The physical and psychological effect of technology on adolescents

In this digital age, where technology is part of our everyday life, internet use, social medial, and gaming are especially prominent in the lives of adolescents. About 95% of adolescents across all demographic groups use smartphones or some form of technology. Compare to the old generation, the current generation of adolescents spends much more time interacting with “technology” than with real people. It makes you wonder if behaving this way is healthy for them. Can technology negatively affect the physical and mental health of adolescents?

There have been many studies conducted to discern which aspect of “technology” can be harmful to adolescent mental and physical health. Almost all research finding proves that “technology” does have a negative effect on adolescents. Still, the research also says that the harmful effect of “technology” only appears in those that misuse or overuse that “technology.” For example, adolescents who spend a considerable amount of time using the internet will develop Internet Addiction Disorder (IAD), and adolescents who spend too much time playing online games will get Internet gaming disorder (IGD). IGD has been included in the diagnostic and statistical mental disorders ( DSM-5). Technology does have an effect on the physical and mental health of adolescents, but these negative effects are only caused by the excessive use of technology. Using technology in moderation and in the way it was designed to be used will bring more benefits than harm to adolescents.

Before getting engross on the different effects of excessive internet use in adolescents, we first need to define what excessive internet use is. In a 2010 study called ” Generation M2: Media in the lives of 8 to 18 years olds”, researchers tried to estimate the average amount of time adolescents spent with “technology” (TV, gaming console, social media…). How much time is too much when it comes to internet use in adolescents? The researchers found that “kids ages 8 to 18 now spend an average of 10 hours and 45 minutes a day, seven days a week with media” (generation M2 2010). Another way to put it is to say that adolescents spent about 75 hours a week on their devices that is more than what the average American works a week.

Of course, this is only the average of all adolescents. The research study indicated that adolescent that suffers from excessive internet use tend to spend more than 16 hours of their day with media and this demographic account to 21% of the youth population.

Physical affect of excessive internet use.

Excessive internet use can lead to cognitive impairment. In a Chinese study, “Microstructure Abnormalities in Adolescents with Internet Addiction Disorder,” researchers used 18 adolescents suffering from internet addiction disorder to study how internet addiction changes the inner structures of the brains. The result of the study suggests that long term addiction would result in brain structural alteration. Gray matter, white matter, and other parts of the brain will decrease in size. The alterations in the brain were all significantly correlated with the duration of internet addiction. In other words, the longer adolescents have Internet addiction symptoms, the smaller some parts of the brain will become. The researcher also found some connections between internet addicts and substance users. The prefrontal cortex (the front part of the brain) of both individuals suffers from the same problems.The prefrontal cortex is responsible for higher thinking and reasoning. This may suggest that adolescents with internet addiction disorder do not perform well in school.

Obesity or overweight is another physical problem caused by excessive internet use. In a 2016, Switzerland longitudinal study called “the relation between internet use and overweight among adolescents,” researchers wanted to “investigate the characteristic and predictive risk factors of overweight among adolescents (Dias, Berchtold, Akre& Suris). The researcher’s hypothesis for this study was that being overweight at the beginning of the experiment was the biggest predictor of overweight after the experiment. The research finding did not reject this hypothesis. In fact, of all the other factors that contributed to overweight among adolescents in this study, being already overweighed from the start had the biggest effect on the adolescent weight even after the study.

Researchers said that the second most prominent cause of overweight in adolescents was excessive internet use. The test result of the experiment found that normal internet use has no relation with adolescents becoming overweight. The internet only became a problem when adolescents became addicted and started overusing it. The reason why internet use was not the biggest contributor to overweight among adolescents in this study was that even after the internet was removed from the life of the addicted adolescents, only does that gain weight from excessive internet use started losing weight. The adolescents that were overweight from the start and became addicted to the internet did not lose weight. They stayed overweight until the end of the study. We can conclude that the internet only becomes a physical problem when adolescents use it in excess.

The  psychological problems excessive internet use.

Excessive internet use can lead to cognitive impairment. In a Chinese study, “Microstructure Abnormalities in Adolescents with Internet Addiction Disorder,” researchers used 18 adolescents suffering from internet addiction disorder to study how internet addiction changes the inner structures of the brains. The result of the study suggests that long term addiction would result in brain structural alteration. Gray matter, white matter, and other parts of the brain will decrease in size. The alterations in the brain were all significantly correlated with the duration of internet addiction. In other words, the longer adolescents have Internet addiction symptoms, the smaller some parts of the brain will become. The researcher also found some connections between internet addicts and substance users. The prefrontal cortex ( the front part of the brain) of both individuals suffer from the same problems.

The prefrontal cortex is responsible for higher thinking and reasoning. This may suggest that adolescents with internet addiction disorder do not perform well in school.

Obesity or overweight is another physical problem caused by excessive internet use. In a 2016, Switzerland longitudinal study called “the relation between internet use and overweight among adolescents,” researchers wanted to “investigate the characteristic and predictive risk factors of overweight among adolescents (Dias, Berchtold, Akre& Suris). The researcher’s hypothesis for this study was that being overweight at the beginning of the experiment was the biggest predictor of overweight after the experiment. The research finding did not reject this hypothesis. In fact, of all the other factors that contributed to overweight among adolescents in this study, being already overweighed from the start had the biggest effect on the adolescent weight even after the study.

