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Alexis Rodela

Professor Jennifer Rodrick

English 115

7 December 2018

Technology Addiction

Technology is a way to be connected with people and a way to see the world differently.

“​So, your kids must love the iPad?’ I asked Mr. [Steve] Jobs, trying to change the subject. The

company’s first tablet was just hitting the shelves. ‘They haven’t used it,’ he told me. ‘We limit

how much technology our kids use at home.” (Bilton). However, does society really limit the

usage of technology by teens or do we just allow them to constantly use their cell phones and

laptops? Most people would argue yes, but others would just argue that technology is being used

without limits. In fact, technology has shaped each and every one of our identities negatively due

to the high attraction towards the virtual world, social media addiction, and the dependency of

online sources because all have led to poor academic performance of students.

The virtual world has become a popular aspect with the growth of technology because

now teens are more entertained with making an avatar online and not staying focused on their

education. Being someone outside of your own self is what kids today start to do when it comes

to playing certain online games to either become more superior than themselves or become more

cooler as some might say. According to the author Michelle Jana Chan, of the article “Identity in

a Virtual World” one can interpret a different identity online, that does not prove who they are

because the point here is being someone you’re not. Like such as if one person wants to wear

certain clothing or wear certain shoes there is a variety of things one can do to their avatars so
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they can make them seem more unique than everyone else is. Like Chan mentions, “In the

virtual world, they either had more powers or better looks. I tried hard to find someone who

deliberately played a fat avatar and I couldn’t find anyone”(Chan 177). In other words, people

take more advantage of the virtual world to make a better version of themselves since some

people think that when making another character or avatar they can become someone else beside

who they are in life. For instance, gamers nowadays use their fake personas that they have

created to make a bigger impression of themselves when it's just a computer generated character

that are being used for the game that is being played with. When one person spends more than

half the time on virtual worlds and less time on doing their homework or other stuff I feel is

when parents have to step in since the virtual world tends to start becoming a huge addiction for

kids. Within this article, There is a study that shows that teens who play virtual worlds online

tend to come across lots of problems with their educations such as:​ “Students addiction to online

computer games because it is problematic for both their teachers and parents, who have to take

disciplinary measures to combat this, and a trend has occurred of students who spend a lot of

time playing games on the Internet subsequently drop out of school”(Liu 1325). In other words,

playing online games for such a long period can be really cause harm to the person because one

is not able to carry out their goals they have for gaining a better life with their education degrees.

As a result, this helps show how online gaming and technology has had a negative impact on a

teens lifestyle. In addition, this helps relates back to my thesis since teens’ education is being

affected negatively because without their focus in school there tends to be more failure and less

success in their educations. A student who wants to succeed in their education for a better
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lifestyle puts in the effort and time necessary to carry out that but those who spend more time on

playing virtual worlds tend to be less successful I feel.

Secondly, social media has become bigger and bigger over the years, making teens

become addicted to posting, following, and liking pictures, when they should focus more on

school. The more teens stay up with social media the less time they have to do for other things

such as cleaning their room, or even as simple as to speaking with their parents. Following up

with Fabiha Waseem, creator of the article, “Technology Addiction”, shows how technology is

really becoming a problem for teenagers without even knowing what the dangers are.

Nevertheless, dangers always try to find their way in no matter the circumstances because it

doesn’t matter if you’re using your computer or iPhone and go on Facebook or Twitter there are

ways you are being monitored and all one’s information can be at risk. As Waseem states,

“Every 4 in 10 youngsters are addicted to the internet, they use social networking sites such as

Facebook, Twitter, Skype, Whatsapp and many more”(Waseem 11). In other words, almost half

of the teens who use the internet are more likely to be active online for hours and hours without

taking some sort of break from technology. Nevertheless, this connects back to my main idea in

the way now we see how teenagers are so into the ideas of using the internet so often for things

that are not worth the time for and could be easily used in something else. For instance how Liu

states: “​Addiction to online games is a type of flow experience because players gain a sense of

happiness and indulge themselves in this enjoyment during the game”(Liu 1325). Particularly,

The more engaged one person is to whatever technology they are using, the more happy one is to

continue playing the game for hours and hours since the game is entertaining. Therefore,

according to the picture below helps prove why every distraction within one conversation is very
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distracting because it can get the other person off topic. However, this relates back to my thesis

since we see how the media is being a negative factor towards how teens are constantly being

distracted more and more from their academic studies of their educations by being online for a

massive amount time.

