Young people and technology 

As technology has developed and therefore become more advanced, many have begun to consider both its advantages and disadvantages for the current and future generations, with some believing that it will help to enhance possibilities, whilst others view it as a distraction and even a danger to the futures of children.

In recent research, data has shown that the use of the internet is much higher amongst those aged 16-29, as in 2022, 96% of people within this age group reported using the internet every day, compared to 84% of people in the adult population. When asked about this, one 17 year-old said “I am not shocked by that data, young people do use the internet and technology more, we have grown up with it being available to us.” This difference between the age groups could have been caused by a range of different factors, for example some would argue that teenagers have a deeper understanding of how to use technology and this confidence in its abilities contributes to higher use, whereas others would say that for young people it has become an addiction since the development of social media platforms.

Similar research has shown that 93% of teenagers use social media, which can be beneficial to teenagers today, helping them to easily communicate and share information easily, “I do use social media, I enjoy it and it helps me talk to my friends easily”, one teenager said about their use of the most popular social media platform and later said that they feel much safer with their phone. Another benefit of young people’s use of technology is that it can allow them to increase their knowledge by being able to easily access a wide range of resources that can be crucial in helping students to improve.

However, in the recent years there has been an increase in mental health problems within young people, which could be argued to be linked to the increased use of technology and social media as it has allowed teenagers to be exposed to images that can impact them, this lack of regulations and controls of social media platforms has been acknowledged by the companies and whilst they are constantly working to reduce any images that are disturbing to young people, it is difficult to remove them all. Another disadvantage of the development of technology is the increased use of artificial intelligence, whilst this can help to increase productivity, as it becomes more advanced it may become a threat to the job possibilities of young people as it may eventually have the ability to complete many of the jobs that young people would do.

To conclude, whilst technology has become an important aspect of everyday, it is important to consider the reality of technology and social media.