Shut Down Your Screen Week Analysis

In the United States by 2016, approximately 185 million people were users of any social media, and that number is estimated to grow to over 200 million people by 2020. “Shut Down Your Screen Week” is an entire week where schools go without any technology, and schools and parents should oppose the idea of implementing this in their lives and their children’s lives. Some people believe that a “Shut Down Your Screen Week” would allow families to have some quality time together that would not occur with electronics brought into the picture. However, people should not partake in the “Shut Down Your Screen Week” because technology positively affects one’s social life, promotes diverse ideas, and impacts daily lives in many ways.

(Max) Technology of any sort, phones, tablets, smart watches, impacts people’s social lives in a very positive way everyday. Keith Hampton, the lead author of “Information, Communication, & Society,” formed a study based on a representative survey of 2,500 Americans and a follow up study. The results of the initial study said, “Those who used social media had more close confidants,” and the follow up study concluded, “The average user of a social networking site has more close ties than and was half as likely to be socially isolated as the average American.”Based on these

studies, the conclusion made is that social media is a way to develop close and trustworthy relationships and it also allows for effective communication.

(Mallory)Furthermore, when one uses the internet they are able to come upon more creative and informed solutions.

People are always on their phones skimming through social media, texting long distance relatives and even looking at the news. The internet can help to create new friends and stay in contact with relatives that may live far away. According to the article, “Is Google making us Stupid?” by Peter Norvig, internet users are more likely to be exposed to a diversity of ideas. When people use google or anything on the internet, it sprouts ideas that can use to build off of. Also, society can gain more knowledge on important matters, including politics and daily

news.

(Margaret)In addition, technology and the internet is an important part of the school day, helping to improve skills used in school, and other activities. The article, “The Myth of Multitasking”, reports that researchers at the University of Rochester uncovered some benefits of playing video games. The article states, “...researchers found that players of some fast-paced video games can track the movement of a third more objects on a screen than non players...In a sense, those games have a very strong both rehabilitative and educational power.” Technology, like video games on computers or televisions, improves your reflexes and thought process. In schools, online games are played to study and using games to study helps to remember what you are learning more effectively than other methods.