Writing Prompt:
Is technology a positive or negative influence on teens? What are the benefits and consequences?
Write a persuasive research paper, in which you argue one side of the debate on teenagers and technology. Support your ideas with specific textual evidence from articles, videos, and research. Consider the counterargument: how will you convince those who disagree with you?
Writing Process:
Online Resources:
- Teens who spend less time in front of screens are happier – up to a point, new research shows (Washington Post)
- The surprisingly positive power of texting, according to science (Washington Post)
- Teens, Social Media & Technology 2018 (Pew Research)
- Yes, Companies Are Harvesting – and Selling – Your Facebook Profile (ProPublica)
- Video game addiction is real, rare, and poorly understood (Vox)
- Social media effect ‘tiny’ in teenagers, large study finds (BBC)
- 10 Times Social Media Made the World Better in 2014 (Time)
- Research offers mixed messages on the impact of social media on adolescent emotional health (Baltimore Sun)
- What you post on social media can hurt, and help, the college admissions process (Common Sense Media)
- Time to teach teens–and all of us–to be savvy about news on the internet (The Dallas Morning News)
- No, kids CAN’T study while they’re texting (Daily Mail)
- Colleges grapple with cheating in the digital age (Los Angeles Times)
- How young is too young for cellphones in school? (Washington Post)
- Teen Texting Soars; Will Social Skills Suffer? (NPR)
- Keeping My Personal Life Private, On And Offline (Youth Radio)
- In Your Facebook: Social Sites Are Everywhere (NPR)
- Teens Aren’t Just Texting, They’re ‘Sexting’ (NPR)
- Where There’s ‘Sexting,’ There May Be Sex (NPR)
- Steve Jobs was a Low Tech Parent (NY Times)
- Facebook Makes Us Sadder And Less Satisfied, Study Finds (NPR)
- Brown Oks bill allowing minors to delete embarrassing Web posts (LA Times)
- Alter Egos in a Virtual World (NPR)
- Texting away our best manners (Kansas City Star)
- Teens Are Teens (Los Angeles Times)
- Teenagers and Social Networking (Guardian)
- Why We Can’t Look Away From Our Screens (NYTimes)
- Hooked on Our Smartphones (NYTimes)
- Generation X More Addicted to Social Media Than Millennials, Report Finds (NYTimes)
Editing/Revision Resources:
- AVID Transitions
- Easybib.com (Works Cited)
- Purdue Online Writing Lab (MLA Formatting and Style Guide)
- Persuasion Map (readwritethink)
- Grammarly
- Hemingwayapp
- Paperrater
Videos:
- 5 Crazy Ways Social Media is Changing Your Brain Right Now
- Is Technology Wiring Teens to Have Better Brains?
- Why Multitasking Is Bad
- Is Technology and Multitasking Rewiring Our Brain?
- Social Media Impact On Teens
- No, kids CAN’T study while they’re texting: Research finds teenagers struggle with multitasking
- How social media is affecting teens
- Look Up from your social media addiction and live
- Can we auto-correct humanity?
- Sexting scandal highlights challenges for schools
- The high-tech tricks kids use to cheat in school
- Multitasking is a Myth, and to Attempt It Comes at a Neurobiological Cost
- Paolo Cardini: Forget multitasking, try monotasking
- The problem with multitasking (The Energy Project)
