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Impact of media on child development
Effects of media on child development
Impact of media on child development
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In his article “Mind Over Mass Media” published in the New York times on 2010, the author Steven Pinker, a reputed cognitive scientist, linguist, and psychology professor at Harvard University, analyzes the controversy surrounding the harms that the amount of new forms of media have on the intelligence and attitudes of individuals nowadays. Pinker’s essay provides arguments that put to test the popular discussion about the excessive use of social media and the supposed moral and cognitive declines caused by it. By presenting some logical analyses and studies in the area of psychology, Pinker builds very strong arguments to persuade his readers. In addition, the essay is argumentative and its intended audience is any individual that wants to …show more content…
know more about the real harms and advantages of the use of technology and social media. At the beginning of his essay, Pinker presents some of the common affirmations that individuals hear and state about the use of technology and its hazards. “PowerPoint, we’re told, is reducing discourse to bullet points. Search engines lower our intelligence, encouraging us to skim on the surface of knowledge rather than dive to its depths. Twitter is shrinking our attention spans”(Pinker 196). In contrast, in the next paragraph, the author starts to provide answers to these popular affirmations. By using logical analyses he states: “When comic books were accused of turning juveniles into delinquents in the 1950s, crime was falling to record lows, just as the denunciations of video games in the 1990s coincided with the great American crime decline. The decades of television, transistor radios and rock videos were also decades in which I.Q. scores rose continuously”(Pinker 196). By stating this, the author provides very good analysis to convince the readers to keep reading the text and learn a different point of view about the common statements regarding the use of technology in general. However, the author could use ethos and logos to support the information he provides about crime decline and I.Q scores. By doing this, he would add credibility to his text, and as a result, be more convincing to his readers. In addition, Pinker uses science as an example to prove his point.
The author states that scientists use a lot their emails, rarely touch paper, and cannot lecture without PowerPoint. Therefore, the quality of science should be decreasing. However, the reality is that “discoveries are multiplying like fruit flies, and progress is dizzying”(Pinker 197). Furthermore, Pinker explains that critics of social media and technology use science to prove their point, presenting research that show how experiences can change the brain. In contrast, neuroscientists roll their eyes for such talk. To prove his point, Pinker states that “every time we learn a fact or skill the wiring of the brain changes; it’s not as if the information is stored in the pancreas. But the existence of neural plasticity does not mean the brain is a blob of clay pounded into shape by experience”(197). Moreover, the author uses ethos and logos to prove his claim by citing the studies of the psychologists Christopher Chabris and Daniel Simons. According to the studies in their book “The Invisible Gorilla: And Other Ways Our Intuitions Deceive Us” the effects of experience are specific. “If you train people to do one thing (recognize shapes, solve math puzzles, find hidden words), they get better at doing that thing, but almost nothing else” (Pinker 197). In addition, to exemplify the information provided by the psychologists, Pinker exemplifies: “Music doesn’t make you better at math, conjugating Latin doesn’t make you more logical, brain-training games don’t make you smarter. Accomplished people don’t bulk up their brains with intellectual calisthenics; they immerse themselves in their fields. Novelists read lots of novels, scientists read lots of science”. This part of the essay is very well developed; the author uses very strong arguments, with ethos and logos. This is a very good strategy to persuade the readers and prove his
point. Additionally, continuing to develop his ideas, Pinker states that the effects of the use of technology are far more limited than the panic implies. The author explains that media critics believe that the brain absorbs and retains everything that it consumes, and as an example he states: “They assume that watching quick cuts in rock videos turns your mental life into quick cuts or that reading bullet points and Twitter postings turns your thoughts into bullet points and Twitter postings.” Moreover, the author responds to a question from what we can assume is an invisible audience of critics when he replies, “yes, the constant arrival of information packets can be distracting or addictive” (Pinker 197). The next paragraph he does this again, admonishing his audience: “don’t rail at PowerPoint or Google. It’s not as if habits of deep reflection, thorough research and rigorous reasoning ever came naturally to people.” (Pinker 197). Once again, he responds to some hypothetical reader, one who might blame technology. These last paragraphs before the conclusion are undoubtedly directed to an audience that disagrees with the author. For this reason, it’s a section of the text that should have very strong arguments and appeal to ethos logos or pathos with the aim of adding credibility to the text. However, the author does not use these tools, and looses a good chance of strengthening his arguments and convincing the readers. In conclusion, through direct use of logos and ethos, Pinker’s article presents many effective and persuasive arguments. He delivers his views based on his rationality and his credentials as an educated, well-known professional in the area of psychology. For this reason, all the arguments and ideas shared by him have a lot of credibility to convince the readers. However, Pinker could reinforce his arguments by presenting more studies or official data to prove his point. Therefore, Because of the lack of official data the text raises discussion about the real harms caused by technology, since there are no real proves for some of the information provided by Pinker, Works cited: Kirszner, Laurie G.; Mandell, Stephen R.. The Blair Reader: Exploring Issues and Ideas (Page 196). Pearson Education.
