Technology: Trash or Treasure?

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If you were to ask some high school students, “Have you ever looked up a sports score or checked your Twitter feed in class on your phone or computer?” what do you think their answer would be? The answers from most, if not all, of the students would be “yes”. Technology use has drastically increased over the past few years, and this dramatic increase is having its effects on classrooms. With online textbooks, homework, and lectures, it is inevitable for it to have an effect. Technology is rising at a rapid pace, and it is rapidly being integrated into secondary classrooms in many forms, such as online textbooks, homework, and lectures. Because of this swift incorporation of technology, high school students have a decreased focus in the classroom, have decreased motivation and patience, and it has changed the roles of teachers and students, in addition to having negative effects on a students’ writing and spelling skills.
Technology use among teens and students has been on the rise. Students have technology ranging from cell phones to laptops to iPads. First off, more and more students own cell phones. In 2004, an average of 53.5% of high school students owned cell phones (Jon, 2009). By 2013 that number was up to 78% of students (Madden, Lenhart, Duggan, Cortesi, & Gasser, 2013). Now 47% of those students own smartphones, which is up 23% from 2011 (Madden et al., 2013). The internet and computers are also on the rise. 74% of teens have access to the internet (Madden et al., 2013). 93% have access to a computer and “one in four teens (23%) have a tablet computer, a level comparable to the general adult population” (Madden et al., 2013). This increase in accessibility of technology to students has resulted in changes in the classr...

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...wn cell phones. SOC. Retrieved from http://soc101.wordpress.com/2009/08/28/teen-cell-phone-use/ Madden M., Lenhart A., Duggan M., Cortesi S., & Gasser U. (March 13, 2013). Teens and
Technology 2013. Retrieved from http://www.pewinternet.org/files/old- media/Files/Reports/2013/PIP_TeensandTechnology2013.pdf Mills, M. & Gandy, M. (February 4, 2013). Teachers Embrace Digital Resources to Propel
Learning. PBS. Retrieved from http://www.pbs.org/about/news/archive/2013/teacher- tech-survey/ Office of Education Research and Improvement, U.S. Department of Education. (2005). Effects of technology on classrooms and students. Retrieved from http://www2.ed.gov/pubs/EdReformStudies/EdTech/effectsstudents.html
Wylie, J. (2013). Mobile Learning Technologies for 21st Century Classrooms. Scholastic
Teachers. Retrieved from http://www.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=3754742

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