Do Digital Devices Cause Bad Grades?

Digital devices has taken a big role in our daily lives from taking a photo to browsing the web. Some of us use our digital devices too much. Since we have digital devices, people spend a lot of their time indoors. Digital devices have influenced us in many ways sometimes it has controlled us. Digital devices could be stopping us from doing homework as other distractions on our laptops could distract us such as games and social media. It seems that many people start to go off task like going to social media when they do homework. Ms Michetti a teacher at UWCSEA said “They are definitely influencing people's lives. I think they amplify what is already there -- if poor habits were already there, they make them worse. If good habits were already there, they make them even better. However, they can also provide opportunities for people to improve their lives if they approach them with the right kind of self-management habits. I don't necessarily think the devices influence people's lives as much as I think they prompt people to influence their own lives.”

It all started when the most used social media was released. These were Facebook and Twitter too begin with. Facebook was released on February 4th 2004 and Twitter was released on 21st March 2006. After all this was created, many people were hooked up to these social media and it made a big impact to us. Then one day smart phones were introduced to these social media. These apps were made mobile so people could see what others were up too even when they weren’t at home. The phone is a really useful tool but now that social media has kicked in, more and more people have been addicted to their phones. 19% of all adult internet users use twitter in January 2014, and 71% of online adults use facebook in September 2013, all this data was conducted by pew research center. Although a teacher that I interviewed disagreed and said that the use of technology for a long period of time doesn’t cause bad grades. Ms Michetti said “I don't actually think it's the devices themselves that lead to poor studies. But if there are poor study habits to begin with, then access to the device can make it worse. So it's very important, IMO, to learn good study habits independent of digital devices. We need to learn to work with them because let's face it, they're not going away. And they can make our lives easier if we know how to manage them. Digital devices can actually improve study habits, but you first have to get the habit in practice before adding / using the device. It's really about using your mind and thinking skills and not expecting a device to do that for you, because it can't.”

In a class of 20 that was surveyed the results of these students were that 7 out of 20 people used 2-3 hrs of digital devices per day and over 3 hours of digital devices per day. Researchers from the Miriam Hospital’s Centers for Behavioral and Preventive Medicine have conducted research and have proven that over use of social media could result to poor grades in school. As many you can see from the survey conducted in the class of 20, more students use 2-3 hrs and over 3 hrs of digital devices daily. These people could have a potential of getting poor marks if they don’t use the time spent on digital devices effectively.

There are many fun activities that you can do that don’t require digital devices such as socializing with friends, or playing sports / doing outdoor activities and many more. Doing these activities and finding ways to study without using digital devices not only could make you healthier and smarter but it could also increase your grades in school. You can even socialise without using digital devices like you could go to the park and meet your friends.

Do you think that digital devices could cause your low grades? If most of your time is spent on social media or video games when you need to study. Then yes maybe you could cause your bad grades. If you use this time to study, it could increase your grades as you get the most out of this time. It is ok to play video games and go on social media but it has to be at the right times like on a weekend or a friday.

If digital devices weren’t introduced imagine what the world would be like today, we wouldn’t be able to code games as we need digital devices to do so. The modern discoveries wouldn’t even be known and it would take forever to make produce a product like bread. There would be no machinery to help factory workers jobs easier. Digital devices shouldn’t be used in the wrong way, be responsible with how you use digital devices. Many people can’t control how long and what they do on digital devices. Ms Michetti said “Lots of people. Most of them are teenagers. But I know a few adults too, who struggle to set boundaries for themselves.” As you can see even adults struggle to set boundaries as Ms Michetti said.

Digital devices helps us in many ways, use it responsibly and it could be a useful tool but use it in a bad way, and would turn from your friend into your enemy.

Written by Dylan

How’s Technology Affects Children’s Daily Life?

