McKinnon
Galloway
Professor Kendra
Andrews
English 1102
12 December 2012
Virtual
World Repercussions
There are 2.1 billion people that text or
have website portable profile. That is 271.1 million people linked online in some
way through virtual language in the U.S. That is 45 percent of those are people
under the age of 25. (Pingdom) Twenty-five is a crucial number because it is
the average age that a human’s brain is fully developed. (Foxnews) So if
121.995 million people are under the age of twenty-five and using a Internet or
text message for social communication, what impact does that have on their
brain development?
Technology is always rapidly changing and
growing, especially now more than ever in the United States. In 1630’s the
printing press was first used in the U.S. (Lienhard) This new technological
machine changed communication forever. News and social media was spread quickly
through this new paper outlet of social contact. From there the next large
communicational development was the telegram. This not only allowed instant
contact through small cites such as a newspaper did but it added the element of
immediate distance interaction. Although these inventions were very useful,
they weren’t user friendly, were limited numbers because of high cost and
usually lacked personalization of the product by the owner. These problems were
all solved in 1950’s when the first mass produced computer was invented. From
there the Internet was designed that changed most face to face interactions to
online virtual worlds. News, online journals, movies, music and personal
profiles were easily accessed and created. The web opened infinite number of
possibilities and allowed instant connection to about anyone or
anything…anywhere. After reading this, it would seem like a dream come true.
But at what cost to our current and future generations does the repercussions
of this invention cause?
Although it would seem that social communication
through virtual worlds has been a huge benefit, based on time and research, it
would seem that the impact on excess virtual language use to replace
face-to-face interactions can and could impair adolescent communicational
development.
To be able to understand how the brain is
being affected mentally by excess communication, we must first understand how
the brain is being rewired physically. It take a human to their mid twenties
for their brain to be fully developed. With that being said, there are crucial
stages of brain development during a human’s adolescent years. The last piece
for the brain to fully develop is the frontal lobe. This controls speech and
communicational skills. Because of new technological advances in the past
twenty years, the brain is being rewired physically in the frontal lobe because
it is never fully shut off. A recent study states that, “The average young
person spends more than eight hours each day using technology.” (Superscholar) Because
of these recent findings, the study has concluded that, “Chronic use of
information technology appears to have a suppressive effect on frontal lobe
executive functions.” (Superscholar) This is important because previously stated,
children are forming the frontal lobe, and so if technology is suppressing the
frontal lobe functions, the frontal lobe cannot form properly. So if the
frontal lobe is not correctly molded, what effects can this have on the child itself?
Based on research, the child will have outside impacts as far as communication,
and most importantly have inside impairments.
When talking to someone face to face,
there are certain social queues that are the basis of in-person interaction. Because
of new technology and constant interaction with the virtual world over the
actual world interactions, a professor at Oxford University stated,” a decline
in physical human contact meant children struggled to formulate basic social
skills and emotional reactions.” (Paton) The new generation is no longer doing
simple queues such as looking people in the eyes when talking to them. Because
of the constant interaction and interruption by the virtual world, when talking
to someone, the new generation constantly checks their phones or fidgets. A
neuro-oncologist said, “The power of face to face interaction is the
fundamental to who we are…we need the richness in our lives and the richness
affects our brains.” (DiSalvo) While outside communication is apart of our
daily lives and is very important when dealing with society as a whole, the
main fault of the new virtual world is the impact it has on the inside of the
new generation.
When a body
part is damaged or formed wrong, there are repercussions from that. In saying
that, the frontal lobe is the part that is being rewired and formed
incorrectly. Because of this, the consequences have lead to “limited attention
span, lower comprehension, poor focus, greater risk for depression and
diminished long-term memory. “(CNN) This not only affects the social interaction
between a person and another person but it also harms the child’s ability to
learn. For example, a study was shown that, “over-exposure to technology was
damaging children’s ability to concentrate in the classroom.” (Paton) This over
exposure is damaging because kids cannot concentrate. To make matters worse,
classrooms are now being moved online. While this opens opportunities for
people that have no time to go to a face-to-face class, it limits the most
affective learning environment for those who are able to. A lot of universities
now are offering certain courses strictly online. A new phenomenon was created that explains
why online classes as helpful toward students called “Lost in Translation”. (Betts)
“Within an educational setting, the role of sender/receiver and receiver/sender
can change regularly and frequently between students, faculty, administrators,
administrative staff, technical support staff, and academic advisors.
