What is technology? Technology as defined by the dictionary is “the branch of knowledge that deals with the creation and use of technical means and their interrelation with life, society, and the environment drawing upon such subjects as industrial arts, engineering, applied science, and pure science.”

Is technology really that great? 17 year old Alec Burran says “Technology is easier, but not good for our minds.” The New York Times stated ” According to the survey, 2-4 year olds spent a little over two hours a day on screen, with one hour and 16 minutes of educational time, while 8-10 year olds spent more than two and a half hours a day on screen, but only 42 minutes was considered educational.” The survey was based on interviews with 1,577 parents and conducted online from June 28 to July 24 by GFK, a research company.

“65 percent of boys play video games, 63 percent report that fellow gamers become mean or aggressive while playing violent video games” According to great school.com.

Television is linked to obesity however it is still unclear how. It is assumed that it is because of decreased physical activity. This is because most people would rather sit around and watch TV than go for a jog. Also this is assumed because food advertising typical promotes less healthy food instead of healthy food.

Studies have also shown that children are becoming less social due to technology. In a recent survey 9 out of 10 teenagers are on their phones while ‘hanging out with their friends’. It used to be that kids would go outside and play for hours and now children are sitting inside on their phones/device. Why is that? “I think because it is so convenient and entertaining,” Cassandra King says.

According to a study children under eight are spending more time than ever using phones and tablets. Research shows that parents now a days give their children their phone as a way for the child to be distracted while the parent does other things.

Technology is assumed to be used more by teenagers than any other age. Teenagers are wired on average 14 hours a day and not even half of it is educational. 21 million teens use the internet. A third of teens believe it would be hard for someone to identify them from their online profiles, however most profiles are public meaning anyone can access them. This is a scary thought for most parents.

However teenagers aren’t the only ones using their phones. According to marketplace.org “ 91 percent of adults report owning a mobile phone compared to just 78 percent of teens.” More adults admitted to texting and driving than teens. Not only that but parents who have told their teenagers not to text and drive say that they do it as well.

Not only can this technology physically affect us but it also affects our brains in multiple ways. People raised with black and white television and no mobile devices tend to dream in black in white, but those who grew up with color television and mobile devices tend to dream in color. Seventy five percent of people who were studied reported to feeling “phantom vibrations” from there phone. This means they thought their phone was vibrating even though it wasn’t. Because most people are on their phone or computer before bed they have a harder time sleeping because the light makes the brain think it is day time and it keeps the person up instead of sleeping. Our attention span is also impacted negatively. When we are trying to pay attention to something else we either know we are thinking about our phone or are subconsciously thinking about the separation. Our eyes are weakened because of how close we sit to the devices we use.

Even though social media has the word ‘social’ in it, it is actually making us less social. When we are around people our immediate reaction is to get on our phones and our favorite social media site instead of talking to the people we are with. This sends the message to the people we are with that we would rather be with whoever we are texting than be with them, even though we may just be watching other people have fun on twitter,vine,instagram etc. These so called social media sites are actually making us less social.

The hashtags and texting language has affected those in school. More students are accidentally writing their papers in texting language. Does it really take that much longer to type ‘you’ rather than ‘u’? “Not by much” Johanna Zimberoff says “We only do it because we are too lazy to add two extra letters.”

Our society is becoming increasingly more lazy thanks to technology. Now we have apps for that so we don’t have to get up and go buy clothes from the store when we could just order them online and get them delivered straight to our houses. Technology is linked to obesity which contributes to death. This is because people who are obese tend to die of heart attacks, organ failure, etc. because of the decreases physical activity.

In our society we depend on our technology. “technology is able to do everything for you,” Alec Burran says. We rely on technology for everything. “technology is making us more dependent on our devices rather than our minds,” Alec Burran says. We could do all the things that we have apps for however we decide because technology is a thing of convenience to use our devices rather than our own brains. When we don’t work our brains as hard as they should be worked we are losing the muscle memory and losing our abilities to do these things unless we have the device to help us.

Technology is having a negative impact on our society. However if we just put down the phones and have a conversation with our friends and family we can make it so that we don’t let technology rule the world.

Look Up Video- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7dLU6fk9QY#t=50