Much of a child's cognitive development depends on experiences growing up. However, today's children spend much of their time in front of screens. The article notes that teenagers now spend seven and a half hours per day on screens, taking time away from other activities. This large amount of screen time is likely to impact brain development and skills like communication and focus. Parents and teachers complain that students have trouble concentrating away from screens. If over a third of waking hours are spent staring at screens, children have little experience communicating face-to-face or focusing for extended periods without constant stimulation.

1. Paragraph responseParagraph response
to an Articleto an Article
A response to “Social Websites Hurt
Children’s Brains”

2. FIVE MINUTES--prewriting
Write for five minutes in response to
this: Does the warning in this article
concern you? Jot down any and all
thoughts for five minutes.

3. STEP 1
Write a sentence/quote from the
article that best captures your
concern or worry. Remember to
put quotation marks around it
with a page number in
parenthesis.

4. STEP 1 Example:
“…teenagers now spend
seven-and-a-half hours a
day in front of a screen”
(Durbyshire).

5. STEP 2
After the quote, write in your own
words the significancesignificance of the quote
in reference to the reading. This is
where you can explain it in relation
to your concerns or lack of concern.

6. STEP 2 EXAMPLE:
“…teenagers now spend seven-and-a-half
hours a day in front of a screen”
(Durbyshire). This is a significant portion
of anyone’s waking hours. It is difficult to
imagine how screen time could NOT affect
a person’s brain. And, if a teenager is
spending this many hours in front of a
screen, what are they no longer doing?

7. The conversation…
If you want your writing to make a point, you
must do more than make a statement: You
must also indicate what larger conversation
your point is responding to. This is the
context for an argument or circumstances
leading to your response. You may want to
indicate this BEFORE you make your point,
because this is how your reader processes
information.

8. STEP 3:
 Scroll up to the quote. You will now write
BEFORE the quote.
 Introduce the purpose of the quote or
introduce the speaker or narrator.
 Tell WHAT the narrator is trying to achieve
and HOW.

9. STEP 3 Example:
Much of a child’s cognitive development is dependent on
experiences growing up. But, today’s children spend time
differently than ever before. “…teenagers now spend
seven-and-a-half hours a day in front of a screen”
(Durbyshire). This is a significant portion of anyone’s
waking hours. It is difficult to imagine how screen time
could NOT affect a person’s brain. And, if a teenager is
spending this many hours in front of a screen, what are they
no longer doing?

10. STEP 4
Is there another line in the reading that says
something similar to the first quote? If so, put
this quote at the end of all the writing you
have done so far.
OR
Is there another line in the reading that further
shows the point of the first line?

11. STEP 4 Example:
Much of a child’s cognitive development is dependent on
experiences growing up. But, today’s children spend time
differently than ever before. “…teenagers now spend seven-and-
a-half hours a day in front of a screen” (Durbyshire). This is a
significant portion of anyone’s waking hours. It is difficult to
imagine how screen time could NOT affect a person’s brain.
And, if a teenager is spending this many hours in front of a
screen, what are they no longer doing? Many parents and
teachers complain about students’ inability to communicate
or concentrate away from their screens (Durbyshire).

12. STEP 5
After the second quote or
example, write a short
explanation of HOW it relates
to the first quote and WHY it
is significant to the story.

13. STEP 5 Example:
Much of a child’s cognitive development is dependent on
experiences growing up. But, today’s children spend time
differently than ever before. “…teenagers now spend seven-
and-a-half hours a day in front of a screen” (Durbyshire).
This is a significant portion of anyone’s waking hours. It is
difficult to imagine how screen time could NOT affect a
person’s brain. And, if a teenager is spending this many
hours in front of a screen, what are they no longer doing?
Many parents and teachers complain about students’ inability
to communicate or concentrate away from their screens
(Durbyshire). And, it is no wonder. If more than one-third
of their waking hours are in front of a screen, they do not
have the experience and/or practice of communicating
face-to-face. In addition, teenagers cannot learn to focus
for extended periods of time when they are used to being
bombarded with so much stimuli with a simple click and
the screen changes.

14. STEP 6
 Read through your paragraph so far….Think
about the main idea. Do you see a general
theme or idea in your message?
 Write one or two sentences that grab the
general idea of the paragraph. Your sentence
should be large enough to cover both quotes
and ideas, but small enough for your audience
to have a good idea about the paragraph. This
paragraph MUST support your thesis from the
introduction.

15. As teachers integrate more and more technology into their learning
environments, they should also focus on the skills and abilities our
“screenagers” are losing. Much of a child’s cognitive development is
dependent on experiences growing up. But, today’s children spend time
differently than ever before. “…teenagers now spend seven-and-a-half
hours a day in front of a screen” (Durbyshire). This is a significant portion
of anyone’s waking hours. It is difficult to imagine how screen time could
NOT affect a person’s brain. And, if a teenager is spending this many hours
in front of a screen, what are they no longer doing? Many parents and
teachers complain about students’ inability to communicate or concentrate
away from their screens (Durbyshire). And, it is no wonder. If more than
one-third of their waking hours are in front of a screen, they do not have the
experience and/or practice of communicating face-to-face. In addition,
teenagers cannot learn to focus for extended periods of time when they are
used to being bombarded with so much stimuli with a simple click and the
screen changes.
STEP 6 Example:

16. STEP 7
 Read the entire paragraph…does it make
sense? Is it clear? Does it support your main
idea?
 Compare it to the paragraph you wrote the
first time. What are some differences?
 Make any revisions necessary.

17. STEP 7 Example:
In the quest for control of our individual preferences, we may
have possibly stifled an appreciation for the pioneering and creative
vision. In an unprecedented era of technological advancements,
Rosen poignantly points out the dangers of complete control of
personal technology. The convenience and appeal is obvious to most
consumers; however, she makes a shrewd argument for its polarizing
impact on society, art, and music. “[W]e…are finding it increasingly
difficult to appreciate genuine individuality” (Rosen). Personalized
technology allows the consumer to pick and choose those songs,
shows, or ideas one enjoys. Exposure to new and different forms
never or rarely occurs, as a result. “Sampling is the opposite of
savoring” (Rosen). Not only is the “surprise” or uniqueness lost, one
also misses how it can be experienced. A level of meaning is lost
when one is not immersed in the experience, but rather skipping
through it.

18. STEP 7 Example:
As teachers integrate more and more technology into their
learning environments, they should also focus on the skills and
abilities our “screenagers” are losing. Much of a child’s cognitive
development is dependent on experiences growing up. But, today’s
children spend time differently than ever before. “…teenagers now
spend seven-and-a-half hours a day in front of a screen”
(Durbyshire). This is a significant portion of anyone’s waking hours.
It is difficult to imagine how screen time could NOT affect a
person’s brain. And, if a teenager is spending this many hours in
front of a screen, what are they no longer doing? Many parents and
teachers complain about students’ inability to communicate or
concentrate away from their screens (Durbyshire). And, it is no
wonder. If more than one-third of their waking hours are in front of
a screen, they do not have the experience and/or practice of
communicating face-to-face. In addition, teenagers cannot learn to
focus for extended periods of time when they are used to being
bombarded with so much stimuli with a simple click and the screen
changes.

19. Graff, Gerald, and Cathy Birkenstein. They Say/I
Say: The Moves That Matter In Persuasion.
N.p.: Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc, 2005.
Print.