Tweeting for Twats: Technological Terrors That Plague Us

ABSTRACT

Recent thoughts on the social, economic and emotional impact of cell phones on a modern society.

The problem as I see it:

In a modern society it seems as if our mobile phones have become smarter than our youth of today. Based on evidence gathered it has become appallingly evident that modern day children lack adequate focus and discipline to take on the challenges of a multi-cultural world on an international level. Technological advances has, and continues to, make great leaps forward in areas of communication, information as well as education. Technology has overall been seen as a benefit to our daily lives and hopefully will continue to advance our collective understanding of life and the universe in which we live. However, technology used without forethought or care leads us to our current state of affairs in which we are failing our children and their education on a daily basis.  Our youth are exposed to excessive violence, cyber-bullying as well as shallow marketing techniques to convince them that they are worth less than their friends because they don’t play Pokémon Go on an iPhone.

Purpose

The purpose of this report is to show that our society’s over focus on digital lives on our cell phones contributes to an “idiocracy”. We continue on a downward spiral towards mediocre lives which adds nothing to our children, their children or the world that surrounds us. This report will highlight those elements that need the greatest attention in an attempt to bring children back to a world where they can freely socialize and grow into healthy adults without the need to ask google for permission. This report will draw a stark comparison between the different generations and their accomplishments and showcase the accomplishments of those who managed to grow, live, learn and contribute without the constant personal digital assistance of our modern day. The report will explore alternative solutions to this crisis as well as investigate more moderate and temperate solutions without the need to give up technology altogether.

Focus

• 1. The focus this report will be on the negative effects of the increasing amount of time spent on electronic devices such as cell phones and tablets.
• 2. The instant gratification of playing games lowers educational development over time.
• 3.The negative effects of decreased social standing amongst teens based on their mobile device.
• 4. Desensitization of children due to unrestricted access to explicit YouTube videos and online literature.

     TIME CONSUMPTION

The rise of “always connected” cellphone use in recent years has been a growing concern due to the nature of a possible information overload. With global social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram there is never a time that status updates or information shuffling does not happen.

The unending amount of status updates has reduced the average privacy of the individual as well as groups as a whole. With a constant barrage of information streaming through our mobile devices it becomes all too easy to neglect our everyday lives, always waiting for the next tweet or Facebook comment to pop up onto our screens from friends, foes and family alike.

While the consequences to this are varied and financial benefits to having uninterrupted access to news and financial reports for the businessman is possible, negative consequences of constant exposure to violent images or images of any excessive graphical nature can leave young adults feeling depressed, disconnected with reality or even desensitized to morally objectionable material.

While adults are largely responsible for themselves, limitations on the use of electronic devices must be placed on those who are either too young or mentally not capable of taking responsibility for their growth and development. Limitations such as time, age or even location can be introduced with immediate effect. Parents and caretakers can introduce rules in the household that electronic devices such as mobile phones may only be used when the child has reached a certain age with additional restrictions such as used only under the supervision of a trusted adult and must be used only within certain hours of the day such as an hour after school and an hour before going to bed.

With modern technology it has never been easier to make new friends and build new and strengthen existing relationships over vast distances. Sending and receiving of time-crucial documentation or needing a quick decision can be done in the blink of an eye thanks to a good Internet Service Provider with a fast internet connection. International borders are not the obstacles that it once was and new job opportunities based solely online have emerged. All this can be done with a small device that you carry around in your pocket. However, with the advances of cellphones greater threats to our ethnical, social, financial and personal safety continues to plague us at every turn.

FaceTime™ is not restricted to good friends. Cellphone technology can be used by anyone, whether their intentions are for good or ill. A racial slur on Twitter is just as easy as an “I love you” text from a loved one. Finding resources for a school project online can result in a better overview of the topic at hand or, due to the unrestricted and unmoderated, nature of the internet could lead to increased confusion when having to sift through both fact and opinion. It becomes all too easy to make derogatory comments online while safely hiding behind a cellphone screen.

Such unscrupulous behaviour is becoming all too frequent and gives a negative impression of certain applications and the internet as a whole. Great works of Shakespeare, Chekov, Dostoevsky are reduced to a few meager lines of text on a screen or over simplified with a fully trimmed down version easily obtainable online which becomes counterproductive as these works were assigned with the hopes that they would stimulate young minds into becoming freethinking adults. Children would rather play Clash of Clans than play catch reducing their spatial awareness and social interactions in the real world.

