TECHNOLOGY IS NOT ONLY A NEGATIVE TOOL FOR YOUNG PEOPLE, BUT ALSO A POSITIVE AND helpful ONE.

name

Contents Page

Title page………………………………………………………………………………………………………………...…..………0

Contents...... 1

Abstract...... 2

Acknowledgements...... 3

Introduction ...... 4

Literature Review...... 5-7

Methodology...... 8-9

Results and Findings...... 10-15

Analysis anddiscussion...... 16-17

Summary and Conclusion...... 14

Bibliography...... 15

Appendix...... 16+

Abstract

General society views today’s youth as completely indulged in technology. They follow the ideology that it is unhelpful for the growth of a young person. This research project studies the following statement: “Technology is not only a negative tool for young people, but also a positive and helpful one.” The objective of this study is to explore many areas of technology, and name the helpful and unhelpful aspects of each. Through this, a greater knowledge and understanding can be found.

The research methodology conducted for this study includes a literature review, questionnaire and interview. The literature review includes four related articles which deals with helpful and unhelpful uses of technology for young people. The interview and questionnaire was created for responses from youth within 12-18 years of age. The answers provided in the interviews were of qualitative data, whereas the questionnaire includes both qualitative and quantitative data. The questions asked ranged from mobile phone use, to mental health, school work and so on. Through this, a large variety of results was formulated.

Overall, the results agree with the research statement. Each area within technology exhibits both helpful and unhelpful aspects to a young individuals’ life. For example, online gaming has both positive and negative aspects to it. Initially, society thinks of the worst. They think of the addictive nature and lack of social interaction it negatively provides. While this is in some cases true, it also has many positive aspects. Such as the socialisation it can provide whilst online with others. It also provides refinement of fine motor skills and intelligence through strategic game play. This is only one of the examples within the completed research project. While it is undeniable that technology provides a negative aspect to teens lives, it also enhances it in many areas. Therefore, agreeing with the research statement that “Technology is not only a negative tool for young people, but also a positive and helpful one,” is correct.

Acknowledgements

I’d like to thank the following people and organisations for helping me throughout my research project.

Mrs Crocker

For her knowledge when it comes to the project and guidance on how to tackle each section. Also, for distributing half of the questionnaires and the constant encouragement she provides.

My mother for staying up in the late hours of the night, proof reading each section. Also for her supportive nature.

freeonlinesurveys.com

For providing the tools to create a sophisticated questionnaire and collating results into graphs and tables for me.

Friends and the ‘HSC discussion group 2017’ (Facebook page)

For supplying data by completing half of the questionnaires and providing me with a broad range of responses.

Bored of studies (website)

Thank you to past students submitting their IRPs for inspiration. Also Natasha Elliot, and Nasra Abdi-Hashi for largely helping, by allowing me to view their IRP.

Introduction

In this day and age, technology is highly relevant. It is something that is used in many areas for many reasons. Most commonly, the assumption is that technology among teens is only negative. The view is that today’s youth are addicted to technological devices, which results in a decline in many areas of their lives. I wanted to explore this ideology and discover the positives of technology while still acknowledging the undeniable negatives. I chose to pursue this idea because I wanted to support today’s youth with their use of technology. Realistically, no one can permanently stop the negative aspects happening, but we can identify, support and encourage youth to make positive choices.

From this thought process, I created my research statement. “Technology is not only a negative tool for young people, but also a positive and helpful one.” My aim for the research project is to find areas of technology youth face, and name the positive and negative aspects of each.

The syllabus area this projects connects to is the Social Impact of Technology.

Literature Review

In the research for the positive and negative impacts of technology on today's youth, a variety of articles were gathered and studied. A well-known assumption of technology, is that it is only a negative tool, with negative impacts. This literature review demonstrates that it can in fact be both a negative and positive tool for youth.

