Screenagers: How is Technology Impacting Adolescents?

Screenagers follows a middle school girl and her mother as they attempt to navigate the digital world trying to find the balance between personal interaction and the benefits of having a smartphone in an increasingly digital world. A lot of people have had that moment when you're in an uncomfortable situation and you pull out a phone to make yourself look busy, even if you're just staring at a blank screen, right?

Teens spend on average six hours a day looking at a screen, not including the amount of time using screens for schoolwork. In an age of technology, our brains are wired for seeking behavior and instant gratification. A chemical called dopamine, linked with pleasure and reward, is released when we receive instant information. This desire for instant gratification, especially throughout adolescence is difficult to manage, even if you aren't the one with the distraction. Research shows that if the person next you has their phone out, you are just as distracted.

The movie emphasizes how the adolescent brain is not developed enough to resist distractions. The prefrontal cortex, the area of the brain responsible for decision making, regulating social decisions and personality expression, does not fully develop until mid-adolescence into adulthood. Various studies have shown that children who have high self-control abilities are more successful later in life, so controlling impulses during adolescence is imperative, but doing so is difficult when the brain is not fully developed.

A study conducted on mice exposed the lasting effects technology has on brain development. One group of mice were shown a series of flashes representing the flash of screens, then had to complete a maze. The exposed mice took three times longer to complete the maze than the unexposed mice. Overexposure tires the brain. Even more alarming, though, is the lasting effects on their brains. The mice who were exposed to screen time had damage to the hippocampus, the area associated with memory and decision making. The damage, however, persisted throughout the rest of their lives. They never fully recovered from the exposure.

All media is educational, but what is it teaching? Violence? Physical appearance matters more than intelligence?

Adolescent girls and boys both overuse technology, but in different ways. For boys, video games take up on average 11.3 hours a day. Violent video games have replaced the games used to build worlds and force adolescents to think differently. The correlation between violent video games and aggressive behavior is increasingly apparent, as exemplified by an adolescent boy in the film, who screams, cries, and lashes out when his video games don't go well, or when his grandmother revokes his gaming privileges. Violent video games were initially launched by the US Army to desensitize soldiers before going to war. While there is no direct link between violent video games and crime such as mass shootings, violent games are becoming increasingly troublesome. Creating a balance by offering other activities is the most effective way to reduce this behavior. Forty percent of students do not have after school activities, so they use technology as an outlet.

Adolescent girls get their technology fix through smartphones, obsessing over likes and focusing on appearances. Girls create an online identity, striving to be a mix between cute and hot, looking sexy without being slutty. As young teenage girls, there is a lot of pressure to look good. Comments are always based on physical appearance, further adding to the pressure to look good. These pressures are outlined in the YA novel my PLC group is currently reading, Dumplin' by Julie Murphy. Beauty pageants revolve around looks, and for self-proclaimed fat girl Willowdean Dickson, not fitting the stereotypical mould for a beauty queen impacts her daily life, allowing her self-confidence to plummet.

As hormones increase during adolescence, the burden to please people also increases. The undeveloped adolescent brain makes it difficult to rationalize and choose the safe decisions, especially with peer influences. Risky behavior occurs all throughout adolescence and multiplies when parents tell kids not to do something without explaining the consequences for their actions. The desire to break from parental control is an evolutionary predisposition as it allows adolescents to move towards independence, thus finding a mate and furthering society. This evolutionary benefit also has darker underpinnings as outlined in The Power of the Adolescent Brain as it leads adolescents to riskier and unsafe situations.

This issue surround digital citizenship, or one's online identity, has become increasingly important as respect is just as imperative online as it is in person. I personally think that technology both in and out of the classroom has many benefits but just as many drawbacks. Creating an environment in which it is safe and open to discussing the emotions adolescents are experiencing will make this an easier conversation to have in the future.