Does Technology Affect Brain Patterns

Does technology really affect brain patterns to make people react differently? According to an article by Andi Hovarth, “A study using neuroimaging of frequent Internet users showed twice as much activity in the prefrontal cortex of the brain compared to sporadic users. This is the part of the brain that is used for short-term memory and quick decision-making” (1). Technology has begun to rapidly increase and is causing harm to people of many generations throughout time. This has caused severe problems to the minds of each generation to the extent that it produces defections, communication problems, and mental illness. Mobile technology, such as cell phones has begun affecting the way people behave and talk due to the increased influence in

both social media outlets and peer pressure.
Technology has allowed a mental manipulation to manifest on the people that use it, thus, changing behavioral characteristics and communication skills. This began to affect the minds of people differently throughout generations. Children have been seriously affected by technology to the point that it is depriving them from developing necessary multiple characteristics. Tech writer Nicola Kemp reports “The American Academy of Pediatrics discourages any electronic "screen time" for children below the age of two. It cites research that found videos for infants might delay language development” (2). Mobile Technology, such as cell phones and portable gaming devices, have done a tremendous amount of damage to infants mind. This infection corrupted their brains to the point that it has begun changing the behavioral characteristics in children that they undergo symptoms that ranges from crying uncontrollably, fighting, or biting.
When the child enrolls in school they take a different approach to technology.

Social influences from social media and peers usually begins at this stage also influence behavioral and communication changes that take place during this period of development. Bernd Ploderer, a lecturer in the Department of Computing and Information systems at Queensland University of Technology, gives a perfect explanation of this in his article when he states “A first approach for behavior change support systems is to provide social trends where users encounter traces or patterns of other users” (2). Students undergo five key features that follow these behavioral and communication changes and these are, social traces, social support, collective use, reflection-in-action and reflection-on-action. The effect of these features relies heavily on social media where students will talk back, and even argue. In addition, they tend to act a certain way to get acceptance from their

peers.
The social trends influence teenage years, but it effects more than most because this generation has become more dependent on technology.

During the 21st century, social interactions play a huge part in early development due to the fact that most teens want acceptance. Take the story of Khloe from the Doctor Phil show as an example. On this particular show, Khloe explains how her social media addiction has gotten out of control. “The amount of attention I get on Facebook feels like a rush to me, on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, I get 500 to 1,000 likes on each picture it makes me feel really good about myself!” (Social Media Obsessed Teen). With social media becoming more of a part of the teen’s lifestyle, many teens sometimes go crazy when given a little recognition on social media; so much that they would go out of their way to find out what people of the social media are saying about them and how well accepted a person is. Continuing with Khloe’s story, she stated, “I do get panic attacks when I leave my house and there’s no WiFi, It’s very hard to have conversations in real life. It’s so much easier to just text message or Facebook” (1). Following the effects of this trend, many teens began to take on an alter ego that makes them talk in slang, and act a certain way to fit in with the popular crowds. In doing so they become a carbon copy of their peers to in order to maintain their level of recognition. Overall approval encourages teens, and from there it starts to

play with their minds so much that they eventually think that acting a certain way is a sign of acceptance. In today’s society, many teens follow this trend and become accustomed to social media. An online survey (Wikia and Ispos MediaCT, March 2013) of 1200 Wiki users aged 13 to 18 reported, “25% connect and check emails and messages within five minutes of waking up, and 73% connect within an hour. According to the survey, 93% visit YouTube at least once a week, while 54% visit multiple times each day; 65% visit Facebook weekly and 38% visit it multiple times per day” (Kemp 2). Teens become so accustomed to their mobile devices and social media that it manipulates their minds and makes them think that mobile technology is a necessity for everyday life.
Technology affects teens differently while they are attending school. Writer Leroy Robison states, “Students go through four stages that focuses on their attitude, behavior, intrinsic motivation, and their thoughts toward the technology they use, this plays a big part on their feelings” (80). Many students tend to lose concentration and perform horribly in school due to being occupied by their mobile device. Since it is easy to have access to applications on their devices such as social media outlets like Facebook and Twitter, many students lose interest in school. During lectures, students post photos, text their friends and do not pay attention in class. Social media and peers influences this mindset of the teenager that it increases with every like the teen gets. This motivates the student to want to post more because they feel accepted. But once again, it mentally affects their brains and make them behave differently. Teens sometimes experience mental illness when they cannot use technology in class to access social media. The student’s attitude, behavior and the way they talk changes. Students tend to use more profanity, threats and will act violently towards their peers or the teacher. According to the article by Joe Malinconico, “16-year-old with his arms wrapped around the teacher, knocking him into an empty desk. The student then wrestles the teacher across the front of the classroom before slamming him to the floor, When being questioned he said that the teacher apparently confiscated the phone which belonged to the assailant from another student” (1). Encouragement from social media take a serious effect on a student’s brain to the point where, if they are disconnected from social media the student will become enraged and become violent to get back connected.
Adults are the least to be affected by technology because they did not have time to access it in the past. However, since technology became so easy to obtain, many adults have begun to adapt to using mobile technology because it has many features that helps with work and it is what’s popular. Like teens, many adults have adapted to using social media to keep up with friends, stay relevant, or post about work. Many companies became a witness to this lifestyle and have developed a “Sleep When I’m Dead” mentality and now orders adults to work throughout the night. Depriving people of sleep and making people work long hours can greatly affect those adult’s minds as well make the person change in their behavioral characteristics. According to the article by Edward Tenner, “Americans are getting 20 percent less sleep than they did a century ago. They provide the report which states that the Web encourages long hours even more than television because it is fastest late at night. And the pace of competition requires more people to support the 24-hour, 7-day-a-week style of electronic commerce” (1). Both social media and mobile technology have played a huge part in the deprivation of adults getting sleep. Many adults will start to grow lazy and start to continuously post on social media. Many of these posts are about the harshness of the boss or company, or just random posts of activities the person underwent. Suffering from sleep deprivation, many adults cannot think straight about what they are posting so many times when they are posting negatively about the company, it usually gets them fired. The writer Declan McCullagh talks about the “AMR employee Dawn-Marie Souza engaged in concerted activities with other employees by criticizing respondent's supervisor on her Facebook page" on November 8, 2009. Souza was fired on December 1, 2009” (1). Adults have developed time to use social media, but like teens, technology has affected their brains to the point that they feel they need it and in the end it causes severe consequences to occur.
Cell phones and other sources of mobile technology have been impacting the change in both behavior and communicational skills due to acceptance of both social networking and peer influence. Each generation displayed a certain love for using their mobile devices to use social media in different ways that produced horrible outcomes. History tends to repeat itself as time goes past, no matter how enhanced the technology or applications may get, they will always have the same impact on everyday life to the people who use them. English writer Stephen Fry explained it the best, “let the rise of social networking alert you to the possibility that even in the futuristic world of the net, the next big thing might just be a return to a made-over old thing” (35).