We hear countless times a day new information provided to us by technology. The current generation of teens are known as the “technology generation”. We live off of it, but is it impacting teens for the good or the bad?

Wake up, check instagram and twitter. Get ready, check instagram and twitter. Go to school, check instagram and twitter. Social media has become so addicting to teens as well as almost all generations in this era who use it. It is commonly looked down upon by people by them saying that people are lacking social skills and other important factors of that sort. Yes it is social media, no just because you have 1000 followers does not make you a social person. It’s amazing how many teens lives revolve around technology. Though you have already checked twitter two minutes ago, you subconsciously check it again to see if anything’s there. Most likely there isn’t so you put your phone away, and after 30 more seconds, you check again. This phenomenon which some people call an “obsession”, may actually be much more. If a person repeats an act multiple times, over and over, it becomes  a subconscious habit. It becomes something they do without even realizing they are doing it. How much is this really affecting teens lives?

For a majority of American youth, technology is how teens communicate. Due it social media and new technological advances, people are taking their focus away from important social experiences and applying it to technology. According to Pew Research, 78 percent of American teens have a cell phone, and almost half of those being smart phones. 23 percent of teens have a tablet, and 93 percent have in-home computer access. This proves how available technology is to people across America. It’s literally at our fingertips. It is an amazing accomplishment to have such advanced technology that enables us to efficiently accomplish so many things. This baffling achievement has had the largest impact on the current teen generation. With technology so easily accessible, teens are slowly gravitating toward social media and spending more and more time on their laptop or phone versus going out with friends and socializing in person. This dramatically affects teens social skills and can cause flaws in future relationships for teens that have become addicted to technology.

“I think social media is a good way to connect with your friend, but at the same time teens can get addicted to it very easily,” said junior Taylor Wilhoit.

As a teen, I am constantly on my phone, checking twitter or texting my friends. It has become such a large part of my life, and along with millions of teens, I am so adapted to it, it’s sometimes hard to accomplish tasks without it. Though I’m not constantly on my phone, I sometimes have a hard time without it, as do many teens if their phones were taken away for an extended period of time. Since some teens have mastered technology and have found countless uses for it, it is building the future and from here, it advances even more. Having an understanding of technology atsuch a young age allows future adults to create further technological advances.

Though technology may have some prominent positive effects, it is also very negative in certain ways. Teens across the world are becoming reliant on technology for many aspects of life. Without technology and social media, I believe that a teens life would be more stress free and simplistic. Social media allows people to post whatever they want, and it’s public to almost anyone across the world. This causes a lot of controversy and disagreement because people are available to see other peoples opinions which leads to pointless drama. I also hear people complaining about social media but they don’t take deleting their account into consideration. This is hard for teens because although they say they don’t like the idea of social media and the factors that come with it, they can’t bring themselves to delete their accounts because they are so dependant on it and feel as if they will be missing out without it.

Technology has had had a huge impact on people of all ages must specifically teens across the world. We have become so use to having the luxury and it’s so normal to us, we sometimes find it hard to function without it. It is an amazing accomplishment that has majorly impacted the world in a positive way but along with many good things, it also had many negative factors that negatively influence people across the world.