[Applause]
good evening I’m here to talk to you
tonight about technology and so I’m
going to start off telling you about a
few students they’re not students that
I’ve actually worked with but similar to
them 11 year old alex is a fifth grade
student who was referred to his school
counselor by his teacher alex was
referred to see a school counselor
because he has an attention in class and
he also has emotional outbursts these
outbursts are caused by we don’t know
what just kind of happened throughout
the school day and they’re causing
disruption in his classroom it is known
that Alex has ADHD and he does take
medication for that
however these outbursts that he has in
class caused him to have extreme highs
and lows within one school day because
of these outbursts that he has and his
emotions he has said to his parents and
teachers that sometimes he just wishes
he could kill himself he does tell his
school counselor that he enjoys spending
time playing video games and the video
games are violent in nature he also
likes to binge watch TV shows and as his
counselor does more research she finds
out that those shows are mature in their
content something that he loves to do
with his family is watch TV they like to
sit in the same room watching TV playing
on their tablets and computers and being
on their phones at the same time Emily
also sees her school counselor she’s
been going to her counselor for about
the past two months at school she’s a
fourth grader and she was referred by
her parents because of anxiety that she
experiences at school she has trouble
making friends and really doesn’t like
to get up in front of others in the
class she feels anxious when she’s in
front of her peers at school
this does affect her overall attitude
towards school causing her to have many
absences because of this she is failing
some of her courses she also is
academically lower than her peers at
school she shares that she enjoys
snapchatting her friends messaging on
Facebook and Instagram and surfing the
internet because of this she does not
feel like she needs to make friends at
school because she’s got plenty of them
online according to the American Academy
of Pediatrics children that are under
age of two years old should have no
exposure to technology and devices
children older than that should only
have two hours a day on educational
programs those should be meant to help
our children learn and shouldn’t be
meant for play however currently the
average child spends five or more hours
a day on technology devices these are
children aged 5 to 16 years old screen
time that children are using under the
age of 3 is actually linked to looks
lower language acquisition and delayed
development in language while many
parents are believing that their child
will have more brain development if they
are exposed to educational activities on
technology and devices and TV there’s
actually no proof that this is true
actually there is proof to show that it
is more harmful than it is helpful with
children there’s also a negative
correlation between screen time usage
and interactions with family members and
peers children who spend more time
online spend less time with their family
members and with their friends there’s
also a link between screen time usage
and problems later in childhood
including less physical activity lower
academic achievement and social
conflicts with peers the effects on
children who are exposed consistently to
technology are detrimental when you take
the time to realize the way that
children are constantly growing it is my
belief that allowing a child to use
technology and then in an excessive
amount is causing a generation of
unhealthy children what I’m talking
about tonight is a public health crisis
we have to realize the way that this is
damaging our children and we are
allowing them to be exposed to media and
technology and causing harmful effects
in my role as a school counselor I work
with students in two main capacities I
go into every classroom at the school I
work at Farley Elementary I work with
about 550 or so kids and I go into every
classroom every other week and I get to
see all of them but what I really value
as the
one time individual counseling with
students and in that time I get to work
to promote academic achievement in
students and help them be successful I
work to build a therapeutic relationship
learning about children’s interests as
well as the challenges that they face I
also understand ways in which both home
life and school life affect a child’s
development something that I keep
learning in my role as a school
counselor is the way that technology is
such a life and I also realize the way
that us as adults we have a chance to
foster imagination growth and
development children sometimes we forget
how important our role is and helping
children shape into the future self that
they will be with that we also have the
ability to hinder this we have the
ability to stop the growth and learning
of children so the reason that I’m up
here talking tonight is because I see
day to day the detrimental effects that
technology is having on our children
it’s my belief that if we just open our
eyes we can easily see the way that
technology is hurting the lives of our
children if you go on Google and you
search the term health you’re going to
come up with a definition a noun and a
person’s mental or physical state in our
society we are obsessed with physical
