Napua H.

Technology Distracts by Napua H.

Kaiyana goes home after a long day at school. She doesn't have a lot of homework, so she goes on her phone.  She doesn't realize how much time has passed.  By the time she realizes that she needs to finish her homework, it's already 9:00 pm.  So, she stays up finishing her homework., but If only she knew… technology is a distraction!  In fact, children may experience a number of problems if they keep using technology because the brain is the last organ to fully mature.

Everyone knows that there are many ways to get distracted. One of them is technology.  Technology distracts students and adults from doing the work they need to do.  According to a survey done in 26 states of 675 students, students check their phones 11 times a day on average.  These students don't just make a quick glance to see if anyone is trying to contact them, they spend 20% of their classroom time using technology that is unrelated to class (Reed). This means that students may not end up learning as much as they can.

In addition to technology being distracting, it can also cause problems.  According to psychologist and author Daniel Goleman, children may have problems because the brain doesn't fully mature until the mid-20s.  If students keep using technology at the rate that they are using it, they can end up with problems like not being able to control their emotions or not being able to be empathetic (Schwartz). One danger in this, is that people might start bullying more because they don't see the danger in it.

Not only does technology distract or cause problems, but it also wastes time.  According to a non-profit group called the Information Overload Research Group Knowledge, workers in the U.S. waste 25% of their time dealing with their huge and growing data streams.  People spend over five hours a day on the internet on average, and 64% worry when they don't have access (Rosen and Samuel). This means that instead of people focusing on what they need to get done, they might be worrying about other things.

Some may argue that technology is a tool that helps us in our everyday lives.  They may also argue that technology helps to store information.  However, they may overlook that technology is distracting.  For example, when you read an article once you will still miss important facts.  Until you read it multiple times you can fail to notice the most important facts.  Thus, everything will be good until you look at it over and over again. Therefore, technology users must take a second look at their technology the same way a good reader would take a second look at what they're reading.

If people fail to realize that technology is a distraction, they could be in great danger.  Every year, there are over 330,000 accidents caused by texting, these accidents caused severe injury. This means that 78% of all distracted drivers were distracted because of texting.  This being said, are you sure your technology isn't distracting you?