Is technology harmful to youngsters? - 6 Minute English

Hello. This is 6 Minute English from

BBC Learning English. I'm Neil.

And I'm Sam.

When you were a teenager did your

parents worry that you were watching

too much television, Sam?

They used to tell me that watching

too much TV would turn my eyes

square - but they were only joking.

When I was growing up there were only

three or four television channels.

For parents today, there are

hundreds of TV channels to worry

about, not to mention the internet,

video games and social media - and

all of it is accessible through

a smart phone. No wonder parents

are worried about the impact

of technology on young people!

I don t think it's all bad news,

Neil. In fact, in this programme,

we'll be taking a look at a new

report which finds little

evidence to link technology with

mental health problems in

adolescents - that's young people

who are in the process of

developing from children

into adults.

I'm not convinced, Sam. Think

about how much time youngsters

spend staring at

screens every day.

True, but unlike passively

watching television today's

technology is interactive,

connecting teenagers to their

friends around the world.

Well, maybe my quiz question

will change your mind. Are you

ready? On average how many

hours per day do British

teenagers spend on their

screens? Is it:

a) 5 and a half hours?

b) 6 and a half hours? or

c) 7 and a half hours?

I'll say it's b) 6 and

a half hours.

That sounds a lot to me!

Well, whatever Neil thinks, a new

study from the Oxford Internet

Institute paints a more hopeful

picture. The study analysed data

from over 400,000 British and

American teenagers and found little

or no link between adolescents'

tech use and mental health problems.

Listen to Gareth Mitchell and Ghislaine

Boddington, co-presenters of BBC World

Service's, Digital Planet, as

they discuss the report's findings:

Ghislaine Boddington - you've been

looking at some of the findings

yourself, haven't you? So, what's

your response so far? Were you

expecting, Ghislaine, to see

some kind of smoking gun?

Some kind of link that would

say, Here we are.

Here are the harms?

Not really, because I think

we're at a point where teenagers

are much more savvy than many

adults think, so we are at risk,

all of us as journalists and

research community to assume,

maybe, this is a more a terrible

terrible problem than we understand

because I know the teenagers

around me and one thing that

they do all have is app blockers

on their sites and they are

actually quite aware of the

addiction problem - the

design - you know, designed

for addiction.

Many people assume that social

media harms teenagers, so

Gareth asks Ghislaine whether

she was expecting to find a

smoking gun in the report.

The expression a smoking gun

means evidence that proves

something is true, for example,

evidence proving that technology

is harmful to young people.

But Ghislaine doesn't think

this is true. Actually, she

calls teenagers savvy, meaning

that they have practical

knowledge of technology and

a good understanding of

how to use it.

One example of teenagers

being technologically savvy is

their use of app blockers - software

that prevents unwanted apps

and websites from popping up

and allows users to set

timers which limit screen time.

And reducing screen time is

important because nowadays most

video games and social media

are designed for addiction

intended to manipulate human

psychology to make the user

want to keep playing.

But it seems that today's

adolescents are savvy enough

to know how to use electronic

devices sensibly. How else

can we explain the fact

that, according to this

research, there's no clear

link between using tech

and mental health problems?

Yes, that's certainly the view

of the research team leader,

Dr Matti Vuorre. Here he is

speaking with BBC World Service

programme, Digital Planet, about

an interesting and very modern

term - see if you can hear it:

We often hear the term, digital

native, you know you grow up

with a device in your hand almost,

and then it's not a surprise that

you are skilled in using

those technologies to your benefit.

Did you hear the expression

Dr Vuorre used, Sam?

Yes. He called teenagers digital

natives, meaning someone who is

very familiar and comfortable

using computers and digital

technology because they've

grown up with them.

So maybe there are benefits to

spending hours looking at screens,

after all. In my quiz question I

asked Sam about the average daily

screen time for British teenagers.

I said it was b) 6 and a half hours.

Which was the correct answer!

Very savvy of you, Sam! OK,

let's recap the vocabulary from

this programme about the impact

of tech on adolescents - that's

young people who are

developing into adults.

Today's adolescents are digital

natives people who are very

familiar with digital technology

because they've grown up with it.

If you are savvy, you have a

good practical

understanding of something.

A smoking gun refers to information

or evidence that proves

that something is true.

An app blocker is software that

blocks pop-up apps and websites

and allows users to

set screen time limits.

And designed for addiction

describes immersive video games

and social media which are

designed to manipulate human

psychology and make it hard

to stop playing.

That's all for this programme

but if you're interested in the issues

around digital technology and want to

find out more, then why visit the

BBC Digital Planet website or

follow them on their Twitter

handle @digitalplanet?

Bye for now!

Goodbye!