health we really worry about the way
that we look our outer appearance and we
are worried about our cholesterol our
weight how our heart is doing but we
forget about our mental health – and in
our society we are beginning to open our
eyes to mental health this begins at
such a young age and the thing about
mental health is it can’t change like
physical health can we are setting our
children’s mental health up right now
our role is to ensure that our children
are becoming both physically and
mentally healthy human beings many
health concerns are arising as children
are spending more time using technology
and devices they’re becoming less active
and because of this the rate of children
who are overweight is increasing in the
United States children who view
television and media devices have a
higher body mass index than children who
do not they also consume
more calories today one in three
children is considered to be overweight
according to the American Heart
Association we also see other physical
issues and children due to a large
amount of screen time children’s color
vision is hindered because of screen
time usage the screens that our children
are exposed to are causing them to see
less colors in the full rainbow spectrum
that blue light that screens give off
also is harmful to their eyes it causes
eye strain headaches and it also creates
sleep disruption the blue light
decreases the melatonin that we have in
our bodies causing a child to not be
able to sleep at night not sleeping
soundly has an increased chance of
getting sick a decreased chance of doing
well in school and also increased
anxiety and stress levels and less of an
ability to work through that stress as
an educator I’ve worked with children
from preschool age up through middle
school and it’s frustrating to see the
changers that are continuing to occur in
our children because the amount of time
that they are spending and technology is
becoming more prevalent for youth the
implications for youth who are
consistently exposed to media are
devastating causing short and long-term
health effects hindering their social
development and creating psychological
issues that lead to long-term mental
health disorders creating adverse
effects on the academic social and
emotional health of children and then my
frustration continues to grow as I spend
time counseling students more and more
and I learned more and more children are
spending most of their time at home on
devices and then I get even more upset
when I find out that this is what their
parents are encouraging their their
families are not focusing on the
relationships that should be built
within the home the habits that we’re
teaching our children are increasing
things like anxiety ADHD depression low
self-esteem and they’re decreasing
mental and social health I came across a
commercial made by General Mills for
some of their granola bars and I would
you guys to see this commercial because
when I watch this commercial
it helps me realize the way that
technology is truly hurting our children
[Music]
when you were a kid what did you do for
fun so we go blueberry picking for
instance just so cute watermelons
plantains I found an old sign which was
big enough for me to sit on it made it
great to bother
it was very slick by fast I had a few
fish in my basket and I looked up on
this bluff and here’s this black bear
sitting there watching me if he starts
chasing me I’m gonna keep throwing the
fish out of my basket until he’s
gorgeous it would and they won’t bother
me and what did you like to do for fun
you know you go door-to-door get it for
kids and you play all lots of games
hide-and-seek just going out to the
field and playing baseball and we built
these massive forts you know the kind
that you can actually sit in and and and
play and you know with with our friends
and it was just really wonderful so what
do you like to do for fun video games
definitely I like to go on my phone
texts some you know my favorite thing to
do in the world is definitely watching
videos and playing video games
those take up so much of my time 3 hours
or 3 to 4 hours a day
same five hours straight just last week
I watched 23 episodes of a TV series in
less than four days I forget I’m in no
house I have parents I have a sister I
have a dog I just think I’m in the video
game I completely get lost I know so
what would your children say if they
were asked the same question as those
children in the video what do you love
to do as a child there’s a drastic
difference between the generations of
grandparents parents and children it’s
eerie the way that they’re responding
listening to the colorful stories that
were told by the grandparents in
parents reminds me of my own childhood
it takes me back to memories where I
remember my parents calling me from
inside because it was time for a dinner
they called me inside after I had been
exploring the world around me and I know
that I came in covered in dirt grass and
who knows what else but I do know that
when I came inside I came in for my own
magical adventures where the world was
at my fingertips to explore when I came
in I had come in from playing teacher or
digging for buried treasure or soaring
into the sky like an astronaut
I also loved to have a play restaurant
outside mashing up grass my imagination
allowed me to do those things the
memories that I have playing outside
digging giant holes in the yard digging
up earthworms are playing with the 4-h
