Effects of Technology on Society

Effects of Technology On Society Technology is detrimental to society today because of the effects it has on children and teens that carry over into their entire lives. The harmful effects are only growing as technology grows with it. The different effects of technology are causing problems for this demographic in regards to social media, television, news, and streaming music. These aspects present in multitude of ways many times a day for any given person, making it difficult to ignore them and not be affected. Technology has been known to cause disorders, social problems, and change core values. Therefore, it has a negative effect on our society. One effect technology has on people is that of cyber bullying. This would not be possible without the internet. It not only makes it easier for bullies to reach their prey, but also makes it easier to broadcast it to a larger scale of personnel. Denise Mann from WebMD states, “Unlike traditional bullying, which largely relies on physical threats, rumors, and exclusion, cyber bullies can reach larger audiences via social media and other technology, making it difficult for the intended victim to escape their bullies. Cyber bullies can also do so relatively anonymously” (Mann). Mann continues that victims of cyber bullying, as well as the cyber bully himself, have been known to have emotional problems along with rebellion and random outbreaks throughout their lives. Because the internet makes it easier for bullies to reach out and continue to harm others, more and more people fall victim to the cyber-bullying epidemic. Family values have seemed to weaken the more technology has grown. Children and teens have become so caught up in the technological world that it is changing the way they view their family and its values. Their basis of learning has changed from that of their parents, making it harder for the members of the family to understand each other. Pediatric Occupational Therapist Cris Rowan reports, “Technology's impact on the 21st century family is fracturing its very foundation, and causing a disintegration of core values that long ago were the fabric that held families together” (Rowan). The information the web holds is not all “good”. There are many crude adult sites that younger children can easily access. These sites, along with many other blogs and posts, take away from a child’s core foundation meant to be set by the parents of the household, creating a technological wall between kids and their parents. This wall causes the concept of traditional parenting to weaken and evolve into a much more media based lifestyle that kids become engulfed in. The effect of technology, especially an over-use of technology, on the developing child has been seen to be very harmful, even causing disabilities. Cris Rowan claims, “Diagnoses of ADHD, autism, coordination disorder, developmental delays, unintelligible speech, learning difficulties, sensory processing disorder, anxiety, depression, and sleep disorders are associated with technology overuse, and are increasing at an alarming rate” (Rowan). Technology throws a lot of information out at once and a child’s brain is easily “overloaded” with too much. The more technology grows, the more these disorders grow with it. Technology has caused many horrible things to happen due to its harmful effects on people. It has not strengthened our lives, but has done rather the opposite. It weakens our relationships, crushes our values, and even causes disabilities. Technology is detrimental to society, and its negative effects are getting stronger each day.