Lucy (Year 7)
Editor’s note: This essay was recently entered into the Minds Underground: Young Minds Essay Competition. CPD
According to Oxford Languages, technology is “machinery and equipment developed from the application of scientific knowledge”. This means that ‘technology’ is simply objects that have been developed by humans. However, it is most commonly used to describe electronic devices, such as mobile phones, laptops, computers and tablets. In this essay, I will be referring to this type of technology.
Some people believe that technology should not be limited. Reasons for this are that we use technology to learn new things – some people are even doing school fully online! If technology was limited, what would we do if there was another lockdown, like in Covid-19? How would children be educated? Technology should not be limited because many people would lose their jobs, since countless people work online at least half of the time – if not, the whole time. It is also possible to find out information a lot more quickly by using search engines such as Google, Safari, Microsoft Bing, and several others. Another reason for not limiting technology is that artificial intelligence (AI) is developing and if technology was limited, we would not be able to expand this.
Other people believe that technology should be limited and there is a lot of scientific evidence to back this up. An example of this is that screen time, if used in larger amounts, can cause stress, anxiety, and can distract students from lessons. It can even stop people from noticing what is around them. It can also cause eating disorders, for example, through encouraging people to eat junk food through advertising. Technology can also have the opposite effect on people because of filters people can use to completely change what they look like. For example, people can make their skin look flawless and make themselves look skinnier than they really are. Too much screen time can make you short-sighted. Using technology (such as phones) can be addictive, which means that someone could end up spending more and more time being pulled into these unhealthy habits. If screen time was limited, we would interact face-to-face more often with other people and generally have better social lives. People would pay greater attention to what others are saying and learn more from other people’s experience. If robots took over jobs that currently have person-to-person interaction, for example, a patient and doctor consultation, the robot would not treat the patient in the same way as human doctors do. They would not understand how the patient was feeling; if they were hurt, nervous or worried. Having a human relationship would make patients feel more comforted, compared to a robot consulting a human. Another point is that having limited technology would allow people to think more for themselves, instead of going to technology as their first resort. If they did this and could not think of an answer for their queries, they could go to a library to find a book relevant to their question, or check in an encyclopaedia. Alternatively, an individual could ask someone they trust their question. This may risk hearing someone’s opinion, instead of fact. The same thing applies to some websites that are online; anybody can post ‘facts’ on them – even if they are not true. Instead of using these websites, one could use more secure sites (for example one that their work / school uses). However, books are usually more reliable to find out information you need (as long as it’s a non-fiction book). Some technology can contain inappropriate material, such as rude songs and dance videos, and images or drawings. This is of concern particularly for younger viewers. Not using technology as much can help children create stronger friendships, and not ‘fake friends’. These people could be friends that somebody has met online, without knowing who they really are. This could be very dangerous if someone is lying about themselves to someone to try and make them give personal information about themself. For example, they could ask for the school, where they live, and for their full name. The person could actually be trying to scam them, not asking the questions to be nice. They are probably a totally different age to what that person might expect.
There is a lot of scientific evidence to back up the potential harms of technology: screen time is bad for your mental health – and physical health – if your screen usage is too high. Another practical problem is that as devices become more complex, their price could just go up and up! How would we manage to keep our devices safe from thieves and pay for a new device every few years?
Therefore, my opinion is that technology should be limited.
Technology can be addictive, so once somebody starts using it, it is hard to stop. Therefore, it is better to have limited technology, even if it is just a small amount less, than to be able to access it all of the time – there will be less chances of getting addicted to it.
Another point is that online, there are many people who try to scam other people and find out personal details about them so that, usually, they can try and get money off them, particularly the elderly.
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