animals those are things that I still
treasure to this day my friendships were
built on time outdoors playing until
there was no more sunlight for us that’s
something that’s not replaceable and I
imagine that many of you sitting out
here tonight
can think of a time like that and it
brings a warm nostalgic feeling into
your heart one that you truly wish you
could go back to but imagine your
children the children being raised right
now won’t have those feelings their
memories will come from their tablet
their phones their devices they have
memories of Instagram and memories of
snapchatting and Facebook and I’ll tell
you I can’t recall a single one of my
memories from one of those apps their
sense of adventure will come from a
tablet or a phone a screen in their
hands today children are spending half
the amount of time outdoors that their
parents did they’re growing up in a
world filled with technology they don’t
even need to look up to experience the
world around them and I am NOT here to
dismiss the way that technology brings
advantages into our lives I use my phone
just as much as everyone else out there
does but the reality is that our brains
are more
that of a child’s we know what content
is too much we know when we have spent
too much time we can stop ourselves
children are curious and so they don’t
stop they keep looking and they keep
searching and their threshold of what is
too much continues to grow and grow in
the video that we watched by General
Mills that last voice said something to
the extent of when I’m playing a video
game I forget that I have a sister I
have a house I have a family I forget
that I have a dog when I’m in the game
I’m completely lost so there is an
example of what children are feeling
when they are using technology they are
losing grips of the reality around them
they feel a sense of nothing and that’s
what they like our children are learning
to value a virtual world one that they
are not truly a part of and then in turn
the world that they are a part of the
one they’re living and they’re breathing
and they are absent from the family
experiences memories they’re making with
friends and opportunities to experience
the world are not valued by our children
children are picking technology over
relationships with others so it’s our
responsibility to help them find the
value in relationships how many of you
out there can think of a time that you
were ignored by somebody because of a
device children are learning that
technology replaces connections with
other humans their social skills aren’t
developing because they aren’t
socializing family interactions are
dwindling because the amount of screen
time that children and adults are
spending I often even hear adults
complain because they feel like all
their children really want to do is
spend time playing games being on their
iPad or texting on their cell phone but
the reason that they want to do that is
because that is what we have allowed
them to love and I argue that’s not what
children want or what they need I
remember a conversation that I had with
my class when I was a fifth grade
teacher we were talking about about the
ways that technology
she brings challenges into our lives as
well as advantages and contrary to what
you might think many of my students
brought up the ways in which they feel
technology takes away from their family
time and their relationships with others
they complain about how much time they
feel their parents are spending on their
cell phones and computers when they
could be interacting and then when I ask
my students I said well which would you
pick would you rather have more time
with your devices or would you rather
have more times with your friends and
your families every single student chose
to have more time with their friends and
their families children do want your
attention they do want your love and
they want your time but when we continue
to ignore them and place the device in
their hand we are teaching them that the
device is more important than their time
so please leave here today ready to work
with your child to help them be a part
of the world around them through real
and tangible experiences these should be
tough they should be challenging and
they should take your child’s courage if
we don’t set your children up for the
future that they’re going to embark on
then we are only setting them up for
failure if you want to help your
children take the time to teach them to
listen to them to play outside with them
and spend every minute that you can
building a real relationship with your
children as educators parents and just
members of society we have to teach
children the values of life technology
should be you utilize as a tool to help
our lives run more smoothly but it
should not take place of experiences
don’t allow your child to use technology
as a crutch a way to make friends a way
to see the world or a way to play what
you model in your home is what your
child is going to do if you value
technology more than the time with your
child your child is going to value
technology more than time with you
please instill a value and your children
of worth teaching them that they are
worthy of a relationship in which you
devote your time to your child something
we have to do without technology
we have to love our children and give
them attention and I’m sorry to say that
there isn’t an app for that
[Applause]
good evening I’m here to talk to you
