The impact of digital technology on young people

Digital technology is all around us as it consists of all the devices, methods, systems and platforms that we use everyday. Young people use digital technology in various ways and it has a massive impact on their education, physical and mental health. The first impact of digital technology concerns education. At home, numerous children utilize devices while they are occupied with different school assignments.

Furthermore, according to Brasel (2011) a developing theory of confirmation highlights that the utilization of gadgets while occupied with school tasks has negative effects on learning. Quoting Bill Gates “ Technology is just a tool. In terms of getting the kids working together and motivating them, the teacher is the most important.” one can understand that digital technology can be left out when it comes to learning purposes. By contrast, Steve Ballmer states that “ The number one benefit of information technology is that it empowers people to do what they want to do. It lets people be productive. It lets people learn things they didn’t think they could learn before, and so in a sense it is all about potential.” which shows the idea that digital technology represents a great tool for learning. Having said that, this is the first impact of digital technology.

The next impact of digital technology is regarding their physical health. A sector of health concern is technology utilization and obesity, and most studies have concentrated on devices. According to Gortmaker (1990) the chances of being overweight were nearly 5 times higher for teenagers who use over five hours of digital technology every day contrasted with the individuals who use from zero to two hours. Moreover, this discoveries of the investigation added to suggestions by the American Academy of Pediatrics that youngsters have two hours or less of sedentary screen time every day. Later examinations have given new confirmation that staring at the screen for over one and a half hour per day was a risk factor for obesity, yet just for youngsters from four to nine years old according to Jong (2013). Increasing caloric intake by eating while staring at the screen has also appeared to be a risk factor, as it exposes people to food promotions according to Goris (2013). This is another impact of digital technology.

The last and the most important impact affects their mental health. With this in mind, summarizing the work of Waasdorp (2015), Raskauskas (2007) and Vaillancourt (2013) cyberbullying and conventional tormenting overlap, even though online harassing presents particular difficulties. These difficulties involve that those who bully can be unknown and surprise any time, that information can spread online rapidly, and that the one who bullies and his target can be very active in the online world. Cyberbullying can lead to short and long term negative social, school, and health outcomes for both individuals. This is the final and most significant impact of digital technology among young aged people. In conclusion, digital technology offers nowadays entertainment and communication and has increased massively in the latest years. For this reason, it is important that parents become aware of the environment of digital technology platforms, given that not all of them benefit children and adolescents. Paediatricians are in a good position to help families understand these sites and to encourage healthy use and determine parents to supervise for possible problems with cyberbullying, depression and exposure to inappropriate content. This is the impact of digital technology on young people.