A Generation Running On Technology by Sophia

A Generation Running On Technology by Sophia - March 2017 Scholarship Essay

What is something that impacts all students? All children of this new generation (called generation Z) have grown up with technology developing in their midst. At my young age of 16 years, I am also within this generation. As we all know, with the helpful and easy access to the internet, we have nearly infinite human knowledge right at our fingertips. What we don’t necessarily know is how this impacts the average student’s real-life experience and overall learning and health. I personally believe that this should be a topic to discuss more frequently. I would be willing to present information to expose to a larger audience, students and adults included, the true influence technology has on our lives.
With the benefits of a phone or computer, we have the capability to communicate in numerous ways within seconds. Momentary interaction has been made extremely accessible, but it can also serve as a distraction.
Take an average student with around a 3.0 GPA, a social life, and involved in a school club or two. If they theoretically have about three and a half hours of homework for one night, many modern day teenagers will get easily distracted. From being captivated by abundantly offered apps or a dinging notification, they will either not finish their assigned homework, or lose important hours of sleep. We are told over and over to get at least eight hours of sleep, but with increasing distractions surrounding us, it becomes more and more difficult. This will virtually lead into a drop in test scores and GPA. Progress will be immensely more tedious when trying to reach a college level, or even to get a job.
A student’s future boss wants someone who is agreeable and able to hold a conversation well. By the time generation Z is entering the workforce, (assuming that we pass college without being completely consumed by technology,) these social skills that are necessary may have retracted into an unreachable part of us. With our everyday conversations being confined to text bubbles and emojis, we are not as familiar with full, real-life interactions. It also doesn’t help that if these habits aren’t cut off early on, a whole generation could be functioning off a minimal amount of sleep from common entertainment sources such as Netflix or Hulu.
With schools beginning to embrace our world’s technological advances, students are exposed to more learning opportunities, as well as mindless distractions. If we plan in accordance, we can reduce entertainment to a level that allows us to remain at a fully functioning standard and maintain high grades during the short years we are still considered students. Otherwise, generation Z will only be the beginning to a world of working robots and lazy humans.