tonight about technology and so I’m
going to start off telling you about a
few students they’re not students that
I’ve actually worked with but similar to
them 11 year old alex is a fifth grade
student who was referred to his school
counselor by his teacher alex was
referred to see a school counselor
because he has an attention in class and
he also has emotional outbursts these
outbursts are caused by we don’t know
what just kind of happened throughout
the school day and they’re causing
disruption in his classroom it is known
that Alex has ADHD and he does take
medication for that
however these outbursts that he has in
class caused him to have extreme highs
and lows within one school day because
of these outbursts that he has and his
emotions he has said to his parents and
teachers that sometimes he just wishes
he could kill himself he does tell his
school counselor that he enjoys spending
time playing video games and the video
games are violent in nature he also
likes to binge watch TV shows and as his
counselor does more research she finds
out that those shows are mature in their
content something that he loves to do
with his family is watch TV they like to
sit in the same room watching TV playing
on their tablets and computers and being
on their phones at the same time Emily
also sees her school counselor she’s
been going to her counselor for about
the past two months at school she’s a
fourth grader and she was referred by
her parents because of anxiety that she
experiences at school she has trouble
making friends and really doesn’t like
to get up in front of others in the
class she feels anxious when she’s in
front of her peers at school
this does affect her overall attitude
towards school causing her to have many
absences because of this she is failing
some of her courses she also is
academically lower than her peers at
school she shares that she enjoys
snapchatting her friends messaging on
Facebook and Instagram and surfing the
internet because of this she does not
feel like she needs to make friends at
school because she’s got plenty of them
online according to the American Academy
of Pediatrics children that are under
age of two years old should have no
exposure to technology and devices
children older than that should only
have two hours a day on educational
programs those should be meant to help
our children learn and shouldn’t be
meant for play however currently the
average child spends five or more hours
a day on technology devices these are
children aged 5 to 16 years old screen
time that children are using under the
age of 3 is actually linked to looks
lower language acquisition and delayed
development in language while many
parents are believing that their child
will have more brain development if they
are exposed to educational activities on
technology and devices and TV there’s
actually no proof that this is true
actually there is proof to show that it
is more harmful than it is helpful with
children there’s also a negative
correlation between screen time usage
and interactions with family members and
peers children who spend more time
online spend less time with their family
members and with their friends there’s
also a link between screen time usage
and problems later in childhood
including less physical activity lower
academic achievement and social
conflicts with peers the effects on
children who are exposed consistently to
technology are detrimental when you take
the time to realize the way that
children are constantly growing it is my
belief that allowing a child to use
technology and then in an excessive
amount is causing a generation of
unhealthy children what I’m talking
about tonight is a public health crisis
we have to realize the way that this is
damaging our children and we are
allowing them to be exposed to media and
technology and causing harmful effects
in my role as a school counselor I work
with students in two main capacities I
go into every classroom at the school I
work at Farley Elementary I work with
about 550 or so kids and I go into every
classroom every other week and I get to
see all of them but what I really value
as the
one time individual counseling with
students and in that time I get to work
to promote academic achievement in
students and help them be successful I
work to build a therapeutic relationship
learning about children’s interests as
well as the challenges that they face I
also understand ways in which both home
life and school life affect a child’s
development something that I keep
learning in my role as a school
counselor is the way that technology is
such a life and I also realize the way
that us as adults we have a chance to
foster imagination growth and
development children sometimes we forget
how important our role is and helping
children shape into the future self that
they will be with that we also have the
ability to hinder this we have the
ability to stop the growth and learning
of children so the reason that I’m up
here talking tonight is because I see
day to day the detrimental effects that
technology is having on our children
it’s my belief that if we just open our
eyes we can easily see the way that
technology is hurting the lives of our
children if you go on Google and you
search the term health you’re going to
come up with a definition a noun and a
person’s mental or physical state in our
society we are obsessed with physical
health we really worry about the way
