By: Autumn Hill
Do you have a teen sibling in your house who is constantly on a computer?
Maybe you hardly see your parents because you
are the one always on the computer. Did you know that research shows that teens
are on the internet too much? The majority of today’s teens spend more time
inside on the internet than outside. Some teens are so dependent on computers
that they have even formed a “tech addition.”
A lot of this
dependency comes from easy access. Many teens have at least one device that
allows them on the internet. Ty Flamm said, “Yes, we are addicted. (A computer)
is faster, easier, and more available for us...” Eight out of ten American
teens have a desktop or laptop computer. Of the 20% of American teens who do
not have their own computer, two-thirds (67%) have access to a device they can
use. Taken together, this means that 93% of teens in the United States have
a computer or access to one. Easy access could certainly lead to overuse.
Teens spend much
of their computer time accessing chat rooms or on social networking sites. For
most teens (93%), it’s so easy to get on the computer that it has become a
daily addiction of sorts and it can be tough for some to stop doing it. Katie
Willard disagreed, saying, “All you have to do is go hang out with your friends
and put your mind somewhere other than the computer.”
Computers have
become part of our lives because they have all the information that we need. If
we get lost on a homework assignment, all we have to do is Google it. If we get
bored or lonely, we can log into Facebook and immediately connect to friends. Meeting
or talking on the internet has increased significantly in recent years; more
people have met online before meeting in real life as well. In fact, the New
York Times recently reported that one third of all American couples originally
met online.
All this
technology can be good, but it has its downside too. Computers are more
powerful than man, as well as much faster. Is it okay to depend on computers
too much because we realize what they are capable of? Computers have all the
information we would need, and have become the lifeline of this generation.
This age we are living in requires a lot of brain power and computers help us
with that. We don’t have to use as much brain power because computers give us
the answer. If we expect there to always be some device to give us the answer,
however, then we will never learn anything.