The first literature review was completed under the Centre forInnovative Public Health Research, titled “Benefits of Teens Using Technology”. This article discusses the positive aspects technology can provide for young people. One of these is technology being an easily accessible ‘get away’. Offline in society, groups of people may be isolated or marginalized because of their beliefs, values, and/or practices. Online though, these young people have more control over who they come into contact with, and can join a community where they don’t feel afraid of rejection or discrimination. Therefore, youth can be free and comfortable. “For LGB youth, the internet can provide a welcoming community of other young people looking to share their experiences and gain support” (Sharma, 2013).Technology can also be can be a safe platform where youth can inform themselves on things such as sex, STDs, puberty etc. anonymously and in a non-judging way. Whereas in the ‘real world’ young people are too embarrassed, or fear looking silly researching these things in a public setting;like at home, school or libraries. Technology is also helpful in providing data on young adult’s health. This is done through mobile apps that track diet, sleep and exercise throughout the day. These provide personalised data results that can consequence in awareness of young people’s health habits. This awareness could then continue onto a heavy realisation point, to encourage a change of health habits. This piece of literature helps the research statement that technology is not only a negative tool for young people, but also a positive one when used correctly, as the next article also demonstrates.

Another online resource used was ReachOut.com with the title, “Benefits of Internet and Social Media”. This literature source also demonstrates the positives of technology for young people. One of these is the opportunity that young people have to share their values, ideas and subjects important to them to their online community. Matters such as social issues, fundraisers (collect online donations via Facebook), social activities and gatherings are completed with the help of technology. Somewhat similar to the article “Benefits of Teens Using Technology” previously studied, young people deepen their passions through pages or accounts on a variety of online platforms. They develop their interests on music, artists, novels, movies, celebrity figures etc. by posting and commenting on designated pages - this sometimes results in creating online friendships. The article makes reference to a metaphor: a teenager entering an online community is similar to entering the middle of the city for the first time. An individual has to learn the good and bad environments and how to stay safe in the setting. This builds both independence and develops skills to recognise and manage risks. This literature review helps the research question as it demonstrates positive impacts of technology for young people, as does the next piece of literature.

The case study: “The Impact of the Mobile Phone on Young Peoples Social Life”, presented by Marilyn Campbell and funded by Queensland University of Technology shows both the positive and negatives of mobile phones on young people. Similar to the past two articles, this examines the helpfulness of technology for relational and functional purposes, such as organising events. Technology, such as a mobile phone, can get information to everyone, has immediate answers to questions and is accessible all the time, no matter where you are. Technology in this case is very helpful, but issues can now arise that otherwise wouldn’t have occurred without technology. For example, anaccidental exclusion that may come from not owning a mobile phone or an online platform where the information is shared. Another point the case study makes is the decline in social skills. Texting is now a main form of communication, “texting avoids awkward silences and having to make conversation. It enables shy or reserved young people to communicate without embarrassing emotions” (Campbell, 2005). As a positive, technology is helpful to the shy or socially awkward and is helpful to express emotions and speak a youth’s mind honestly. As a consequence, this may lean towards a decline in social skills as there is no face to face communication.

The final article also discusses the symbols that come with owning a mobile phone. The type of phone owned has become a status symbol among young people. It has also a symbol of adulthood, because in some cases youth are responsible for the financial commitments that come with owning a mobile phone. Owning a mobile phone also comes with independence given by parents. The mobile phone is helpful for family relationships, as the technology provides a degree of surveillance on the young adult. Parent/s are now able to go out and be free to do things while still being contactable. Despite this positive aspect, this also upsurges a cause for concern as today’s youth are ‘sneaky’ and know loopholes that older generations are oblivious to. Youth can easily avoid contact by blocking certain numbers and creating excuses to ignore a phone call or text. Communication via technology also helps build and maintain relationships between online friends and within a separated parents’ family. This is because youth can contact their parent without the interference of the other parent. Meanwhile, the contact that youth could be receiving may not always be healthy. Unfortunately, people within society lie and create false identities, so youth may not always be talking to who the other person says they are. So ultimately an element of trust comes into this issue between parents and today's youth. As well as family issues there are schooling issues. Teachers have trouble maintaining control over the use of mobile phones in the classroom, this impacts the young adult’s education. Because of the mobile phones small nature, it is easy to hide, also youth have the excitement of receiving a notification and because of the typically fast response nature of a mobile phone, teachers struggle in this area. Also with the increasing use of technology as a learning tool within a classroom, often it is misused and youth find loopholes to access websites blocked by the school, therefore impacting their education. But on the other hand, technology is a helpful learning tool as collaborative learning can occur on platforms such as Kahoot! and Canvas. This article proves the research question by demonstrating that there are positives and negatives to technology for young people. Although the past two articles look into the positives of technology, this article shows that technology can be positive but also still a negative tool for young people in many aspects. As they next article also looks into.