Nevertheless, with society's’ dependence on internet sources there still is a tendency for

people to be less focused when we are online for long periods of time. The more time one

continues to keep on reading the news online the more engage one is the more likely one is to

continue viewing that content. Furthermore, “Is Google Making us Stupid” by Nicholas Carr,

shows that with so many issues with technology there is both pros and cons with how technology

has changed our lives. For example, now whenever we see a long piece of writing online on a

feed or something we don’t pay as much attention as used too because we tend to lose less

interest than others that are rather shorter. As Carr stated , “The more they use the Web, the more

they have to fight to stay focused on long pieces of writing”(Carr 315). In other words, the more

people are online the less likely people will stop to read something that is very long and time-
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consuming rather they will just take a quick glance an article or magazine that is in front of them

without finishing what has barely started for their disposal. Especially, with the technology

advancing faster and faster there are absolutely changes occurring back and forth with our minds

because we tend to start thinking less and less as time continues to go forward. Faster methods

arising each day makes people’s life easier because with less effort being made one can really

avoid all the time-consuming there is to get straight to the point. Like Carr states, “The Shortcuts

would give harried readers a quick taste of the day’s news, sparring them the less efficient

method of actually turning the pages and reading the articles”(Carr 321). This helps us prove that

technology is becoming a negative influence on us by bringing everything to a less complicated

state than normal. Particular teens tend to become much more lazier to everything that tends to

do with using resources online due to dedicating more time on other things such as online

gaming and losing focus on what they actually have to do. Therefore, this relates back to my

thesis statement because below an image shows how teens today are forcing oneself to use

technology as an excuse to get away from telling oneself the reality of what is really happening

to them in life. Instead parents are the ones responsible now for looking out for their children's

actions since everything is starting to become a technology process now.

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Clearly, Technology has shaped our identities in ways one self can not even imagine, but

the reality shows that with too much technology usage has left a negative impact on our lives,

especially in teens and students who have lost track of their focus on their education due to

technology. Although technology has shaped each and everyone’s life as a negative way due to

too much connectivity through the virtual world, simply by staying in touch with so much social

media, and seeing how teens use so much technology today has all lead up to the poor

performances of how teens do with their education. One can see how the life of virtual world is

affecting teens and leading them to their poor academic performances because they spent too

much time worrying about their online personas and not enough time focusing on what they

actually have to get done. I also explained how the use of too much social media has affected

teens in their academic performances due to spending hours and hours online in viewing people’s

profiles and not paying too much attention on what is good and what is not good. Lastly, I

mentioned how online sources are impacting the life of teens in how they use it which leads up to

how they are doing poorly with their school performances because one person tends to only get a

glimpse of things without realizing the importance of the bigger picture. As a result, as time

keeps progressing there is more and more technology coming our way which continues to attract

teens and with doing so they tend to keep on losing focus on what lies ahead which is their

future. Specifically, why not be better than what our parents could not do for themselves? We

now have all the time in the world to try and reach for our goals in life but if technology is a

factor we can not avoid then why not use it to benefit us and not to harm us.
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Works Cited

Bilton, Nick. “Steve Jobs Was a Low-Tech Parent.” ​The New York Times​, The New York Times,
10 Sept. 2014.
www.nytimes.com/2014/09/11/fashion/steve-jobs-apple-was-a-low-tech-parent.html​.
Accessed 23 Sept. 2018.
Calvert, Jackie. “Technology – Dot Complicated.” ​Dot Complicated,​ 21 Oct. 2014,

dotcomplicated.co/content/tag/technology/. Accessed 23 Sept. 2018

Carr, Nicholas. “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” ​Yearbook of the National Society for the Study
of
Education​. 2008. pp. 313-328.,
Chan, Michelle Jana. “Identity in a Virtual World.” ​CNN,​ 14 June 2007,
pp. 176-178.
“High Tech Gadgets: Addiction, Dependency, or Hype?” ​Larry Cuban on School Reform and
Classroom Practice,​ 17 June 2010.
larrycuban.wordpress.com/2010/06/17/high-tech-gadgets-addiction-dependency-or-hype/
. Accessed 23 Sept. 2018.
Liu, Eric Zhi Feng. "Avoiding internet addiction when integrating digital games into teaching."

Social Behavior and Personality: An International Journal,​ vol. 39, no. 10, 2011, p.

1325+. ​Health Reference Center Academic​, Accessed 23 Sept. 2018.

Waseem, Fabiha. “Technology addiction.” ​Flare​, 30 Apr. 2018, p. 11. ​General OneFile​.

Accessed 23 Sept. 2018.