Author Nicholas Carr’s article “Is Google making us Stupid,” discusses how the use of the computer affects our thought process. Carr starts out talking about his own experience as a writer and how he felt like “something had been tinkering with his brain, remapping his neural circuitry and reprogramming his memory”(313). Basically, he is acknowledging that since he started using the Internet his research techniques have changed. Carr believes that before he would immerse himself in books, lengthy articles and long stretches of prose allowing his mind to get caught up in the narrative or the
When discussing the impact of memory on daily life, Foer explains that “the average person squanders about forty days a year compensating for things he or she has forgotten… everyday there seems to be more to remember…with a memory like Ben Pridmore’s I imagined life would be more qualitatively different--and better”(MWE page 7). This point highlights how important memory truly is. With a poor memory, we struggle with recalling even the simplest of observations and events. In addition, Foer uses confirmation to persuade the reader that having a good memory has positive effects on intelligence, noting that it would make him “…more persuasive, more confident, and in some fundamental sense smarter…” as well as a “better journalist, friend, and boyfriend”(MWE page 7). Finally, through Foer’s use of confirmation, we are brought to the realization that without memory, “our world would immediately crumble”(MWE page 19), especially in a situation where “all the world’s ink [becomes] invisible and all our bytes [disappear]”( MWE pade 19). Foer successfully defends his argument that without textual aids and external means of remembering information, we as a society would lose a vast amount of knowledge solely due to our inability to successfully retain memories. These three pieces of evidence effectively confirm Joshua Foers primary claim that memory is
The commercials appear in the press and reduce the matters to entertainment and trivialities. Given that television is the primary channel for public communication, it programs people’s minds through their images and determines the direction the people take. Postman claims that these claims are not a form of criticism of the visual arts, but types of communication become positive or adverse contingent on the link they have to symbols and functions in the social order. Television, the internet, and social media pay a similar role in the society. Since the emergence of technology a few decades ago, the various forms of communication has developed. The internet, being one of them, is primarily an international computer linkage that began over four decades ago. It is a global open linkage of networks depending on the protocol. The latest emergence of the contemporary internet is social media which consists of applications grounded on technological and ideological establishments of Web 2.0 and which facilitate the formation and exchange of use produced content (Haier, Flynn & Sternberg). It is a new kind of interaction
In the article Mind Over Mass Media, Steven Pinker claims that the use of technology enhances our intelligence, despite what critics say, when used in productive ways. Pinker supports his claim by explaining that if electronic media were hazardous to intelligence, the quality of science would be plummeting and that philosophy, history and cultural criticism, are flourishing will the use of the Web. The author’s purpose is persuade readers that new media is allowing mankind to locate information at a faster rate, in order to prevent readers from believing that technology is hurting us. The author writes in an informal tone for technology users.
Technology surrounds us every day in the modern world. It has become almost a necessity to most who use it, while others would beg to differ. There is debate surrounding both articles written by Nicholas Carr, “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” and Jamais Cascio, “Get Smart” both arguments provide opinion and evidence about the use of technology. Carr discusses how the use of the computers affects our thought process. Carr begins by talking about his own experience as a writer and how he felt like “something had been tinkering with his brain, remapping his neural circuitry and reprogramming his memory”. (Carr, 1). On the contrary Cascio’s article "Get Smart," Cascio urges
Using technology can have certain effects on the brain. Nicholas Carr’s magazine blog, “The Web Shatters Focus, Rewrites Brains,” tells us an experiment from a ULCA professor, Gary Small. Gary Small
In The Shallows by Nicholas Carr, Carr argues that technology negatively effects the way humans think and function. He believes that technology can reprogram the memory, mind, and concentration due to his personal experiences, as well as supporting evidence from research studies. In addition, he discusses the “plasticity” of the human brain, reading hardcopy vs. online, writing, and the detrimental effects of the internet on the brain. In the book The Shallows, Nicholas Carr argues that technology promotes superficial reading, alters the way individuals think, and stimulates cursory learning.