Therefore, as communication increases, simultaneously there is a greater opportunity
for the message to be lost in translation due to technical or semantic
interference.” (Betts) Therefor the student cannot receive as proper of an
education when communication through virtual worlds can be misinterpreted.
However, learning impairments are not the only internal damage that is caused.
When a
child is growing up, it is the prime time that they develop who they are.
Usually their fundamentals, values and morals are all structured during their
childhood. Childhood is a time that you can make mistake and learn form them.
That is what growing up is all about. However, the Internet has changed this
perception. No longer can kids make
mistakes without being haunted by them, because as we all know, once something
is on the Internet, you can’t take it back. CNN summed it up perfectly when
stating,” “It goes without saying that digital media have also altered our
fundamental notions of and respect for privacy. Young people now routinely post
and share private, personal information and opinions on social media platforms
without fully considering the potential consequences.” (CNN) I don’t think that
children to an extent should be held responsible for just being kids.
Furthermore, it not only allows you to make mistakes that you will never forget,
but in turn it also effect how you feel about yourself.
Social media now a day is all about who
has the most followers or friends. When children are growing up this is their
prime time to be harmed by this because they don’t have a solid foundation of
who they are yet. It is hard enough going to school and dealing with everyday
social issues growing up, but now they go home and get on Facebook or Twitter
and the “social contest” continues. There is never an off button. Children are
starting to defy who they are by the gratifications they get via web. One
writer describe the constant connection as having “this
ultimate beauty contest showing how much better [or worse] you are than
everyone else can only lead to sadness because there will always be someone who
scores higher than you," she said. "It means you are constantly
lacking in self-esteem, over narcissistic and, at the same time, in constant
anxiety.” (Paton) To the grown parent, these websites might not seem harmful,
overtime with this over exposure, the child can grow up to have irreparable
damage.
Overall, while technology
is a critical and important aspect of our future world, we need to consider how
it is going to affect the future generations. After researching this
information, I was shocked to find the information and harm that it can cause.
Our society is always in a rush to do things without thinking about the
consequences. I think that there is no way to fix this problem without
awareness. It is going to be up to the upcoming parents of this world to try
and protect their children from this new device. While the Internet has helped
out in so many ways, I feel that we take it for granite and have lost the sense
of respect of how helpful but also damaging this instrument can be.
Works
Cited
Clinton, Chelsea "Is
the Internet Hurting Children? CNN.
Cable News Network, 01 Jan. 1970. Web.
19 Nov. 2012.
<http://www.cnn.com/2012/05/21/opinion/clinton-steyer-internet-kids/index.html>.
This piece demonstrates the
statistics in how often that kids use technology as a means of
communication. It talks about the
statistics as far as by the time that a child is two years old, they are
already have a internet history. The article it self balances the good and the
bad between growing up with the technology. It states that the child can rewire
their brain. From this rewired brain,
the child has negative side effects such as lower comprehension, bad tension
span, poor focus, greater risk for depression and even lower/ diminish
long-term memory. The author compares the Internet to the writing press,
because both were huge historical revolutions that changed communication. From
this, the author has gathered that this revolution has affected everything in a
person. This new revelation has not only rewired the brain but also affects,
moods, self-esteem, thought process, linear thinking, and even how we feel
about ourselves, friends and strangers. As far as the critique goes, I think
that the author was very general. Because it is CNN, it talks about the side
affects but doesn’t really go into much detail because CNN wants to be user
friendly and word appropriate. I think that the author surfaces on a lot of
good topics, and this article would be good in my essay for a beginner
references, but I would’ve liked more out of the author.
