Technology: Helping or Destroying Youth

When I first saw the title of this article, "A New Era of Play" by Reed Karaim, I had a fairly good idea of what it was going to be about. I knew that the technology of today such as computers, video games, and cell phones were going to be the main ideas that were going to be discussed. The article talked about how children these days are far more advanced with these devices than adults are and how this raises questions.

• Is children spending most of their time in front of these devices good?
• Shouldn't they be spending more time outside?
• Are these devices making our children more lazy?
• What should we do?

The article talks about how the youth spend on average about 44.5 hours a week in front of some sort of screen whether it be a television, computer or phone. The article talks about how this technology does have its ups and downs to it.

One part of the article that really intrigued me was how they talked about how products for children come with commercial tie-ins. As I pondered this statement it hit me that they hit the nail right on the head. Thinking back as I was growing up I remember anytime I saw something it came with commercials. Examples of this were mostly seen on t.v, but could also be seen on cereal boxes, billboards, toy stores, basically everywhere. The thing is, as bad as we may see it, it is in fact genius. They are training us from a young age to keep up with the newest trends. They show this to us through movies and make it seem to the youth that you are not considered cool unless you buy what they have to offer.

As I think back now when I was a kid, this exact thing happened to me. In fourth grade Pokemon came out and was extremely popular among my friends. At first I didn't understand why it was so cool, but as more and more kids started to get into that fad, I felt left out because I wasn't apart of it with them. Then Pokemon took over the t.v and lunchboxes and soon it was all around me so I felt that there had to be something special about it. Sadly enough, I then conformed and ended up spending way too much money on it. I found it fascinating when I read in this article that point and the greatest part is that what they are saying is true because I am an example.


Nowadays, the whole youth is run through the MTV nation. The teens seem to be attracted to these shows and watch them with great interest. Personally, I cannot stand MTV. They shouldn't call it MTV they should call it CTV (Crap T.V) because that's what every show on there is. They have our youth wasting their lives away watching Paris Hilton be a Bitch to everyone on her show. It seems that today's technology is being used incorrectly. It's being wasted on ways of consuming, instead of being used to better our world. Now i'm not speaking for everyone by saying this, but I do truly feel that technology is helping our youth, but not as much as it should be. I hope that one day technology can move away from this crap and focus more on developing our youth in a better way that will teach them not to be so caught up in consuming, but instead developing.

This video shows exactly what i'm talking about. Watch tell me what you think.




By: Christopher Lloyd