Position Paper: The Problems with Integration of Technology in Schools in Adolescents

By: Amna Tahir, Neuroscience, 2021

Position paper on the integration of technology in schools and how it is particularly detrimental to adolescents because it affects brain development, mood regulation, and causes adolescents to take more time in completing tasks.

In today’s society, it has become abundantly clear that technology plays a great role in shaping the way we act, think, and even plan our day. And while the introduction of technology in schools has been seen as progressive, I believe that it hurts the students rather than helping them. Technology is particularly detrimental to adolescents because their brains are at a crucial point of development that is disturbed by being on different devices all day. It also acts as a distraction, because rather than staying engaged, adolescents would rather play games on their phones or answer texts. This is why there is always the no phones policy in classrooms, yet by giving adolescents tablets to do work on, taking away phones does not actually make a difference. Tablets still act as a distraction, because they are basically larger phones. On top of that, giving each student a tablet or a laptop is a large amount of money the schools could be spending on bettering other aspects of the school, such as the arts and music departments. Art and music have been found to help in brain development in adolescents (Miranda, 2013). So, rather than spending money on things that disturb development, schools should think of ways to help aid brain development in adolescents. While there may be pros, studies have shown technology affects brain development, mood regulation, and causes adolescents to take more time in completing tasks.

As we all know, adolescence is a vital time for brain development. During puberty, which generally marks the start of adolescence, is when the amount of gray matter in the brain begins to increase (Dunckley, 2014). Gray matter is the collection of cell bodies that are involved in muscle control, emotions, and decision making. The amount of grey matter found in the brain peaks in adolescents and then begins to decline during adulthood. Like grey matter, the amount of white matter, which is the myelinated neurons in the brain, also increases during adolescence (Lenroot et al., 2006). When an adolescent spends too much time online, they can develop problems such as Internet Addiction Disorder, or IAD. IAD is when a person is unable to control their usage of the internet. This can lead to problems in their life, such as lower academic performance, social interactions, occupational interests, and behavioral problems. Adolescents with IAD were found to have lower white matter and grey matter concentration in the brain, especially in the anterior cingulate cortex, the corpus callosum, and the orbitofrontal cortex (Lin et al., 2012). The corpus callosum is involved in communication between the two hemispheres of the brain. A decrease in the corpus callosum results in a lack of communication between the two hemispheres which can lead to impairments in motor skills. As stated earlier, white matter is the myelinated axons in the brain. Myelin is used by neurons to increase the strength of the signal being carried down the neuron, along with keeping the neuron healthy. When the amount of white matter in the brain decrease, the neurons are no longer receiving the nutrients the myelin provides, which results in neuron death. This is why there is a decrease in these regions of the brain. The orbitofrontal cortex and the anterior cingulate cortex are important in emotional processing and mood regulation.

Lenroot, R. K., and Giedd, J. N. (2006). Brain development in children and adolescents: Insights from anatomical magnetic resonance imaging. Retrieved May 5, 2019, from http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/

Another issue caused by the overuse of screens is problems with mood regulation. One disorder that results from the overexposure to screens is Electronic Screen Syndrome. Electronic Screen Syndrome is caused by an increase in the activation of the nervous system that causes dysregulation. This relates to screens because the blue light from the screens causes alertness and disturbs the body’s sleep-wake cycle (Chang et al., 2015). This dysregulation causes the inability for a person to regulate their mood and attention and can lead to an ADHD misdiagnosis. Symptoms of Electronic Screen Syndrome are related to mood, anxiety, cognition, and behavior that leads to impairments in school, home, or with peers. There are also symptoms that will mimic chronic stress, low frustration tolerance, and disorganized behavior among other things (Dunckley, 2012). Overactivation of brain regions caused a decrease in the number of neurotransmitters being released as a form of control. Neurons need to be able to fire to stay strong and need neurotransmitters to do so. By decreasing the neurotransmitters in some regions of the brain, such as the previously stated orbitofrontal and anterior cingulate cortices which are involved in emotional processing and mood regulation, there is a decrease in the strength of the synapses. This causes the neurons to fire less, which is why there is a decrease in the adolescents' ability to control their emotions. This leads to adolescents constantly being described as aggressive, impatient, and hostile.

Twenge, J. M., & Campbell, W. K. (2019). Media Use Is Linked to Lower Psychological Well-Being: Evidence from Three Datasets. Retrieved May 1, 2019, from https://link.springer.com/

Lastly, a third issue is the length of time allotted to adolescents completing a task increases when there is an escalation in screen use. One of the reasons is there is also an increase in multitasking. While multitasking is seen as efficient, it is actually the opposite. The prefrontal cortex, which is used to process and prioritize different streams of information, has to constantly send information to other parts of the brain when switching between tasks. This creates a “bottleneck approach” because all new information needs to leave from the prefrontal cortex, which lengthens the amount of time need to complete the task (Dux et al., 2009). It also shortens attention spans and makes it harder to focus. Another part of the issue is that social media is readily available which can cause an increase in peer pressure and sensitivity to acceptance from peers (Twenge, 2019). Nothing good comes out of the usage of social media. Studies have shown the more time an adolescent spends on social media, the worse their mental health gets (Twenge, 2019). With all of these factors increase the amount of time it takes to complete a task, adolescents are unable to do things that actually help with development, like engaging in sports.

