Researched Argument Essay
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Researched Argument Essay
Introduction
Technology is just a tool. In terms of getting the kids working together and motivating them, the teacher is the most important (Bill Gates). Technology is the combination of two Greek words 'techne' and 'logos'. 'Techne' refers to skill, mind, or capability where 'logos' means "to speak of". Whatever literal meaning these two words produce, but the meaning of technology in the modern age is to apply knowledge for practical human goals. Technology is a general term to refers to every tool that man has developed to make his task easier in everyday life. All the kinds of tools we use in all the spheres of life like computer, machinery, vehicles, home appliances, and war weapons are various forms of technology. The modern man is too dependent on technology that it is used to complete every human task like to communicate with each other, to travel, to sow crops or to harvest, to wage a war or to counter it, and to get information or spread it, etc. Excessive use of technology like computers, tablets, and smartphones has caused many issues like eyesight weakness, memory loss, and sometimes depression in humans that some people question whether it is right to allow our children access to technology before reaching a particular age. They argue that man was healthier and wiser when he was not capsuled by technology to remember and analyze things and to have a body with stronger immune system. Technology has also minimized the physical activity of human beings to an alarming extent. It means that exposing the technology to our children might affect them while they are in the development stages of growth. Sydney J. Harris, a known American journalist of Chicago Daily News and Chicago Sun-Times, was once asked about what humankind would do if computers acquire the capability of thinking like humans; he replied that the real danger is not that computers will begin to think like men rather it is that men will begin to think like humans. Technology has a purpose of assistance in man's life that it fulfilled perfectly and helped man to become a super-human (in the words of Yuval Noah Herrari) from homo-sapiens. On the other side, it is the use of technology that caused the quick death of millions of humans during and after the Great Wars, the total destruction of great cities like Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and the emission of greenhouse gases that depleted ozone, the natural guard of the Earth. Thus, one can understand that not technology itself but the use of technology is the thing that matters. Technology is okay for children until its limited and productive use for the sake of knowledge and skill development is being taught to them.
Body
Technology is not a bad thing for children, but it is very important to teach them the productive use of it and keep a watch on them instead of giving them full liberty to use it however they want or like. It is a fact that children live in today, but they belong to tomorrow. Today's child would decide the fate of the society tomorrow, therefore preventing children to learn the latest knowledge trends would make them outdated in the future. The world has become too complex that no one can compete for the rivals without having more knowledge and the latest information about global trends. Barring children of technology would mean a future assassination of the society in this century, the smart century as we call it. On the other side, leaving children unchecked to use technology would lead to another kind of destruction. Therefore, it is important to equip them with the latest knowledge to have a bright future of society collectively. Children and education are associated with one another and they cannot be and should not be separated from each other in any case. It is the responsibility of the peers to teach children about everything or the consequences will be disappointing. Currently, when we talk about technology, we refer to the latest technology like computers, machinery, and gadgets. It is a very simple thing to understand that everything for children is harmful if they are not taught well. For example, primitive people had no technology, but their children were famous for killing their brethren with simple wood made arrows and eating them if the need arose. It was the lack of education that caused uncertainty in everyone's life and it was obvious that the weaker would suffer at the hands of stronger. Technology is like a weapon that is praised when it is used for self-defense and condemned when it is used for bringing harm to others. Therefore, we should channelize the use of technology in children. The use of technology in children can be made productive by using the following steps. First, children must be taught well to become morally good members of society. Children do not know the importance of goodness if they are not educated by their peers and state institutions. Information Technology has made the contemporary era too complex that one hacker can bring harm to the whole society. Therefore, it is the permanent responsibility of parents, teachers, and the state to condition the minds of children in a way that they do not become too selfish in the future that they do not care whoever gets hurt by their immoral actions (LaBar, M. 1984). Apart from moral education, children should be given limited access to the technology. There should be IT labs in the schools separate from classrooms. Almost one-third of the education of children should be based on IT activities (LaBar, M. 1984). The institutions should arrange physical activities along with mental education because no mind can grow well without physical fitness and interact with peers and mates. It is useful that the institutions divide their education process into three parts: logical reasoning and moral training, IT work, and physical activities. At home, they should be offered gadgets for a limited time let us suppose two hours a day. Second, both teachers and parents should watch if the children are using technology in productive manners. They should be checked and corrected if they distract from the line. Third, they should be engaged in productive mental games instead of cheap and useless time-wasting games on gadgets. The arrangements of useful games should be made under the watch of the government and the institutions. Fourth, they should be encouraged to use gadgets for educational purposes like book reading and quiz solving. Finally, the institutions and parents should engage the children in such technological activities that will help them to be well-learned social actors for the future. The use of technology should be made useful using the above-mentioned strategies instead of considering to prevent the children from using it.