Over the last five years, technology has changed and expanded in every field imaginable. Smart phones are now like the Hogwart. It is capable of taking pictures, sending emails, contacting and even searching the Internet. Of course, it does change our lives but not always in a good way.

As in a real life example,during dinner time at the canteen, there’s a group of students flunking together in one table, eating their dinner. But the one noticeable thing is that they spend most of their time paying attention to their phones and headsets in their ears. But no one starts the conversation to each other.

In this situation, we can see that technology can change the world in a different way from what we expected. It supposed to help us communicate better with people more when we don’t see each other very often and it also uses to help our studies as well. Moreover, it has many apps that can help our life more convenient with everything. Even though, it’s not always the same as what we thinking.

A boy and a girl chat with each other on the phone everyday but when they see each other face to face at school, they don’t even say a word. Furthermore, on Facebook or Twitter, they have thousands of friends or followers from all over the world. But their friends in their outside world is just only 20 to 25 only. And furthermore, their friendship is not even improving because they don’t communicate very much.

Second is about their study. Some technology like phones, electronic dictionaries, laptops, Ipad are expected to help young learners with their studies. And that’s also a big reason when their parents buy them all that technology devices. But most of the children use it for the entertainment even more than everything. Some kids even complain about too much homework and too much pressure. But it is actually not the problem with the homework but it is with themselves. They check their phones to see if there’s any messages or emails several times in an hour. They even spend their time doing stuffs with their electronic devices in bed as well. So where is the real meaning of using technology?

“Modern technology is part of contemporary life and naturally affect in people’s lives. However, it becomes really obvious that a number of children nowadays are using technology excessively” says a teacher.

So what can we do to stop it? We don’t need to throw the phones or the laptops away to stop it. But the important thing is people have to balance their schedule better. They have to balance what time should they have for their family, friends, studies and for their entertainment!!! Then, everything will be BETTER!!!!

Written by Khantey

The YouTube Internet Bug

It was a typical Thursday morning right before mentor time. As students start to arrive at school, the friendship groups become obvious. There were a group of girl sitting near the escalator at UWCSEA East deeply focused on their phone screens. This is not surprising for this generation anymore. They were intently watching the latest YouTube video that their favorite YouTuber has posted ignoring their friends surrounding not even stopping to say hi or have a simple morning conversation. The girls choose to invest their time in watching videos that have little purpose but also have entertainment values instead of talking to friends sitting right beside them.

Morning, for the group of girls by the escalator, have become the time to watch the most recent video by a YouTuber. Whether its PewDiePie, Tyler Oakley, Joe Sugg or Zoella, there’s an infinitive cycle of new videos to keep them entertained every morning before class. This routine has become a daily habit for them and possibly for many more. Just a few years ago there were actual conversations with your friends instead of the semi-quiet environment that is produced because there are no exciting talks about what happened just yesterday.

As a girl arrives at school, she goes up to her friend and sits down beside her. She asks “What are you watching?” the friend replies without removing eye contact from her phone “Tyler Oakley’s new video. It’s so funny!” The girl nodded and went to her phone to watch the exact same video. After the video ends, the girls stand up to go up to their classes with their friends discussing about the video and many more to come. Is that what we want our future conversations to be made out of?

It seems as if we are connecting invisibly through the internet. Now people are competing for the number of followers on Instagram, friends on Facebook and subscribers on YouTube. The new video is the new talk for these girls every morning now whereas it used to be about subjects in school or something interesting that has happened.

Though the internet has brought people together, it has significantly brought people apart. Everything on the internet has a learning purpose no matter how big, small, meaningful or not. YouTube has become a bookmarked page to lots and it has swimmed it’s way from the occasional video to a morning routine.

Is technology a barrier to deeper conversations, or is it the start? Though it has helped students to gain more information and adults to succeed further, has it shaped our world too much? This is not the first article to say this but it is a great reminder to how much people should appreciate technology but at the same time people should be aware of how much time they spend on the internet. 

Written by Seika