There may be pros to integrating technology into schools, such as the access to more information than what is provided in the classroom, and the fact that understanding how to use technology is important in the world we live in, but I feel the cons outweigh the pros. There are more ways to engage students and teach them to experience the world than forcing them to see the world through a screen. Also, although they may have access to all the information, it is unlikely they are actually going to spend their time learning when “distractions” like social media are just as easily, if not more, accessible. As mentioned earlier, music and art are a significantly better way of keeping students engaged. Music has been found to influence major parts of development in adolescents, from identity to emotional regulation (Miranda, 2013). Developing a sense of identity is extremely important in adolescents. It is a time for them to figure out who they are and where they want to be socially. Music can give them a space to do so without a negative impact on more physical development, unlike social media. Art helps in allowing adolescents to have a way to express themselves. Studies have shown adolescents with depression will “act out” because they do not know how to properly deal with their emotions, and art therapy was able to help assess and treat their depression along with providing a way to focus on how they feel (Riley, 2001). These are clearly better ways of keeping students on track compared to giving students homework on computers.


Another problem is technology is extremely unavoidable. It would be very difficult to completely stop schools from increasing the usage of technology. However, there are ways to limit screen exposure without stopping it completely. One way would be to have classes where students could learn how to properly use computer programs that would help them in the future, such as Microsoft Excel or Word, but cut back on using it in other classes for things such as homework. This way the adolescent will know how to use the technology, but stop them from being overexposed to it. Another way to limit screen time is to give homework assignments that require the student to go outside or complete an activity that engages the brain. Constantly having to write papers and watch videos for a class is time-consuming and keeps the student from developing their mind, even if it teaches them new material.


All in all, technology should not be integrated into schools because it has an effect on brain development, mood regulation, and causes adolescents to take more time in completing tasks. Spending too much time on screens decreases the white matter and grey matter concentration in the brain and can result from problems like IAD that leads to a decrease in social interactions and academic performance. This can also lead to problems with mood regulation because there is a decrease in white matter concentration in brain regions that allow for control over emotions. This overactivation of these brain regions can lead to Electronic Screen Syndrome which is another way moods and emotions become dysregulated. There is also an increase in the amount of time and adolescent will spend completing tasks since they think they are being efficient by multi-tasking, but they are actually creating a “bottleneck” approach in their prefrontal cortex that causes them to take more time. And, the internet is an open source of distraction from things such as social media. This is why schools should take the money they are spending on integrating technology in schools to more useful and fulfilling activities, like art and music. Or, they should provide other ways of teaching students to use computers, that do not take up such a great amount of their time, like making them do their homework online.

Resources:


Chang, A., Aeschbach, D., Duffy, J. F., and Czeisler, C. A. (2015). Evening use of light-emitting eReaders negatively affects sleep, circadian timing, and next-morning alertness. Retrieved May 5, 2019, from https://www.pnas.org/content/112/4/1232.long


Dunckley, V. L. (2012). Electronic Screen Syndrome: An Unrecognized Disorder? Retrieved May 1, 2019, from https://www.psychologytoday.com/


Dunckley, V. L. (2014). Gray Matters: Too Much Screen Time Damages the Brain. Retrieved from https://www.psychologytoday.com/


Dux, P. E., Tombu, M. N., Harrison, S., Rogers, B. P., Tong, F., & Marois, R. (2009). Training improves multitasking performance by increasing the speed of information processing in human prefrontal cortex. Neuron, 63(1), 127–138. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/


Himmelsbach, V. (2019). Six Major Pros & Cons of Technology in the Classroom. Retrieved May 7, 2019, from https://tophat.com/blog/6-pros-cons-technology-classroom/


Lenroot, R. K., and Giedd, J. N. (2006). Brain development in children and adolescents: Insights from anatomical magnetic resonance imaging. Retrieved May 5, 2019, from http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/


Lin F, Zhou Y, Du Y, Qin L, Zhao Z, et al. (2012). Abnormal White Matter Integrity in Adolescents with Internet Addiction Disorder: A Tract-Based Spatial Statistics Study. PLOS ONE 7(1): e30253. https://journals.plos.org/


Miranda, D. (2013). The role of music in adolescent development: much more than the same old song. International Journal of Adolescence and Youth, 18(1), 5-22. https://www.tandfonline.com/


Riley, S. (2001). Art therapy with adolescents. The Western journal of medicine, 175(1), 54–57. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/


Twenge, J. M., & Campbell, W. K. (2019). Media Use Is Linked to Lower Psychological Well-Being: Evidence from Three Datasets. Retrieved May 1, 2019, from https://link.springer.com/