Many scholars argue about whether it is useful or harmful to expose our children to technology. Teaching with Technology: Creating Student-Centered Classrooms authored by Judith Haymore Sandholtz consists of a case study done under Apple Classrooms of Tomorrow (ACOT) project (Sandholtz, 1997). The book explores the pros and cons of using technology in classrooms. The author(s) argue that technology has become the need of the time and channelizing it in classroom learning is a better option than demonizing it (Sandholtz, 1997). The students who were taught with the use of technology were smarter than those without it, according to the data collected from Apple Classrooms of Tomorrow (ACOT). The students who were taught with simple books and lectures had a theoretical understanding of things, but they were not as practical as those who completed tasks on computers. The book is concluded with the argument that teachers should be taught well first and then they should be equipped well with technology to teach students. Kristina E. Hatch's research article Determining the Effects of Technology on Children (2011) is a comparative study of the students who use gadgets in excess and those who do not do so. The article discusses that it is a true claim that children have become unsocial since they have gadgets in their hands filled with social media apps (Hatch, K. 2011). They stay absent from where they happen to be and do not care about who is around them. Moreover, the article explores that although everyone supports the idea of using technology for educational purposes, but easy access to gadgets has minimized the interest of adolescents in education instead they prefer playing games and using social media apps on gadgets (Hatch, K. 2011). This phenomenon is disappointing for parents who believe that technology has grabbed their children from them. Moreover, children have become narcissists after they found easy ways to make and upload pictures on Instagram and Facebook, etc. The article finds that the majority of American parents are disappointed because of Children's easy access to gadgets. The discussed shreds of literature show that allowing children the free use of technology has become an issue of grave concern for the scholars therefore they do researches on the issue and analyze the matter.
Some scholars claim that technology is all bad for children health and mental development, but they actually exaggerate the figures and ignore the facts. Adrianne Albarado Ortiz writes in her 30 August 2018 article Negative Effects of Technology on Children that human being can never get any good from radiation and continuous light into eyes. The health is the most expensive thing, she argues, a human being possesses and losing it for the sake of knowledge is not a profitable agreement. She discusses how a large community of adolescents lose their eyesight due to the use of gadgets (Beardslee, & Mack. 1982). She is right in claiming so, but her speech does not make sense in reality. If getting knowledge at the expense of health is not a good deal, then being unprogressive for the sake of health is also not a wise decision (Beardslee, & Mack. 1982). Ortiz's concerns can be addressed if we consider making having limited use of technology in children. Moreover, using protectors on the screens of gadgets can also help to save the eyes of children. Use of technology helps us to develop this field and if we keep stopping children from using it, neither it would develop nor would help to have a smarter and safer future.
Conclusion
Technology is crucial for progress in the contemporary era and hindering children to have access to technology can cause a vital human intelligence capital crisis in the future. It is our responsibility to allow children to use technology in their daily life and it is another responsibility to teach them the useful and productive use of technology. No nation can rise without having an advanced youth and a bright future with learned children (Caldwell, & Power, 2012). Many scholars have argued whether it is okay to allow children to use technology, and many of them agree with my thesis statement that technology is null without human intelligence and a nation that decides to restrict its children from using technology would suffer in future due to scarcity of well-educated human capital (Caldwell, & Power, 2012). Adrianne Ortiz argues that technology brings only harm to children's development and growth therefore it should not be allowed to them until they reach the age of maturity. On the other side, Judith Sandholtz and Kristina Hatch agree upon the argument that channelizing the use of technology is a better option rather than demonizing it. The current century is the century of knowledge and ideas that are shared and exploited using IT technology. Every nation is now obliged to have more advanced future generations to compete with others in this anarchic world. The knowledge of technology is the key factor to grow in the current century. Therefore, we should arrange a system of productive use of technology in children rather than undermining the real demands of the contemporary era.
References
Sandholtz, J. H. (1997). Teaching with technology: Creating student-centered classrooms. Teachers College Press, Teachers College, Columbia University, 1234 Amsterdam Ave., New York, NY 10027.
Caldwell, N. A., & Power, B. (2012). The pros and cons of electronic prescribing for children. Archives of disease in childhood, 97(2), 124-128.
Hatch, K. E. (2011). Determining the effects of technology on children.
Beardslee, W., & Mack, J. (1982). The impact on children and adolescents of nuclear developments. Psychosocial aspects of nuclear developments, 64-93.
LaBar, M. (1984). The pros and cons of human cloning. Thought: Fordham University Quarterly, 59(3), 319-333.