Today people spend about seven hours and thirty-eight minutes per day on technology (Ives, p.18). The excessive amounts of technology, including the use of social media, has been negatively affecting our society as a whole. The problem is not the fact that we are using technology, but it is the overuse and excessive amounts that is hurting us. Although technology has some benefits, such as being able to use its tools effectively and being able to connect easily, we have to consider its social and psychiatric effects when it comes to using it in excessive amounts.
Social media has affected people negatively because people depend on social media more than their brain .Which does not bring any benefit to them .Our society has come from being very social to antisocial over the years. Many people don 't interact with each other anymore .We search, post ,tweet and snap not even knowing who we are sharing are information with . In his article “Mind Over Mass Media ,” Steven Pinker writes about the amount of knowledge and power social media is taking away from our brains .College students and high school students are likely to use social media to do their work assignments.Social Media is slowing taking the place of boosk and many other ways people learn. Therefore, I agree that social media is taking the
“Social media, a web-based and mobile technology, has turned communication into a social dialogue, and dominates the younger generation and their culture. As of 2010, Generation Y now outnumbers Baby Boomers, and 96% of Gen Y has joined a social network” (Qualman 1). Social media now accounts for the number one use of the Internet, and this percentage is rising bigger every day (Qualman). As a consequence, people are becoming more reliant on social media, which has a led to a number of advantageous as well as unfavorable effects. The world is more connected today than it has ever been in the past, and this is all because of growth in technology. What has yet to be determined though
The influence of rapidly growing social media, television, and the internet has taken the world by storm in recent years. Its fascinating development over the years is nothing short of remarkable when you take into account that 20 years ago, only 16 million people in the world were "online", compared to the 2 billion that roam on the internet now. Modern communications technology has now become so familiar and utterly banal, yet there is still this tingling sensation when one receives a text from a love interest on Facebook or WhatsApp. Human identity, the idea that defines each and every one of us, is on the verge of being radically defined by social media. This essay will provide a balanced outlook on the positive and negative effects that social media have had on the behaviour and thinking on humans. The topic is a very controversial one, but the purpose of this is to help readers formulate a view on whether the arguments in this essay benefit society in general, or whether they harm the well-being of the human brain and detach us from reality.
Social media can be used in our days as a very helpful tool for many things in changing any person’s life ant attitude. It has a positive impact on the society level. These media will keep the person socially active and open to all what happened in the world. Sharing the latest news, photos, finding new friends and knowing the culture. Also, it allows for millions to keep in touch with each other and update for all the new technology. And, it helps people who have difficulties in communication with others to be more socialized and stronger and develop more confidence to feel more comfortable, protected and relaxed just sitting behind a screen. “It saved me time and money without ever requiring me to leave the house; it salvaged my social life, allowed me to conduct interviews as a reporter and kept a lifeline open to my far-flung extended family” says Leonard(231).
Bhardwaj 1 Think of a time when people didn’t have technology and how they had to interact, whether it had been from writing letters to using telegraphs, communicating with people was hard to come by back then. Of course, times have changed and now technology has made it easier over the years, social media has become an essential part of our lives whether it be on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and many other websites. Nowadays, everybody is using it whether its companies using media to promote their products or even teachers tweeting out what last night’s homework was. Social media is a great tool that helps us connect with the world and communicate our ideas. Yet there are some people who believe that social media has a negative impact towards our society as they believe that people can get addicted to it, it causes them to get easily distracted, and many other dangers.
Social media, a quickly growing and popular knowledge outlet, can become dangerously addictive if the user lacks self-control. There are so many wonderful outcomes from the invention of social media. The biggest being how quickly news can spread. Anyone can share the news that they desire with a few taps on a screen. The fault in this action though, is that false testimonies can be spread just as quickly as true ones. The question is, does the positive outweigh the negative enough for a person to proceed with using social media? Without this innovative creation, though, communication would be dull and boring, so by all means, social media should be used.
The social media is one of the most common means of communication and pretty much of knowing anything and everything around the world these days, and it is growing very rapidly. It changes and affects each person in a different way, or ways. Some may argue that social media has a bad influence on children and young adults, while most people see that the social media has a more positive effect on them than a negative one. Social media is basically the new way of keeping in touch with everything and everyone, and of even strengthening bonds between each other. This essay will argue that social media has improved communication between people, and has also improved the means of communication between them.