This paper discusses the harmful effects of personal technology overuse on students. It argues that students' overdependence on devices adversely impacts their social skills, education performance, and quality of schoolwork. It also claims technology exposes students to social dangers like obesity, suicidal thoughts, and criminal activities. However, the paper acknowledges technology has enhanced education by providing a variety of resources. It concludes that teachers, parents, and students must work together to monitor technology use and avoid its negative consequences.

1. Running head: STUDENTS AND TECHNOLOGYTHE
HARMFUL EFFECTS 1
TECHNOLOGYTHE HARMFUL EFFECTS
2
The Harmful Effect of Personal Technology to Students
Sandra Tharpe
American Intercontinental University
November 27, 2016
Abstract
This paper discusses the subject matter that students are being
harmed by their overdependence on personal digital technology.
It highlights four main points to support this argument and
offers one counter argument. It concludes by stating that in as
much as technology does harm students, it has contributed to
the quality of education.

2. The Harmful Effect of Personal Technology to Students
Overdependence of personal digital technology by students
should be monitored and regulated as they are adversely
affected. Comment by Rebecca Coleman: Good thesis, but you
need an introduction paragraph to provide background for your
essay.
First, statistics report that three in four teens (74%)
aged 12-17 own cell phones, tablets and other devices (Pew
Research Centre, 2013). This is alarming as one wonders what
time dohow they get to theirhave time to study and socialize
studies and even socializing. Students’ overdependence on
technology adversely affects their social skills, which enhance
interaction and communication with others.
The second argument is that students visit social media
sites multiple times in a day, and this means that they do not get
to their school assignments, and if they do, it is not their best
work. This is because their brains are overexcited with what is
in the internet, thus limiting their imagination and memory
capacity. Richtell (2012) reports that based on research done on
effects of technology on students, 90% of teachers stated that
technology has been very distractive and has limited the
attention spans of students. Comment by Rebecca Coleman:
You’ll need to provide evidence that this is the case in the
revised version of this paper.
Frequent use of technological devices limits their
students’ ability to search for good quality research materials
and sources. The internet can mislead them, thus they may end
up producing poor quality schoolwork.
Lastly, students are exposed to social dangers such as
obesity, suicidal thought processes, and even criminal activities.
Technology makes students feel a sense of adventure, and they
therefore develop a persona who that can break rules without
caring about the consequences. They also risk being
brainwashed, thus they may lose their identity leading to
dangerous traits, such as being suicidal or having depressive
symptoms. Comment by Rebecca Coleman: Through the

3. internet? Comment by Rebecca Coleman: You’ll need to
support this with research.
However, technology has made modern life easy and
convenient, especially in terms of education. Students can
easily access a wide variety of educational tools in the internet.
According to Bruyckere et al. (2016), the appropriate use of
tools and resources can positively change education.
Comment by Rebecca Coleman: Provide all authors.
In conclusion, overdependence on personal digital
technology by students adversely affects their social skills,
education performance, quality of schoolwork, and their moral
fabric. howeverHowever, it cannot be ignored that technology
has enhanced the quality of education by making it more
personalized and availing a wide variety of useful educational
resources and tools.
References
Bruyckere, P., Kirschner, P.A., & Hulshof, C.D. (2013).
Technology in Education: What Teachers Should Know.
Retrieved from www.aft.org/ae/spring2016/debruyckere-

4. kirschner-and-hulshof
Pew Research Centre. (2013). Teens and Technology
2013.Retrieved from www.pewinternet.org/2013/03/13/teens-
and-technology-2013/
Richtell, M. (2012). The New York Times. Technology
Changing How Students Learn, Teachers Say. Retrieved from
mobile.nytimes.com/2012/11/01/education/technology-is-
changing-how-students-learn-teachers-say.html
Running head: HARMFUL EFFECTS OF PERSONAL
TECHNOLOGY TO STUDENTS 1
HARMFUL EFFECTS OF PERSONAL TECHNOLOGY TO
STUDENTS 2
The Harmful Effect of Personal Technology to Students
American InterContinental University
December 18, 2016
Abstract
This paper gives a discussion on how students get affected
through the overdependence on the personal digital technology.
It points out the two main points to prove that students really
get affected with the practice. To close the discussion, the paper
indicates that both the teacher and the parent have a role to play
in ensuring that the harmful effects are avoided. It however

5. gives the recommendations of what should be done to avoid the
problems.
The Harmful Effect of Personal Technology to Students
The world of today is technological leading to the high-
tech classrooms. People embrace the use of iPad, tweets and
smart Televisions in the classroom to enhance learning through
increased student interaction. On the other hand, the overuse of
technology by the student brings with it the harmful effects that
can have serious and long-term results to him/her. However, to
come out of the negative effects, teachers, parents and students
have a responsibility of recognizing the downside of technology
and how to avoid such.
The overdependence on personal technology results to
isolation (Tenner & Rall, 1997). The student on technology
tends to lack the personal contact with others in the day to day
living activities such as in the learning institutions, with the
friends and in the social activities. They isolate themselves by
moving around in their little world with their headphones on,
staring at the screens of the technological devices even in the

6. presence of other people. They however become socially
isolated and thus leading shorter lives.
Additionally, obesity results from excessive use of
technology. The individual spends much of his/her time
occupied with the video games, online chatting and watching of
funny videos on the You Tube. This phenomenon however
increases the time spent sedentary and reduces the amount of
time spent on physical activities. Also, the students get brain
washed on the type of food to consume such that they focus on
the modern foods being displayed on the technological tools
such as on the Televisions. The consumption of some of the
foods watched without proper physical exercises results to the
obesity cases.
In conclusion, technology can be compared with a coin,
having both the positive and harmful effects to the students. It
is however the responsibility of the teacher and parent to
monitor the student’s personal technology usage to avoid the
harmful effects. Also, the teacher and parents must teach
students to be responsible on technology usage thus able to use
it effectively.

7. References
Tenner, E., & Rall, J. E. (1997). Why things bite back:
Technology and the revenge of unintended consequences (p.
F1). New York: Vintage Books.