Researchers said that the second most prominent cause of overweight in adolescents was excessive internet use. The test result of the experiment found that normal internet use has no relation with adolescents becoming overweight. The internet only became a problem when adolescents became addicted and started overusing it. The reason why internet use was not the biggest contributor to overweight among adolescents in this study was that even after the internet was removed from the life of the addicted adolescents, only does that gain weight from excessive internet use started losing weight. The adolescents that were overweight from the start and became addicted to the internet did not lose weight. They stayed overweight until the end of the study. We can conclude that the internet only becomes a physical problem when adolescents use it in excess.

The psychological problems excessive internet use.

In a 2011 Turkish study called “Internet Addiction and Depression, Anxiety, and Stress,” researchers try to examine the relationship between internet addiction and depression, anxiety, and stress. The researchers hypothesized that “internet addiction would be associated positively with depression, anxiety, and stress.”( Akin & Iskender 2011)

In order to measure the variables, the researchers used the online cognition scale (OCS) to measure internet addiction in the research participants. They also used the depression, anxiety, stress scale (DASS) to measure the participants’ levels of depression, anxiety, and stress. The research findings demonstrated that there is a correlation between excessive internet use and depression, anxiety, and stress, which means that the research result fails to reject the researchers’ null hypothesis. “Therefore,” as the researchers state in their paper, ” it appears that if individuals can decrease their internet addiction, they may decrease their depression level.” (Akin & Iskender 2011)

In a 2008 Dush study called “Daily and Compulsive Internet Use and Well-Being in Adolescence,” the researcher wanted to know if there was a connection between adolescent daily internet use and their low well being (loneliness, low self-esteem…). The researchers had two hypotheses for this study. The first one being, “linkages between high levels of daily internet use and low well being would be mediated by compulsive internet use (CIU).”(Overbeek, Engels, Schotte, Meerkerk& Eijnden 2008). the second hypothesis was that adolescents with low self-esteem, low levels of emotional stability and a high level of introversion were more likely to develop internet addiction – compulsive internet use.

The researcher found that for introverted, low-agreeable, and emotionally less-stable adolescents, “daily Internet use is more strongly associated with CIU and, in turn, CIU more strongly linked to feelings of loneliness.”(Overbeek, Engels, Schotte, Meerkerk& Eijnden2008)

Researchers also find out that internet use does not affect everyone the same way. Factors like gender and parenting have an influence on adolescents and the probability of them becoming internet addicts.

Conclusion

The real problem does not lie on the internet as all these researches demonstrate. The problem lies in the internet users – adolescent abusive and excessive use of it. When used in moderation and for the right purpose, the internet or technology, in general, can be quiet helpful, especially to adolescents attending school. In a2017 Korean study, “The associations between internet use time and school performance among Korean adolescents differ according to the purpose of internet use.” Researchers found Higher school performance was significantly associated with internet use for study, with the strongest association for 2 hours of internet use for study per day. In contrast, “internet use for general purpose showed a negative correlation with higher school performance.”(Kim, Bumjung, Hwan&Choi 2017) In other words, internet use in moderation for studying can be beneficial to adolescent, whereas, internet use for other reason than studying have a negative impact on adolescent academic performance.

While doing the research for this paper, I need a saw and American articles related to adolescent and how “technology” affect them. All of the articles I stumble upon were all either Asians or Europeans. It makes you wonder if America does not recognize “technology”-internet addiction, online gaming addiction, social media addiction as a real problem. Internet in itself is not a bad thing; it is the user that is always to blame. I believe that the internet only became a problem when used excessively and for the wrong purpose.

Abstract

In this article, I will try to answer the question of whether technology can negatively affect the physical and phychologycal aspects of adolescent. I believe that technology does have a negative effect on adolescents’ physical and psychological health. In fact, there are many research that supports this point. However, the problem does not lie in simple internet use but excessive internet use which, is only found in addicted adolescents, and The research articles also support this point.

 

Citation

Aa, N. van der, Overbeek, G., Engels, R. C. M. E., Ron H. J. Scholte, G.-J. M., & Regina J. J. M. Van den Eijnden. (2008, August 1). Daily and Compulsive Internet Use and Well-Being in Adolescence: A Diathesis-Stress Model Based on Big Five Personality Traits. Retrieved from https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10964-008-9298-3.

Aa, N. van der, Overbeek, G., Engels, R. C. M. E., Ron H. J. Scholte, G.-J. M., & Regina J. J. M. Van den Eijnden. (2008, August 1). Daily and Compulsive Internet Use and Well-Being in Adolescence: A Diathesis-Stress Model Based on Big Five Personality Traits. Retrieved from https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10964-008-9298-3.

Kim, M.-S. K., Bumjung Park, J.-H. K., & Choi, H. G. (n.d.). The associations between internet use time and school performance among Korean adolescents differ according to the purpose of internet use. Retrieved from https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0174878.

Rideout,, V. J., Foehr, U. G., & Roberts, D. F. (2010, January). Retrieved from https://www.kff.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/8010.pdf.

Barrense-Dias, Y., Berchtold, A., Akre, C., & Surís, J.-C. (2015, August 7). The relation between internet use and overweight among adolescents: a longitudinal study in Switzerland. Retrieved from https://www.nature.com/articles/ijo2015146.