Technology: Destroying Our Younger Generation’s Health and Social Skills Carla Gray
Ivy Tech Community College

Technology: Destroying Our Younger Generation’s Health and Social Skills According to U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “An estimated 12.5 million children between the ages of 2 to 19 are obese” (Loop, 2013). This young generation’s obesity and their social skills has become a major issue in the United States. With the variety of technologies and all of its advancements, technology the main cause of obesity and poor social skills. It is common for this younger generation these days to own a cell phone, have a TV in their room, a computer, and a video game console. If no action is taken to get this younger generation up and moving and playing outdoors then the number of obese children with poor social skills. The older generation used to go outside, and play from sun up to sun down. Also, the older generation used to run, bike ride, and play hide and seek, along with all kinds of fun sports to stay active. Years ago it was unheard of that a child or a teen would even have a television in their bedroom. In the 70s and through most of the 80s, the game systems in people’s homes was a game called “Pong” or a game system called “Atari,” and it was kept in the living room, and the chances are it would collect dust between uses. Being allowed to even play a video games was a great privilege, and it only lasted an hour in most homes. Technology has even affected other healthy childhood activities. The younger generation now depends on technology for the majority of their play, limiting the challenges to their creativity and imaginations, as well as limiting the necessary challenges to their ...

-2 -2013 /article/20140415/news/304159974/-1/news04 /article/376383-obesity-in-children-video-games.htm /blog/childhood-obesity-technology-whats-connection /in_focus/social-media-affects-social-skills-future-jobs/article_d7500336-9394-11e3-a4de-001 /news/technology /video-games-and-obesity.html /weight/obese-kids-face-earlier-health-risks2833.aspx /www.stuff.co.nz/technology/619442 1 10 11 12.5 14 19 2 2003 2008 2013 2014 60 7 70s 80s 9 aap abl absent academi accept accord achiev act action activ ad addict adhd adolesc adult advanc aerob affect age ago alison allow almost along also america american amount anoth app april ask asthma atari august b babysitt basic batteri battery-oper becom bedroom benefit bg big bike blame bodi bow brett build burden burn button buttons-that call calori care caregiv carla caus cdc cell center certain challeng chanc chat child childhood children clark classmat collect colleg common communic communiti compani companion compar comput condit connect consider consol constant continu contribut control conveni convers cope correct couch could count creativ cruel culprit cure cutler cyberbulli d date david day decid depend depress destroy develop development disabl diseas disengag document doubl driven dust dvds e earlier econom economist edward effect els emot employ end entertain estim even everyday exercis extent face face-to-fac facebook fal fatti feb feebl feel find fire florida food foundat four fun futur game gameplay general generat get give glaeser go good gray great greater habit halfon hard harva harvard head health healthi heart help hide higher home hong hospit hour http human ideal imagin impact import inappropri includ increas instanc instant instead institut interact issu ivi januari jess job k katz keep kendra kept kid kind know kong lack last learn least life lifestyl lighter like limit live livestrong lone look loop lot m m.d made main major make mani match maximum may mcmanus media meet melleck mental messag million minut motor move much name nation natur neal necessari need negat network never news normal novemb number obes often older onto oper order other outdoor outsid page parent pattern pediatr peopl per perfect perform person phone physic pictur place play pokfulam pong poor post potato power press prevent privileg problem purchas quiet r rate rather read real real-lif reduct refer remot remov replac report research result retriev ride right risk robin robot room routin rumor run rush said say school scooter screen seat see seek seem send sens set shapiro shelter shown signific simpl sit six skateboard skill social societi someon someth spend spieg spiegel sport start state stay stori stress student studi stuff.co.nz stunt suggest suicid sun sunshin surgeri surviv system tablet take taken tavernis team tech technolog teen teenag telegram televis tell temptat theori thing three time today togeth tool train tv twitter two u.s unabl undu unhealthi unheard union unit univers unquestion urg use vari varieti video vitamin walk warm way websit weight well weren wheel whole widespread will-pow wipe withdraw without word world worldhealth worri would written www.bgnews.com www.bgnews.com/in_focus/social-media-affects-social-skills-future-jobs/article_d7500336-9394-11e3-a4de-001 www.everydayhealth.com www.everydayhealth.com/weight/obese-kids-face-earlier-health-risks2833.aspx www.floridahospital.com www.floridahospital.com/blog/childhood-obesity-technology-whats-connection www.helpcurechildobesity.com www.helpcurechildobesity.com/video-games-and-obesity.html www.livestrong.com www.livestrong.com/article/376383-obesity-in-children-video-games.htm www.telegram.com www.telegram.com/article/20140415/news/304159974/-1/news04 www.worldhealth.net www.worldhealth.net/news/technology year young younger youth