Myths about Teenagers and Technology
Teens are getting more involved with technology every day. There are many myths saying that technology is ruining teenagers. When in reality, it does a lot of things to help them out, Some myths that I have found are teens are addicted to technology, all their “text speak” is making them stupid, the internet is giving them a two second attention span, the more time they spend behind a screen the more anti-social they become, and teens are careless about online privacy. I am going to inform you about how all of those are myths.
The first myth is that teens are addicted to technology. What teenager does not love their technology though? I would not say that teenagers are addicted. Being addicted to something is completely different from just really liking something. Being addicted to something is going through withdrawals when you don't have it. Elizabeth Perle busted the myth by saying “Most of the time, when I hear this, it’s referring to teenagers’ constant need to be online. But here’s the thing: the Internet is not (just) technology — it’s people. Teens are obsessively engaging with friends, not screens. Youth researcher Danah Boyd discusses this idea in her insightful new book, It’s Complicated. “Teens aren’t addicted to social media,” she says. ‘They’re addicted to each other.’” Teenagers are not addicted to the technology that they have. They just enjoy talking to the people through technology like twitter, instagram, facebook, those are just only the most popular social media sites. Like the quote said, people are just addicted to each other.
The next myth is that all their “text speak” is making them stupid. Not all people talk the same way that they text. For me, I would not talk the way I text. No one would say “lol” while in the middle of a conversation like they do in text. Elizabeth Perle also said that “In fact, the opposite is happening: their reading and writing skills are being strengthened by the hundreds of (“textisms”) (OMG LOL SMH) they are sending every day. Studies show that teens’ obsession with texting and tweeting is actually improving literacy rates, because they are spending so much time creating and responding to words.” Therefore teenagers are not becoming more stupid because of texting. It is actually improving literacy rates.
The next myth is that what is giving them a two second attention span. Yeah, maybe teenagers do have their phones in their faces all the time, but it does not make their attention span any shorter. Elizabeth Perle said that “Teens are interacting with their entertainment directly, consuming communally using social media, producing alternative narratives and content and interrogating their media. They are engaging so deeply with stories and ideas that they are forming their own online communities around them, and even creating their own, unique dialects.” Therefor teenagers do not have a two second attention span.
Another myth is that teenagers are becoming more anti-social. By using more technology, wouldn’t that make you more social? People may not talk a lot in person, but that does not mean that they are anti-social. The Wall Street Journal said, “A recent Pew Research survey of adults in the U.S. found that 71% use Facebook at least occasionally, and 45% of Facebook users check the site several times a day. That sounds like people are becoming more sociable. But some people think the opposite is happening.”People are not becoming more anti-social, they are just using different ways to talk.
The last myth is that teens know nothing about online privacy. It is not all teens that go out there and share all their information with everyone. There are many people that keep everything on their profile private. Varun Ramesh said “Well, do you really know everything about online privacy? Kids these days know a lot more about online security and safety. Everything around them revolves around the internet. They might probably know a lot more than you about privacy and security.”
There are many different myths about teenagers. None of them tend to be true. The next time you think about how bad technology is for people today you are wrong. Everything that humans make it always has goods and bads, everything is a double edged sword. Yes technology may have some bads with it but don't forget about the positive things that come from it. I encourage you and everyone else to go out and make all of these myths die down.
Works Cited
“Is Technology Making People Less Sociable?” The Wall Street Journal, Dow Jones & Company,10 May 2015, www.wsj.com/articles/is-technology-making-people-less-sociable-1431093491. Accessed 19 Nov. 2017
Perle, Elizabeth. “5 Myths About Teens and Technology Every Parent Should Ignore.” The Huffington Post, TheHuffingtonPost.com, 4 Feb. 2014, www.huffingtonpost.com/elizabeth-perle/4-myths-about-teens-and-t_b_4711061.html. Accessed 19 Nov. 2017
Ramesh, Varun. “7 Myths and Facts about the Misunderstood Teen of 21st Century.” www.deekshalearning.com/blog/myths-facts-about-teenagers. Accessed 19 Nov. 2017
https://www.studentnewsdaily.com/daily-news-article/u-s-families-struggling-with-teens-phone-use/ (picture)