Serious side effects of technology on teenagers

Posted byAnita VijPosted inRelationships

Are kids growing up without social skills?

Almost every parent is worried about the exposure to technology their kids are having nowadays. When they are toddlers, parents don’t pay much attention. As toddlers, they get used to play on papa’s i pad or phone for hours. Watching cartoons or similar things on phone, for many hours, might affect their development.

But adolescence is an important phase of life when social and other skills can be improved. Teenagers go through many physical and mental changes during this period of their life. Very few parents pay attention to how their teenage child is getting overexposed to unnecessary knowledge, which is affecting their immature mind. Parents can’t even imagine how this will impact the tender minds of kids in future.

Teenager kids don’t fully understand what they read and as a result they start suffering from anxiety and low self-esteem. Young people report that there might be good reason to worry. A survey conducted by the Royal Society for Public Health asked 14-24 year olds in the UK how social media platforms impacted their health and wellbeing. The survey results found that Snapchat, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram all led to increased feelings of depression, anxiety, poor body image and loneliness.

When kids were growing up without so many social media platforms, of course they were chatting on their phones, texting, scrolling, sharing photos etc. They were hanging out at public places, experimenting, trying out their skills with other kids. Sometimes they failed or gained from other children’s experience, which gave them real time interactions. Now they just interact while watching at the screen, not the other person.

“Humans” being social animals, are accustomed to reading social cues. It’s obvious in this pandemic era that children are stuck at home since so many months now and lost all the interaction they used to have with teachers and friends at schools.

clinical psychologist and Harvard Medical School instructor Catherine Steiner-Adair’s The Big Disconnect, a book the Wall Street Journal called a “riveting piece of journalism disguised as a self-help tome” when recently naming it a top non-fiction pick. The book exhaustively examines how tech disrupts the parent/child relationship and offers ideas on effective parenting in the digital age.

Every child can do mistakes often, but it’s upto parents not to shame them, no matter what they have done. Communicating calmly will give better results. For next time hold them accountable for all their actions-even virtual ones. 

Teen-kids are not into the habit of communicating with other people except their parents, so many of them will grow up to be adults who are anxious about being close to others or communicating with people.

 Moreover, they always communicate indirectly and use all sorts of text, which they will not use, saying to another person’s face. Hence, they can be rude while talking in person to anyone.

Dr. Steiner-Adair agrees that girls are particularly at risk. “Girls are socialized more to compare themselves to other people, girls in particular, to develop their identities, so it makes them more vulnerable to the downside of all this.” She warns that a lack of solid self-esteem is often to blame. “We forget that relational aggression comes from insecurity and feeling awful about yourself, and wanting to put other people down so you feel better.”

Thus, what should be done to control it if not totally stop? In my opinion, parents should take responsibility to how their kids interact with technology. They should set an example of what healthy computer usage looks like. When your kid always finds you on your phone or laptop head bent over a screen, it’s like a short disconnect with them.

 Try to give them your full attention. Communicate with them as much as you can because you can give them values that technology can’t.

Get them involved with you in things which they have an interest in. It can be a game or activity of their interest. Try to get them involved in interacting with people face to face.

Acting in anticipation of future outcomes, of uncontrolled access to any site, parents should install software, blockers and apps that allow them to control what their kids see and how to understand their behaviour.

Talk to them and resist the urge to lecture. Try to understand their point of view and remember that teenagers can be emotional.

Build and keep trust with your kids It’s very important in a parent child relationship and it will open all channels of communication between you and your teenage kids.

I know that it’s not that easy to handle a teen, as teenagers are a unique and often self-contradictory breed. But a few steps taken carefully might prove to be beneficial for both parents and kids.

None of the blogs or opinions expressed within is meant as advice to you or anybody else on any matter, including but not limited to, personal finance, health, or other matters of life. If you need advice, speak to a professional!

Published by Anita Vij

A caring mother of 2. A loving wife. An aspiring individual who wishes to share her life-long learnings with the rest of the world.

33 thoughts on “Serious side effects of technology on teenagers”

  1. 💜 I Don’t Like Other People EveryOne; because Other Peoples ARE Faake, False and Fraudulent due to Their UnAdmitted, UnAcknowledged, and UnAddressed MMHI (Multiple Mental Health Issues)

    …💛💚💙…

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  3. Pingback: Serious side effects of technology on teenagers — Anita’s Perspectives on Life. – Redvince's Weblog

    1. Yes, and it’s dangerous in a way for our next generations. They are always staring at the screen…be it TV, Laptop, Phn or I pad. No personal connection or communication with people face to face.

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  9. It’s not as much about the electonics as the absent parenting. Without love to both spend time, love, but also correct and punish, the children don’t know love.

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      1. Our lives weren’t perfect, but my friends and I were always out and about, digging under rocks, cycling, building skateboards and tree forts, and whatever.

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      2. Yes, very true. All those games were so natural and kept us busy with something or other. Nowadays this world is more artificial and depends on technology for everything. We can’t survive without our phone as we need it for everything. It’s not good but we have to depend on technology. We can just try to lesson the dependence on all this by entertaining ourselves with more natural ways.😌😌

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      3. Something I found very odd. All those cars parked in the streets, most kids/teens driven home, though I know some live right down the street. All this fear and overprotection. What will that do to them as they grow up?

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      4. May be they will always need some protection and support from others. To be confident and independent kids need to learn to take their responsibility from an early age. All this so called love is making them dependent for no reason.

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      5. Yes. But I learned “love” is not what the media portrays. Love is also what brings out the best in others, puts them back on themselves, and fosters independence. Love is togetherness, love can be kindness, but kindness isn’t always love, if it causes others to be dependent. We need more examples.

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      6. Agree totally. Love is not to spoil our kids. We have to teach them how to live in this world full of different challenges. Love is not selfish so we have to make them independent so that they can fly when they are grown ups. Trying to always keep them under our wings is definitely not love. Kindness is not love it’s just an emotion and due to that the action we take. We have a duty towards our next generation, to make them emotionally strong and capable of standing on their on feet.

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  10. Pingback: Adolescents: The Most Impressionable People in the World – Technical Difficulties

  11. In a recent study, a team of psychologists found that the use of technology has a stronger correlation to adolescent psychology than any other factor in society. The correlation was stronger for technology than for socioeconomic status, sex, race, or physical activity.

    The study also found that side effects from technology usage can be long-lasting and diverse. That includes increased externalization, increased depressive symptoms, and increased impulsivity.

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    1. I totally agree with you. But it’s actually very disheartening that people don’t want to control the usage of technology, even where they can control it. Instead of sending their kids to play outdoors, they let them play video games and indoor tv games. The phone is the worst thing that needs to be banned for kids under 5 years of age.

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      1. It’s a lazy way of parenting. They don’t understand the parents set the rules, with love and firmness, which is good for the children.

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  13. Pingback: Serious side effects of technology on teenagers – Jackanori, (MPD)

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