Schools need to introduce more activities that are less focused on winning and losing and more focused on social interaction, physical activities that makes the youth engage more with the world and their community which will help to contribute to a better society. Parents must make time for outdoor adventures and not leave the raising of their children to Cartoon Network reruns on YouTube. Questions about why things happen and how they happen should be encouraged. Children must be tasked with finding the answers through logic, reason, exploration and research without resorting to asking Apple’s Siri. Valuable “codes of conduct” regarding fair use, fair play and overall fairness needs to be instilled from a young age. The easy way out, doesn’t lead very far.

CELL PHONES USED BY TEENS ON THE INTERNET

The unrestricted access of cell phone use has slowly grinded the creativity and self-reliance of our youth to a steady crawl[3]. The internet in its alluring gleam has made many young men and women fall victim to social predators and while this is absolutely tragic it has become almost commonplace. The very nature of technology cries out for social justice and change, however due to the desensitization factor little to nothing ever changes. The average laptop is more powerful than all the computers combined that put Armstrong on the moon, yet it has been reduced to a tool for poking one another on Facebook.

Without the ability to gain knowledge for one self, no true creativity can ever happen and so every facet of human development will remain in a state of perpetual arrested development. The motto of the Roman Empire was expand or die and it is no less true today. When a society does not achieve new things, conquer distant deeps and skies then we will remain a culture where our phones are smarter than our children. Without the self-confidence to stand up for what is morally right then we have already lost.

Without seeking new challenges or attempting to find alternate resources of energy our planet will run dry as we slowly devour the precious minerals all for the sake of a few more gigabytes of memory on the next iPhone. Without logging off from the internet then the amount of exercise the average person receives decreases, leading to a rise in obesity levels of teenagers which will lead to an increase in health risks and lower life expectancy. With an entire world of knowledge at the touch of a button then is no more need for original thought or ideas.

It is recommended that instead of trying to work against technology, new and inventive cellphone apps should be developed aimed at teenagers online that focuses on the stimulation of cognitive and reasoning skills[4]. There should be no quick fix available through either entering a specific command or in-app purchases that allows the player to avoid the difficulty. A system could also be implemented that rewards an internet user for spending time offline and away from the keyboard.

KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING OF LIFE

 With a world that has expanded beyond our physical borders and into the digital realm, nothing is off limits or beyond reach. While this can be of great benefit to many it leaves our youth dazed and confused with too much information and no friendly hand to lead the way.

With access to a world of knowledge easily accessible from your back pocket it becomes too easy to simply search for the knowledge that you seek rather than accumulating it over many years of trial and error. With the modern day cellphone one will never have to learn how to read a map, figure out simplistic mathematics while calculating a waiter’s tip and never be able to find your way home should you ever get lost. Relying too much on technology will eventually limit our understanding of the world around us as we will no longer feel the need to ask the question…Why?

Without excessive use of the internet we’ll train our children to think for themselves and not rely on their cellphones for all the answers. They will be able to grow up as well-adjusted individuals capable of free and original thought and not be limited to the regurgitated meanderings of social media users.

Class lessons needs to be put into practice. The average school child learns, geography, biology, mathematics, language use and numerous other skills, however the wealth of information simply disappears without a practical tangent to relate to. A form of structured play could be introduced both at schools and at home that will engage the youth with facts and data that they have studied during school hours. With a practical element to all forms of study the information learned will quickly pass from the short term memory to the long term memory and be readily available throughout their lives at a moment’s notice.

CONCLUSION

Most of us would instinctively agree that it is bad for anyone under aged to spend an alarming amount of time on their mobile devices and has been linked to poor memory retention. It is time that our society take our lives back from the technological terrors that we carry around with us without ever thinking twice.

Something to think about...

[1] Cell Phones Negative Impact on Society | Teen Essay on What Matters. 2016. Cell Phones Negative Impact on Society | Teen Essay on What Matters. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.teenink.com/hot_topics/what_matters/article/200172/Cell-Phones-Negative-Impact-on-Society/. [Accessed 09 August 2016].
[2] gamesradar. 2016. 15 games that reward you for NOT playing them | GamesRadar+. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.gamesradar.com/games-reward-you-not-playing-them/. [Accessed 10 August 2016].
[3] Log In - The New York Times. 2016. Log In - The New York Times. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/12/sunday-review/addicted-to-your-phone-theres-help-for-that.html?_r=2. [Accessed 09 August 2016]
[4] Cell Phones Negative Impact on Society | Teen Essay on What Matters. 2016. Cell Phones Negative Impact on Society | Teen Essay on What Matters. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.teenink.com/hot_topics/what_matters/article/200172/Cell-Phones-Negative-Impact-on-Society/. [