Annotated Bibliography

Cognitive Effects of Advancing Technology on Youth: Beneficial or Detrimental?

Cavanaugh, Michael J., Catherine C. Giapponi, and Timothy D. Golden. "Digital Technology and Student Cognitive Development." Journal of Management Education 40.4 (2015): 374-97. Sage Journals. SAGE Publications LTD, 30 Oct. 2015. Web. 09 Feb. 2017.

Cavenaugh illustrates in his article how our world of advancing technology negatively affects the cognitive development of students in the 21st century. He presents evidence showing that while digital wallowing offer some selective cognitive benefits, however, there are numerous drawbacks showing that digital technology adversely impacts students cognitive functions by rewiring the way they read, learn, and think. He argues that the advancement of the digital age has various implications for teaching a traditional education to students who are gradually learning differently. His audience is geared towards educators and teachers, such as himself, to acknowledge this situation he is presenting about students in the 21st century. Cavenaugh provides evidence for the students that own a certain type of electronic device, a survey of an elementary, middle and high school students to support his claim that student use these excessively in liberal ways. however, based on his data from his survey, he makes an assumption on the future of student uses in digital technology, which probably won't be true. This shows that he is biased. His motivation behind his research is that he notices the difference in student learning behaviors as an educator, and trying to inform other teachers about the problems that exist, so he is convincing them for reapproach the way they teach students and apply new material.

DeWeese, Katherine Lynn. Screen Time, How Much Is Too Much? The Social and Emotional Costs of Technology on the Adolescent Brain. Diss. Dominican U of California, 2014. San Rafael: ERIC, 2014. ERIC - Screen Time, How Much Is Too Much? The Social and Emotional Costs of Technology on the Adolescent Brain. Web. 08 Feb. 2017.

DeWeese asks many questions pertaining to the social and emotional health of adolescents who spend too much time looking at their screens and how it is affecting theirs brain’s health and overall development. Her motivation to do the study is to see weather integrating technology in school is contributing in the learning process of students by letting them feel connected or hindering the growth of their attention span and critical thinking skills, and to share her findings accordingly. She tested her hypothesis by doing a survey at a local high school on the frequent uses of iPads in the school. Also, teachers were interviewed about the uses of technology as well as on their opinions on the effects of technology on adolescents outside the classroom. DeWeese is a teacher and her article is geared towards other teachers to have an opinion on technology used inside and outside the classroom and its effects on children's social and learning behaviors. The purpose of her research is to identify how screen time, with all types of media, affects adolescents and whether or not it is causing them to be more emotionally and socially impacted due to the time spend on the devices. Also, to find out if integrating an iPad in schools is hindering students’ ability to learn, or whether it is helping them adjust to the technologically advancing world.

George, Madeleine J., and Candice L. Odgers. "Seven Fears and the Science of How Mobile Technologies May Be Influencing Adolescents in the Digital Age." Diss. Institute for Scientific Information, 2015. Abstract. Perspective on Psychological Sciences. SAGE PUBLICATIONS LTD, 17 Nov. 2015. Web. 08 Feb. 2017

George’s article discusses and identifies seven “fears” of the uses of digital technology around adolescents today that affect their social development, cognitive performance, and sleep. Her purpose is to directly identify, test and prove that the constant uses of digital technology is harmful towards young adults through her “seven fears” she devised. She discusses the fears parents have when their kids are spending too much time online and also things that children should watch for when surfing online. She tests and summarizes the existing evidence and future research directions related to new technologies and adolescent development of the seven fears. In George’s article, she describes her seven common fears as, parents who are concerned about what their child is sharing, cyberbullying, the constant connectivity prevents them from participating in real life and relationships, the creation of a “digital divide” between

parents and adolescents, youngsters experimenting with fake identities that damage their sense of self and future lives, constant multitasking impairing adolescents cognitive performance, and last but not least, adolescents losing extensive sleepover their devices. Finally, George factors all of these fears as her foundation and structures her case over it by giving statistics and doing and using surveys from reliable sources to strengthen her research.

Ives, Eugenia A. IGeneration: The Social Cognitive Effects of Digital Technology on Teenagers. Diss. Dominican U of California, 2012. California: ERIC, 2012. ERIC - IGeneration: The Social Cognitive Effects of Digital Technology on Teenagers. Oct. 2012. Web. 8 Feb. 2017.

Ives purpose of this study was to examine and better understand the social cognitive effects of digital technology on teenagers’ brains and their socialization processes, as well as to learn best practices with regard to digital consumption. She conducted extensive literature reviews on the social cognitive effects of digital technology on teenagers and an action research project was carried out and qualitative and quantitative research finding collected from 46 high school students, ranging from 13-15. She categorized her findings into 3, positive effects, negative effects, and the best practices. Her audience is geared to parents and educators on the importance of learning good practices and how to be involved in young students digital consumption habits as it seems to be a current lack of understanding and much misunderstandings, fear, and ambivalence from parents on the subject. Her claims are unbiased because she states the good and bad effects of digital technology on teenagers and she lets the reader decide which action to take based on the practices she presents in her results.

Rubin, Jim. "Technology's Impact on the Creative Potential of Youth." Technology's Impact on the Creative Potential of Youth. 24.23 (2012): 252-56. Creativity Research Journal. 2012. Web. 08 Feb. 2017.

Rubin article explores how ability to use creative and higher-order thinking processes relates to exposure to modern technology. His audience is geared toward teachers and educators who are unaware of the of the challenges in working with students who have grown up in a digital environment that could be disabling important systems of brain development related to the lack of exposure to traditional reading. Although, throughout his research, he stated numerous sources and details pertaining to them, however, he does not have a primary source where he conducted his experiments and tests his theories. He only provides the details of other researchers experiments and results, and incorporate that as evidence in his paper. This can be considered a gap among his work. Also, another gap could be that he only uses sources that support what he is trying to prove and claim in his research when he should also include sources that rebuttal it, and state his objection. His motivation for    doing his research is to prove that the two factors stand out in his analysis of judging the effects of technology on the potential to use higher-order creative thinking, which are, 1) a significant change to the motivations that drive creativity in today’s society, and 2) changes in synaptic brain functions from using digital technology cripple the physical ability to innovate.

Yienger, Maria E. "Too Much Tech Harms Reading Retention in Young Children." THE TECHNOLOGICAL INVASION 8.3 (2016): 1. Inquiries Journal. 2016. Web. 08 Feb. 2017. 

Yienger explores the negative implications that technology has on reading and learning by technology overuse that can contribute to developmental delays and decrease interactions and experiences that encourage the use of creativity and imagination. As a result, she suggested that children's exposure to technological devices should be limited. Her audience is geared toward parents with young children who are easily influenced by the obsessive use of technology. She recommends not exposing toddlers and young kids to technology so the do no rely on it as they grow older because it can play a major role in learning and that can also has an unhealthy lifestyle in the years to come. Although her research using meaningful data from other sources, she does not, however, have her own experiment to strengthen her claim, making this a gap. She also only states sources that are relevant to her claim she is trying to prove.