Negative Effects Of Technology On Social Skills

Technology is a very common form of communication, but it is decreasing our children 's social skills. This is important because children are spending too much time with technology and it is beginning to show through the way they communicate with others. Some people think that it is increasing social skills, and in a way it is, but there are more negative effects than positive. There are many negative effects to our children 's social skills due to technology. The way in which we communicate with others is changing drastically, and not for the better. It is causing people to lose social skills. We communicate more through a screen than we do face-to-face. We focus more on conversations we are having through technology more than we do to …show more content…
Although they are communicating through their phones, teacher Nini Hallett states, "they can get up the courage to ask you for a deadline extension on the computer, but they won 't come and speak to you face-to-face about it. And that worries me in terms of their ability to interact with people," proving that even teachers are beginning to notice the impact technology has on our social skills. If we are not able to talk face-to-face to our teachers, who we are supposed to be looking up to, how do we expect to interact with people we don 't even know when applying for jobs or other important events? This is a major problem within the teenage community, and we need to learn to communicate with others without the use of …show more content…
31% of teenagers send 100+ texts a day instead of spending that time hanging out with friends and connecting with them in person. Texting is usually referred to as "easier" than getting together with others because you don 't have to leave your house to communicate with them. This can make it to where you are so used to communicating with others through technology, when you meet them in person it is "awkward", and this is a way in which social skills decrease. Although you are able to communicate with them through cell phones or other technological devices, you are unable to communicate with them in person. Technology can cause a change in behavior. There is a 40% decline in college students in measurements of empathy in the past 20 years. On the contrary, Teens Fact Sheet states, "there are 19% of teens who believe that using social media makes them more sympathetic to others," proving that there are statistics to show the positive effects to technology. Teenagers are becoming "obsessed" with technology. In an interview with Katie Couric, Jim Steyer, and Sherry Turkle, we are told that, "95% of all teens ages 12-17 are online and 78% of all teens have a cell phone," which tells us exactly how much of our community is affected by technology. Teenagers are spending too much time with technology and it has a major affect on them