that we look our outer appearance and we
are worried about our cholesterol our
weight how our heart is doing but we
forget about our mental health – and in
our society we are beginning to open our
eyes to mental health this begins at
such a young age and the thing about
mental health is it can’t change like
physical health can we are setting our
children’s mental health up right now
our role is to ensure that our children
are becoming both physically and
mentally healthy human beings many
health concerns are arising as children
are spending more time using technology
and devices they’re becoming less active
and because of this the rate of children
who are overweight is increasing in the
United States children who view
television and media devices have a
higher body mass index than children who
do not they also consume
more calories today one in three
children is considered to be overweight
according to the American Heart
Association we also see other physical
issues and children due to a large
amount of screen time children’s color
vision is hindered because of screen
time usage the screens that our children
are exposed to are causing them to see
less colors in the full rainbow spectrum
that blue light that screens give off
also is harmful to their eyes it causes
eye strain headaches and it also creates
sleep disruption the blue light
decreases the melatonin that we have in
our bodies causing a child to not be
able to sleep at night not sleeping
soundly has an increased chance of
getting sick a decreased chance of doing
well in school and also increased
anxiety and stress levels and less of an
ability to work through that stress as
an educator I’ve worked with children
from preschool age up through middle
school and it’s frustrating to see the
changers that are continuing to occur in
our children because the amount of time
that they are spending and technology is
becoming more prevalent for youth the
implications for youth who are
consistently exposed to media are
devastating causing short and long-term
health effects hindering their social
development and creating psychological
issues that lead to long-term mental
health disorders creating adverse
effects on the academic social and
emotional health of children and then my
frustration continues to grow as I spend
time counseling students more and more
and I learned more and more children are
spending most of their time at home on
devices and then I get even more upset
when I find out that this is what their
parents are encouraging their their
families are not focusing on the
relationships that should be built
within the home the habits that we’re
teaching our children are increasing
things like anxiety ADHD depression low
self-esteem and they’re decreasing
mental and social health I came across a
commercial made by General Mills for
some of their granola bars and I would
you guys to see this commercial because
when I watch this commercial
it helps me realize the way that
technology is truly hurting our children
[Music]
when you were a kid what did you do for
fun so we go blueberry picking for
instance just so cute watermelons
plantains I found an old sign which was
big enough for me to sit on it made it
great to bother
it was very slick by fast I had a few
fish in my basket and I looked up on
this bluff and here’s this black bear
sitting there watching me if he starts
chasing me I’m gonna keep throwing the
fish out of my basket until he’s
gorgeous it would and they won’t bother
me and what did you like to do for fun
you know you go door-to-door get it for
kids and you play all lots of games
hide-and-seek just going out to the
field and playing baseball and we built
these massive forts you know the kind
that you can actually sit in and and and
play and you know with with our friends
and it was just really wonderful so what
do you like to do for fun video games
definitely I like to go on my phone
texts some you know my favorite thing to
do in the world is definitely watching
videos and playing video games
those take up so much of my time 3 hours
or 3 to 4 hours a day
same five hours straight just last week
I watched 23 episodes of a TV series in
less than four days I forget I’m in no
house I have parents I have a sister I
have a dog I just think I’m in the video
game I completely get lost I know so
what would your children say if they
were asked the same question as those
children in the video what do you love
to do as a child there’s a drastic
difference between the generations of
grandparents parents and children it’s
eerie the way that they’re responding
listening to the colorful stories that
were told by the grandparents in
parents reminds me of my own childhood
it takes me back to memories where I
remember my parents calling me from
inside because it was time for a dinner
they called me inside after I had been
exploring the world around me and I know
that I came in covered in dirt grass and
who knows what else but I do know that
when I came inside I came in for my own
magical adventures where the world was
at my fingertips to explore when I came
in I had come in from playing teacher or
digging for buried treasure or soaring
into the sky like an astronaut
I also loved to have a play restaurant
outside mashing up grass my imagination
allowed me to do those things the
memories that I have playing outside
digging giant holes in the yard digging
up earthworms are playing with the 4-h
