Cognitive Development

In today’s world, technology is among the most important and most used things. Almost everyone, including adolescents, have a phone, laptop, or television, some people might even have all three. Although technology has benefited our education by making everything more easily accessible, it is also a huge distraction. Social media especially has a huge role in young adolescents and teenagers lives. Personally I love social media, I love posting pictures and seeing other peoples posts. In chapter three of the book, on page 27 there is a section about “The Effects on the Brain of Multitasking with Technology.” At the very end of this page it says: “Completing assignments while texting or emailing friends, watching videos for entertainment, or snapping pictures to share on social media obliterates any opportunities for meaningful and sustained learning due to the brain’s inability to simultaneously or efficiently conduct both activities”. This sentence stuck out to me because me, as well as many others, spend way too much time on our phones. I feel as if I am always on snapchat texting my friends or scrolling through instagram or watching tiktoks. When it comes time for me to do my homework I don’t want to do it because I would rather watch videos on my phone. Multitasking between anything and technology can be extremely difficult. If your phone is buzzing while you are trying to study you will usually pick up your phone and look at it. Looking at it for one second can turn into 20 minutes then an hour and then you forget that you were supposed to be working on an assignment. To solve this problem in my life, I throw my phone across the room so I do not look at it. This gives me time to focus on the work that is in front of me rather than looking at what everyone else is doing on Social Media. I am the type of person that gets distracted easily and technology is making that even worse. Not only are phones a huge distraction but they are also an addiction. My generation seems to be attached to their phones. Sometimes I wonder what it was like to live in a time when no one had a phone. There are many studies that have shown how social media is affecting teen’s mental health because they have so much pressure to talk to people 24/7 and to look perfect for their followers. Although I love instagram and I love posting pictures of myself and my friends, I also understand how it has too much of an effect on my life. Overall, I think that technology has brought amazing things to this world in the last 2 decades, it has also had a lot of negative effects and due to the fact that adolescents brains aren't fully developed and their ability to multitask is even less than that of an adult, I think that using it less for fun and more for academics and growing your knowledge would be beneficial.