How Technology Affects Us in Terms of Emotions and Happiness

How technology affects our emotional development and happiness

For an individual who was born into today’s generation like me, I have come to see that technology has become an essential component to our society. Technology is growing each and every day, which makes it easier for people to access information from even our smart phones. Although it has positive motives to our society, technology can have its bad sides when it comes to a child’s ability to comprehend what they are learning inside the classroom. Not only would it affect a child’s academic development but would also alter their emotional development for the kids growing up in the “technology” generation. Whether people want to accept it or not, technology has become a key factor in surviving in the world we live in today. In this essay on how technology affects us, I will be discussing both the positive and negative effects of technology on our society.

Stanford University recently conducted a study in which they are tackling with a new question: “How is technology affecting their happiness and emotional development?” (Richtel, 2012, pg. 1). They began their study by researching the online habits of girls ranging from ages 8 to 12. After this peer-reviewed study was complete, it came to the conclusion that those who say that they spend a certain amount of time using multimedia tend to describe themselves as less happy and less socially comfortable than those who say they spend less time on screens (Richtel, 2012, pg. 1). This was based off of an online survey taken by more than 3,400 girls in an attempt to find out what role technology plays in a child’s level of happiness. According to the researchers, they believe that heavy use of media is a contributing factor to the social challenges of girls (Richtel, 2012, pg. 2). With this new found, certain solutions can finally be made to solve the issues of a child’s social interaction with other children while associating technology within their lives.

Although we have found answers to how technology is affecting happiness, it still leaves us to question whether or not the kids of this generation are being mentally drained from the attention that today’s technology is getting. Lucy Gray, who is 45 and lives in Chicago/helps schools integrate technology, says that her daughter Juila, 13, has been a heavy user of media for many years. Although she has certain issues in her social interactions face-to-face, Juila’s mom is not ready to blame technology for these issues when in reality technology has helped her navigate the world socially (Richtel, 2012, pg. 3). This goes to show that even though technology can cause a distraction in a child’s social and academic development, it can also help them see the world better so it all depends on the child.

Overall, we cannot jump to conclusions about how technology affects our society. It has its good influences as well as bad influences. Then again, this can be applied to other aspects of our society such as the recent “trend” of freedom within sexual orientation for both sexes, more so in females. Although we have parents who wish to ban kids from using technology, it’s all around us so how can we prevent something as powerful from being used. Almost everyone has had that one moment in their daily routine where they have used technology to assist them. In conclusion, it’s safe to say that even though it distracts us in some areas of our lives, technology can and will benefit us in the future with more time spent utilizing it as a tool of success instead of using it for personal pleasure.