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People today are growing up unlike any others in all of human history, they have the ability to access nearly anything at all times from their pockets. In the past 30 years the internet has become an integral part of many peoples lives and has become an absolute necessity for the globalized society we are becoming. The question is what kinds of effects does this constant connectivity and constant screen time people have adopted has, both negative and positive.

            People of all ages have begun to use technology on a regular basis and it must be looked what kinds of effects growing up with technology may have of young people and adolescents.  Technology has become an integral part of peoples lives nowadays from their personal and social lives all the way to their work lives. There is the belief that the increase in screen time has helped to foster what is known as a sedentary life style, which means that a person is mostly inactive in their lives. This is especially prevalent for younger people due to them adopting that lifestyle at the point in time when a majority of lifelong habits are formed. To add to this a lot of younger people are generally more accepting of technology and use it on a regular basis due to peer usage, availability of this technology, and the ease of use. For many technology is necessary in school. So what are the exact effects of this increase in screen time? In a 2007 study published by “International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity” scientists conducted a study across 8 years using nearly 40,000 young kids to measure rates of obesity in comparison to screen time and behavior. Of the 40,000 kids measured around 10,000 met the studies criteria. The study measured the kids in 3 groups, called waves. Wave 1 took into account the parents total level of education and their income. Waves 2 and 3 looked at the physical activity, BMI, and sedentary behavior of the kids. The first study that measured income and education of parents allowed for the averages of certain areas to be measured and then used along with national averages for the testing of waves 2 and 3. Wave 2 measured 81-120 hours of screen time while wave 3 measured 81-198 hours. What this study found was that “A total of 4,879 males and 4,276 females met study criteria. Obesity prevalence by sex and wave of survey are presented in Table 1. A considerable proportion of males (11.5%) and (10.9%) of females were obese at Wave II, and rates approximately doubled by Wave III to 21.1% for males and 23.9% for females. Obesity incidence from Wave II to III was 13.2% (SE = 0.76) among males and 15.9% (SE = 0.96) among females”. (Study) This shows that there is correlative evidence that the increase in screen time helps lend itself to a sedentary life-style, which also leads to higher obesity on average. This study also shows that as screen time increases for children, so too do the rates of obesity in the same groups. Although there are negatives and some clear correlations that thing like screen time can have negative effects, is it necessarily bad? Since the advent of television into the mainstream screen time for many has increased and the internet has increased that even farther. It is not technology that makes people to sit in front of it, instead it is how much we allow ourselves and others to become absorbed by it. For young people especially it is up to the parents to help ensure that their kids live a healthy and active lifestyle. The issue is that many parents never grew up with this level of technology and only have their current experiences with it. This means many think of how they handle technology and how they use it and apply the thought process to how their children will think in terms of technology. This can create problems because kids don’t think like adults and are much more susceptible to getting absorbed into technology much more than adults. With the right amount of limiting from adults, technology can easily be a net positive. For kids there are many ways in which technology and things like video games have had positive effects. One such way is that video games allow kids to stay in contact with one another. They can all log onto a game together and talk, play and have fun while being able to stay at home, which although it sound like it is getting rid of physical interaction, can in fact just add to the socializing of kids. Another interesting way to use video games was when a puzzle game was created to help map out the AIDS virus. Scientists had been trying to map out the virus for over 15 years before the game was made. After the game was implemented, gamers decoded and mapped out the entire virus in just three weeks (Huffington Post). Video games also help with hand eye coordination and problem solving in those who play them and are a great socialization device due to the consistent online interactions in many games. Along with this a large majority of adolescents also play games creating a bonding device between people.
            Technology does not only just effect children, in fact it can be easily said that technology effects adults and the world more than anything else. From the advent of world news via radio, then TV, and now the internet people can get information faster and more accurately than ever before. One good example is the entire subject of this class, slacktivism. For many social media is a way to learn, communicate, and connect with others. Nowadays more than ever before someone can hear about an event or tragedy from across the world form people first hand. They can also help spread this information and look for ways to help or participate. One good way was the slacktivist fad of the ice bucket challenge. This was very simple, people took videos of themselves getting a bucket of ice water dumped on themselves then nominated others to participate. Even though it only lasted a few months it brought the disease ALS to many people’s attention and raised hundreds of thousands for ALS research. This entire cause started with a small group creating a viral video and nothing else. This insane response to such a simple act is made possible only through the level of technology we have. These are just simple social media and personal ways that technology can effect a person but what about on the grander scale. Technology has become an integral part of the globalized society we are living in. Near any major corporation that operates nowadays has an international component that is maintained thanks to the new technologies that they have. Not only that but many smaller businesses that can’t afford to have some kind of office overseas can use the internet and large shipping companies to have large multinational sales. The way this can easily be seen is the rise of individual selling sites. The two biggest are most likely amazon, which sells their own goods and the goods of individual retail stores via their site and eBay, which allows people to list and sell items at any level. Along with this have spawned other selling sites such as etsy and craigslist. Before these types of sites many could only sell locally but now they can now sell even farther and even easier. The companies as a whole aren’t the only ones that have improved thanks to technology, the employees also on average have benefitted greatly thanks to technology. One study shows that on average modern day office employees achieve the same amount of work in 2 hours then they did in 8 hours before the advent of the computer and the internet. Benefits aren’t limited to business or social media either, for many adults technology is indispensable to keeping in touch with family and friends and for learning with their limited schedules. Online universities have surged as a way for adults and teens alike to take college level courses in their own time. Not only are there set types of education like that other smaller ones like Khan Academy and apps like Duolingo will teach you subjects and have resources available to help you learn online. Along with learning there are ways that technology helps to keep people healthy. There are many experiments in dealing with how video games can affect people, one such is the effects of video games on dementia. It is shown that there are games based on keeping brains healthy and active for people of all ages, that especially benefits them as they grow older.

            So what does this mean for people and technology? Although there are clear negative health effects, there are so many positives for the world and people that it should be embraced and used. But this must be used responsibly especially when at young ages as the most adverse health effects happen when young and can form the worst habits for late term life.