animals those are things that I still
treasure to this day my friendships were
built on time outdoors playing until
there was no more sunlight for us that’s
something that’s not replaceable and I
imagine that many of you sitting out
here tonight
can think of a time like that and it
brings a warm nostalgic feeling into
your heart one that you truly wish you
could go back to but imagine your
children the children being raised right
now won’t have those feelings their
memories will come from their tablet
their phones their devices they have
memories of Instagram and memories of
snapchatting and Facebook and I’ll tell
you I can’t recall a single one of my
memories from one of those apps their
sense of adventure will come from a
tablet or a phone a screen in their
hands today children are spending half
the amount of time outdoors that their
parents did they’re growing up in a
world filled with technology they don’t
even need to look up to experience the
world around them and I am NOT here to
dismiss the way that technology brings
advantages into our lives I use my phone
just as much as everyone else out there
does but the reality is that our brains
are more
that of a child’s we know what content
is too much we know when we have spent
too much time we can stop ourselves
children are curious and so they don’t
stop they keep looking and they keep
searching and their threshold of what is
too much continues to grow and grow in
the video that we watched by General
Mills that last voice said something to
the extent of when I’m playing a video
game I forget that I have a sister I
have a house I have a family I forget
that I have a dog when I’m in the game
I’m completely lost so there is an
example of what children are feeling
when they are using technology they are
losing grips of the reality around them
they feel a sense of nothing and that’s
what they like our children are learning
to value a virtual world one that they
are not truly a part of and then in turn
the world that they are a part of the
one they’re living and they’re breathing
and they are absent from the family
experiences memories they’re making with
friends and opportunities to experience
the world are not valued by our children
children are picking technology over
relationships with others so it’s our
responsibility to help them find the
value in relationships how many of you
out there can think of a time that you
were ignored by somebody because of a
device children are learning that
technology replaces connections with
other humans their social skills aren’t
developing because they aren’t
socializing family interactions are
dwindling because the amount of screen
time that children and adults are
spending I often even hear adults
complain because they feel like all
their children really want to do is
spend time playing games being on their
iPad or texting on their cell phone but
the reason that they want to do that is
because that is what we have allowed
them to love and I argue that’s not what
children want or what they need I
remember a conversation that I had with
my class when I was a fifth grade
teacher we were talking about about the
ways that technology
she brings challenges into our lives as
well as advantages and contrary to what
you might think many of my students
brought up the ways in which they feel
technology takes away from their family
time and their relationships with others
they complain about how much time they
feel their parents are spending on their
cell phones and computers when they
could be interacting and then when I ask
my students I said well which would you
pick would you rather have more time
with your devices or would you rather
have more times with your friends and
your families every single student chose
to have more time with their friends and
their families children do want your
attention they do want your love and
they want your time but when we continue
to ignore them and place the device in
their hand we are teaching them that the
device is more important than their time
so please leave here today ready to work
with your child to help them be a part
of the world around them through real
and tangible experiences these should be
tough they should be challenging and
they should take your child’s courage if
we don’t set your children up for the
future that they’re going to embark on
then we are only setting them up for
failure if you want to help your
children take the time to teach them to
listen to them to play outside with them
and spend every minute that you can
building a real relationship with your
children as educators parents and just
members of society we have to teach
children the values of life technology
should be you utilize as a tool to help
our lives run more smoothly but it
should not take place of experiences
don’t allow your child to use technology
as a crutch a way to make friends a way
to see the world or a way to play what
you model in your home is what your
child is going to do if you value
technology more than the time with your
child your child is going to value
technology more than time with you
please instill a value and your children
of worth teaching them that they are
worthy of a relationship in which you
devote your time to your child something
we have to do without technology
we have to love our children and give
them attention and I’m sorry to say that
there isn’t an app for that
[Applause]
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