Ms. DeMayo’s post below marks the end of my mini-series highlighting teens and technology in their own words (unless I receive late entries). My genuine thanks to all who have dropped by to read their thoughts, and, of course, to Abbey, Chayce, and Alicia, who took the time to write the posts!
My name is Alicia Triassi-DeMayo. I’m a freshman at Ironwood High School in Peoria, AZ, where I am enrolled in honors algebra and english. I really enjoy music and have an itch to be a fashion designer.
Technology impacts us everyday. What would we possibly do without it?
Technology now can be used for job searches, social networking, finding locations, making purchases or even just looking for the definiton of a word, all by using the internet or with the touchscreen of a cellphone. Computers seem to do everything for us nowadays, as if they are more intellectual than people. Many people rely on the internet to do spellchecking, working from home, even online schooling.
I’m thinking this matter is pathetic on some level, but it may also be a good thing. For example, take job searching—you do not have a vehicle to arrive at a certain place you are wanting to get a job application at. Therefore, you must use the internet to search for your preferred job and print out the application from there. Seems simple, doesn’t it?
Online school also plays an active role in our increasingly digital lives. Say you get expelled from school and you prefer to take online classes. Much easier than getting up at five or six in the morning and spending 7 hours straight in class! We also rely on calculators to do our mathematical work and spellcheck for our misspelled words.
Although technology gives us many advantages it can also prove to be the opposite. May I submit the 800-pound-gorilla, the gatekeeper between the good and the bad—our addiction, social networking. This includes Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, etc. Many of the users who join Facebook are just looking for some small-talk, while others are looking for the unmentionable. Social networking is a great way to meet people whom you never would have otherwise.The bad part is the impact people have on it. It becomes an obsession, some weird fetish. For some it spirals into a mindset of virtual oneupmanship, that Facebook or Myspace can be this epic battle: Who has the most friends or “My default picture is better than yours!” People like this go out of their way to make the online world contentious, hurting other people’s feelings. Some of the people who are getting hurt may also share the same obsession and become even more aggressive on these sites. Then once they get their account hacked, they have a mental breakdown.
Personal tech is not just a way of life for teens, it’s front-and-center every day. It is, and always has been, the world as we’ve known it. I’m sure it comes as no surprise to hear that we prefer, overwhelmingly, to text someone than to call them, to update our Facebook news feed or tweet the latest rumor . . . “OMG! Did u hear what Sherry said about Becky’s butt in those jeans?” For us, the ties that bind extend from our fingertips more than anything else.
We are evolving as a bridge between the birth of technology our parents grew up with and the gazelle pace it has today. In ten years time our approach may be different, perhaps altered by maturity, but our dependence on it will most likely be just as strong.