This article “Mental health: Young People Are Struggling to Cope with Pressured of Social Media Sites, Studies Find” written by Aftab Abi explores the stress that comes with technology. Technology may not be the sole source of stress but it certainly adds to it. “Director of campaigns at the young people’s charity YoungMinds” said “social media added new complexities to their daily lives” (Abi, 2015). This ultimately results in mental health issues such as anxiety, insomnia and sleep deprivation because of the constant need to make themselves available online. This article proves that technology is defiantly a negative aspect to young people’s lives as it is an added stress.

Technology is usually seen as a negative aspect amongst young people, but studies and articles have shown that it can be a positive and useful tool too. Mobile phones help parents keep tabs on their children, and provide reassurance. They also help youth feel accepted in their world and are encouraged to share their values with their community. Alternatively, technology may result in mental health issues, physical communication skills and a distraction to their own and others education. In conclusion, although technology is undeniably a negative aspect, studies and articles have proven that it can be a positive and helpful aspect to young people’s lives.

Research Methodology

I have chosen to utilise a questionnaire, interview and literature review for my research methodology, regarding the research statement: Technology is not only a negative tool for young people, but also a positive and helpful one.

A questionnaire is a series of open and closed questions that can be answered honestly and unbiased as well as maintaining confidentiality. I used this research method because of just that, the anonymity and the truthful answers it would provide. It is also a helpful way to gain many responses in a non-time consuming way. Questionnaires provide quantitative (numerical, measurable data) and qualitative (opinions, values, attitudes) data, through the different forms of questions. This research method was aimed at a specific group, an age group of youth. That is of between and including years 12 to 18, making it a quota sampling method. All questionnaires were distributed digitally. Half were through social media, where anyone within the particular age group that wanted to complete the questionnaire could. Although this is a great voluntarily method, it also meant that there is not an equal age group or gender range. The other half were distributed by a school teacher to 12-14 year olds, I have chosen to go through a teacher because an assumption is that a lot of young youth don’t have social media platforms to find and complete a questionnaire. Altogether, the total responses added to 77.

The other primary data research method was an interview. The way this was conducted was through a convenience sampling method. I selected someone I knew from different age groups and ended up interviewing five people in total, one from each year group. This means that there is lower validity because it is not representative of the population. The data type collected is qualitative. This provides personal views, morals, attitudes etc. The way this research method was conducted was through a sit down structured interview via skype or on the grass in a casual setting.

All of the data collected is reliable and valid. This is because the same trends would continue if the same research is repeated. Perhaps not in the future because of the advances and accessibility to technology, but the time of publication, it is dependable. This data is also valid because most responses were via questionnaires, meaning they were anonymous and respondents could answer truthfully. Alternately, perhaps responses were bias because just over half of the respondents were from a Christian demographic. Also there were not many 15 year olds that responded. The interview was conducted with people I know, so they were comfortable enough to be honest. This may also mean that interviewees wanted to maintain what my perception of them may be, therefore resulting in bias answers.

Both primary research methods were carried out in an ethical manner. The questions were written in a non-bias style; this means that the way questions were worded did not affect the responses supplied. Privacy and respect was shown towards respondents. Throughout the entire process, I stated that all responses would be kept confidential and privacy would be maintained by not announcing names or faces in any way. Also, questionnaires were optional, and permission was asked to complete an interview. I stated that the conversation would be recorded, but not published. Respect was also shown to respondents’ emotions, age, culture, status, health and experiences. Throughout the whole research process, I have shown integrity by being honest with responses and by not plagiarising any data. The only disregarded answers were a couple of questionnaire responses, this is due to immaturity and the unreliability of responses. These were unhelpful to the research.

Results and Findings

Text responces and remaining results can be found in the appendix.