Since the technology boom that created apps such as Netflix or Instagram, the amount of time students spend watching TV or using social media has started to have detrimental effects.

According to a psychological study done by UCLA, “children’s social skills may be declining as they have less time for face-to-face interaction due to their increased use of digital media.”

Students are using technology throughout the day to check their online accounts, do school work, and talk to friends. They are spending less and less time communicating face to face due to this overload of technology.

During a study UCLA tested what societal effects technology was having on children and teenagers.

The psychologists studied two sets of 51 sixth-graders from the same public school and had them live in the same research school, Pali Institute, for five days.

The students started the study by taking a 48 picture test to determine how well they were able to identify emotions. During the study only half of the students were allowed to use electronic devices .

UCLA concluded, “The children who had been at the camp improved significantly over the five days in their ability to read facial emotions and other nonverbal cues to emotion, compared with the students who continued to use their media devices.”

Student spending too much time communicating and sharing experiences through technology and it has begun to negatively impact their social aptitude.

SHS may soon be following suit with the sixth graders who were allowed to use electronics due to the fact that SHS plans to get Chromebooks for all students.

While the administrator want SHS to be an efficient cutting edge school, everyone must stop and consider the fact that maybe technology is doing more harm than good in our school systems.