Betts, Kristen
Online Journal of Distance Learning Administration, Volume XII, Number II,
Summer 2009
University of West Georgia, Distance Education Center
This article is a little bit of a
different angle in communication. It explains an example of why face-to-face
interaction is so much more important than virtual language interaction. This
article explains the education in a virtual world is less effective than face
to face interaction. I think that this article is important because it explains
how we so called get lost in translation due to technology. First, it explains
that online education is growing and not slowing down. Then it depicts why this
is a negative impact on our society and personal growth as a student. Once this
is explained how we loose our engagement in the class due to online activity,
it tries to resolve the problem by offering solutions as to how we can better
engage in a virtual learning environment. As far as the author goes, I think
that his main purpose was to demonstrate the problems but possible effective
solutions. As far as this source is a valuable articles pertaining to my essay,
I think that bits and pieces most certainly be helpful. The author uses a lot
of lingo that is important to my topic at hand that I can quote off of her. I
think that the author has a intelligent point of view with facts and
experiments to back up her opinions. I think that she is well credited and if used
appropriately can be affective.
DiSalvo,
David. "Are Social Networks Messing with Your Head." Scientific
America Mind. N.p., Jan.-Feb. 2010. Web. 18 Nov. 2012.
<http://techbears.wikispaces.com/file/view/social+networking+article.pdf>.
This exposé is about social
networking and how it is affected everyone in our society. It talks about how
the social network world is becoming our source of gratification and self
esteem booster. They state that social networking provides a series of mini
mental rewards that don’t require much effort to receive such as adding a new
friend or receiving wall post or a like. These instant gratifications
encourages us to continue on our path to be more connected, simply because it
makes us feel good. It also then talks about the vital sense of face-to-face
interaction. Face to face interaction is who we are and it provides vital sense
of who we came to be. It also talks about loneliness that we feel when we get
behind technology rather than in person. It explains a study that was conducted
and found that the more the person spent time behind a computer, the more that
they felt lonely. As far as a critique goes, I think that this article is
written very well. A person doesn’t have to know the technical lingo or
scientific lingo to be able to understand this article. This article divides
subtopics to inspire my writing. I think that this article can be very useful
in information on my inquiry project.
Lienhard,
John “First U.S. Press” n.p., n.d., Web 12 Dec. 2012
<http://www.uh.edu/engines/epi733.htm>
Paton,
Graeme. "Twitter and Facebook Harming Children’s Development." The
Telegraph. N.p., 19 Oct. 2012. Web. 18 Nov. 2012.
<http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/9620117/Twitter-and-Facebook-harming-childrens-development.html>.
This article talks about how child
development is impaired by social networking.
It opens about the concern of concentration in the classroom. Because of
the constant connection with Facebook and twitter, the child’s attention span
has lessoned. From this they proceeded to talk about how the child can
potentially rewire their brain because our brain is developing until the age of
25. He expressed concern that our identity will be lessoned. This is the case
because when we grow up we create an idea of whom we are. His concern is that
we no longer create a sense of who we are by ourselves because Facebook, text
message, and twitter constantly bother us. With this new revelation it
concludes that we are relying on moment-by-moment reactions to tell us and to
form who we are. This article is very
useful to my essay. I think that is it well written and the author’s tone is
very visible throughout the entire essay.
I like how he talks about the negative views on how the Internet cannot
only affect our communicational skills but also our self-esteem. The only concern that I have about this
article is that it is in a newspaper and not published piece of work. Therefor
the facts and statistics that the article is displaying cannot be varied as
true.
Pingdom.
“Internet 2011 in numbers” Pingdom. 17
Jan. 2012. Web. 12 Dec. 2012.
<http://royal.pingdom.com/2012/01/17/internet-2011-in-
numbers/>
“Ten
Ways to Keep Your Bain Healthy in College” SuperScholar.
n.p., n.d., Web. 12 Dec. 2012. < http://www.superscholar.org/features/ten-ways-to-keep-your-brain-healthy-in-college/>
“When
Does Your Brain Stop Growing?” Foxnews. Fox News Network, 18, May. 2007. Web.
12 Dec. 2012. < http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,273532,00.html>
Reflection on Inquiry and
Blog.
Overall, I did not like the
Inquiry project. I feel that it was very difficult to gather information and
that I had little time to do so. I have never really liked research projects
because I get confused when and when not to site. I think that one of these
papers is acceptable in every English class, however I have been doing them for
years and still hate them and cannot understand them. As far as the blog goes,
I truly enjoyed making my blog. I feel that it was a unique experience that I
will do again someday. I like being creative, so it was a way that I could make
it my own. I decided however to place
most of my effort and work into my e-portfolio, which I think that you can
clearly tell.
