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Ben Narlock

Mr Wolfe

Spring Essay.

02 May 2019

What is The Cost We Pay For Constant Advancements in Technology

Have you ever dug in your pocket looking for your phone and you feel nothing. It

isn't there. You’re sent into a panic; this is the control our phones have on us. Every year

a new and improved phone comes out, and people will spend days, even weeks waiting

out front of the store just to try and get their hands on one. They’re apart of our every

day; it is almost impossible to live without some sort of smartphone. But really how

much do they affect our lives. Humans especially teens are giving up their adolescence to

these devices which can cause mental sleep deprivation, mental issues, and social

problems for teens who are addicted to their phone.

Firstly, for teens, the stress of high school is hard enough and sleep is key, but

teens are staying up into the night staring at there screens. In a video by Vox is February

of last year they go in depth of how our phones are meant to attract our brains and keep

us in the app like zombies. Longer teens are in apps mindlessly searching around and

looking around the harder it is to get them off of it and to turn down their brain to let

them sleep. Which can be a huge factor of why many teens get less than 7 hours of sleep.

Some may say it's not that a big of a deal, but sleep in teens is a big deal it will help

determine how much they can learn or take in during school that's why when “two

national surveys show that teens who spend more than three or more hours a day on an
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electronic device are 28 percent more likely to get less than seven hours of sleep”(1

Twenge). Seven hours is the minimum hours' teens should be sleeping to even have a

chance at surviving a day of high school. Realistically sleep deprivation is just the tip of

the problem; it can lead to many more issues.

Next, sleep problems in teens are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to long

term use of screens. It can lead to mental health problems in teens developing brains. Just

from sleep deprivation alone, many mental health problems emerge; such as

“compromised thinking, and reasoning’...’ people who don't sleep enough are prone to

depression and anxiety”(3 Twenge). A teen still has a developing brain and all these

mental health issues make the stressful high school life even harder. Which makes life

very difficult and causes so many more issues. The more time spent on social media a

huge part of phones and electronics; a study at University of Glasgow they found that

more time on social media can lead to “lower self-esteem”(1 Scholastic Article). Lower

self-esteem in teens can lead to mental health issues such as depression and even stress.

Which at such a young age can be toxic. All in all, each is connected more use of a screen

and social media can make people feel worse about their self-image towards others and

how they feel about themselves.

Lastly, social issues in teens are huge; we all want to be liked by the people

around us. It is bad that people will only post things that make them look cool, rich, or

whatever it will take to make them seem interesting where they’re trying “ to convince

others and ourselves that our lives are perfect and worth following”(2 Scholastic Article).
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You will be setting yourself up for failure in the real world if all you care about if what

people think of you or how many followers you have. These apps are making people

change their lives just to be more appealing to the people around them. The constant view

into everyone else life can make teens feel left out just being on social media alone makes

you “2X as likely to feel socially isolated”; according to a study by the American Journal

of Preventive Medicine( 2 Scholastic Article). As a teen you want to be liked and if you

see a party you weren't invited too or people hanging out without you it can take a toll on

yourself view and how you interact with the people around you. All in all, people like to

be liked but if you have to change your whole life to make people like you; you're setting

yourself up for failure for the rest of your life.

To wrap up the constant evolution of phone and the addiction they cause has

taken a toll on us and the will for the generations to come through the loss of sleep,

mental issues, and social failure. If you look they're all connected the phones cause us to

stay awake which causes health problems and those cause us to be less social. We have to

do something to if not save us save the ones to come after us.