from zero to thirteen years of age. This age

group is chosen due to the fact that the young teenagers and children grew up with the mobile

devices, never without them. In fact, the average screen time of children from zero to eight now

is two hours and nine minutes daily. Compared to 2011, that is nine times the amount a child

spent on a mobile device (Rideout 14). There is no doubt that mobile technology has a larger

impact on younger, developing students now than it ever has. As Generation Z ages with

technology, it is prevalent in many correlational studies as well as theorists that the use of social
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media, mobile devices, and the internet negatively affects the development of the adolescent

brain and thus changes their behavior and hinders their educational experience for 3 main

reasons: a dependence on others through posts, a loss of long-term gratification from

notifications, and a loss of attention span from addiction. It is also important to note that

technology is an extremely broad topic, but this paper will be specifically focusing on the mobile

technology as well as convenience sector.

To begin, all social media has a function when someone shares an idea, picture, or

video via a post, other users

have the ability to

acknowledge the user’s post

with a “like” or a “favorite”. A

survey sent out by New

Statesman records that 89%

of people with devices value

“likes” and feel a sense of happiness when their post gets recognition and 40% of those people

say that the happiness only lasts if people continue to “like” (Tait). As people value likes, it

propels the users to post more excessively to feel happiness obtained from their “likes”.

Because users consistently and constantly post a portion of their lives to get the recognition

from their online peers via “likes” and comments”, it develops a dependence on the attention

and praise from others. In a sense, users lose their own sense of internal satisfaction in their

experiences, including school work. Since the release of smartphones, teenagers have

recorded an increase of 65% in suicide rates and and increase of 58% in female depression

(Walton). It is no coincidence that teenage females use social media three times more than

teenage males (Rideout 14), showing correlation in usage and depression rates. This is an

issue for the current education system because as parents allow their children access to social

media, their intrinsic motivation will deplete and the student will only work for someone else’s
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praise. As they grow up they will not feel self-accomplished if they base their gratification on

someone else. Students should be proud of their own creation, whether it be an essay, a

drawing, or any project. Users should post to share what they are confident in, not to post to

gain confidence. If students grow up craving the attention from others, they will never reach self-

actualization and be happy with themselves and their work.

According to the same survey by CNN mentioned earlier, the average user checks their

phone 4 times every 10 minutes (LaMotte). This is due to the constant ringing that notifications

come with. In other survey by The New York Times 72% of teenagers feel an urge and are

pressured to respond to messages or notifications right away (Homayoun). The nature of a

cellular phone and the notifications that come with it are without a doubt addicting. In fact, there

is even a new word “nomophobia” for people who get anxiety from being separated from their

phone. The reason behind the addictive nature of a mobile phone is simple: the device and its

connection with social media will ring the phone and calls out to the user to check their phone.

Whenever a “notification” is sent, the nature of the human mind is to release endorphins, the

chemical directly in charge of motivation and reward, which triggers happiness instantly

(LaFata). This leads to the user to respond to the notification, which may result in another

notification; thus, the loop of phone addiction continues. The issue with constant notifications is

that humans will lose their sense of long-term gratification. Because the short term happiness

from notifications are easy to obtain, users will be fixated on gaining happiness quickly, and will

not see the satisfaction from completing long-term goals and aspirations. For example, say a

student would not keep up on readings for the chapter quizzes on the student’s book. Instead,

he or she uses his or her phone to quickly look at Sparknotes, a summary website, the period

before his quiz and performs well. However, when the whole book test comes, the student will

not retain any of the knowledge or details and fail the test. The student can not prepare because

he or she had been rewarded for cheating, and did not change his habits because the student

could only see the short term benefits that SparkNotes gave him. Short-gratification can also
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lead to a loss of curiosity and problem solving. Because the internet is just a search away, when

students encounter a problem, the easy, fast, and simple way to figure out a solution would be

to “Google” the problem. This detracts from students truly understanding the material and

course work and instead just solving the issue for the time being.

On a related note, Dr. Hyung Suk Seo from Korea University, did research on addicted

teens, in which he concluded that the area for the top-down attention control, gray matter, was

smaller in addicts. Their GABA receptors and balance were also unstable, resulting in

anxiousness as well as moodiness (LaMotte). This directly correlates to the amount of control a

user will have over their own attention, in this case, addicted users will have a smaller attention

span to pay attention in class, or anything other than their phone. The good new however, is

that when the addicted subjects went under mental-health therapy, their GABA levels went back

down to normal after nine weeks. This suggests that addiction and behavior change from

technology is temporary and can be reverted. This poses a solution to prevent the downfall of

the Generation Z.

From another perspective, many others will argue that technology has done nothing but

benefit the education sector. It is true that many tablets are being integrated into classrooms

from kindergarten to high school as replacements for computers. Tablets are cheaper, more

user friendly, and more convenient to use to to their size compared to Personal Computers (PC)

or laptops. In addition, many educational systems are being integrated into tablets via

applications. This way it makes it easier for younger students to navigate and use through the

touch screen. The issue with tablets in the classroom, however, is that students will naturally be

drawn to using other applications on the tablet. This defeats the purpose of using the tablet for

educational purposes. Mobile cell phones also have use in the classroom. Because most

students have cellular phones, it is simple for students to set reminders or take pictures when

needed. For example, if a teacher writes down review material or important dates on the

classroom board, is is as easy as a picture for the student to remember such dates. In addition,
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assuming the majority of a classroom will have a mobile phone, the classroom can engage in

“Kahoot”, an online quiz website. Many teachers have utilized the website because it allows for

the whole class to participate at the same time and receive feedback instantaneously. The

drawback for this is that, during this time students are allowed to use their phones, and there is

no guarantee that students will not be distracted by their own phones. Phones can also

negatively affect the classroom environment. As students with phones have access to internet

so easily, cheating is something that is unavoidable. Even with restriction of phone usage in

class, students may not listen and continue to cheat and use their phones in an unproductive

way.

Limiting screen time at home is essential to stop the constant need for gratification, and

of course, less exposure means that the chances of addiction are also lower. There is a balance

to using social media and engaging one’s mind elsewhere, but that all starts with the correct use

of social media and mobile devices. Using social media to share ideas, take other’s perspective,

build relationships, and asking questions rather than eliciting and expecting the positive

responses of a “like” is a step forward for Generation Z for their education than personal gain.

Social media was meant for engaging people’s mind and making others curious, not the other

way around. Although technology has brought benefits to the education system, such as online

classes and research databases, its subtle effects in a household can change the way a student

approaches their education by forging a dependence on others, a loss of logical long-term

thinking, and shortening of attention span through the use of social media and devices.
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Bibliography

Rideout, Vicky. “The Common Sense Census: Media Use by Tweens and Teens |

Common Sense Media.” Common Sense Media: Ratings, Reviews, and Advice, Common

Sense Media, 3 Nov. 2015

Rideout, Vicky. “Media Usage by Kids Age Zero to Eight.” VJR Consulting , 2017,

vjrconsulting.com/children-media/.

Tait, Amelia. “‘Both Hugely Uplifting and Depressing’: How Do Social Media Likes Affect

You?” New Statesman, 26 Jan. 2017, www.newstatesman.com/science-tech/social-

media/2017/01/both-hugely-uplifting-and-depressing-how-do-social-media-likes.

Walton, Alice G. “Phone Addiction Is Real -- And So Are Its Mental Health Risks.” Forbes,

Forbes Magazine, 27 Jan. 2018, www.forbes.com/sites/alicegwalton/2017/12/11/phone-

addiction-is-real-and-so-are-its-mental-health-risks/.

LaMotte, Sandee. “Smartphone Addiction Could Be Changing Your Brain.” CNN, Cable

News Network, 1 Dec. 2017, www.cnn.com/2017/11/30/health/smartphone-addiction-

study/index.html.

Homayoun, Ana. “Is Your Child a Phone 'Addict'?” The New York Times, The New York

Times, 17 Jan. 2018, www.nytimes.com/2018/01/17/well/family/is-your-child-a-phone-

addict.html.

LaFata, Alexia. “Generation Notification: Why Our Brains Literally Love Notifications.”
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