Look at this student essay and select the BEST answer.
Which paragraph(s) is/are the introduction paragraph(s) of this essay?
(a) Negative Consequences for Health and Social Well-Being
(b) Screen time is a huge privilege for anyone who can afford it. But a lot of people take advantage of it and it affects them. The American Association of Pediatrics is suggesting a two hour screen time recommendation that should be applied to everyone because it affects the ability of people to recognize emotion, increases obesity, and can cause irregular sleep patterns.
(c) Kids and adults waste way too much time doing something with a computer in their faces. Their ability to perceive emotions is starting to be affected. "The UCLA researchers studied two groups of sixth-graders from a Southern California public school. One group was sent to the Pali Institute, an outdoor education camp in Running Springs, Calif., where the kids had no access to electronic devices. For the other group, it was life as usual." (Source 2) After less than a week, the children at the camp showed a great improvement in recognizing emotions compared to the children with a normal life. If children were kept to a strict screen time limit, and not spend the whole day on their screen, they could still succeed and enjoy life.
(d) This use of technology may also lead to non-exercise, and may lead to an increase in obesity rates. For example, a teenager could spend the whole summer not participating in any sports at all, except for riding his skateboard around town with friends. Instead of playing sports, that person would always be at home playing video games, texting, and talking on his phone. During these times, he’d eat a lot. When it would come time for football season in the fall, he would be very overweight and would have to spend so much effort cutting back to be better on the field. That would work, but if he would’ve just been more active and not been on his phone all summer, he might not have had to spend so much time losing weight for football. But that goes to show what technology can do about the effects. Also, "Some research suggests that screen time can have lots of negative effects on kids, ranging from childhood obesity and irregular sleep patterns to social and/or behavioral issues." (Source 2) That means screen time will impact your weight and how much you eat. If held to a limit, kids wouldn't be stuffing their face on their screen, instead they could be playing outside or hanging out with friends. This is another reason why a screen time limit should be set.
(e) This ultimately leads to the amount of sleep you get and erratic cycles of sleep are induced by the devices. Children spend far too much time on their screen, other than napping or sleeping when they need to. For example, "Some research suggests that screen time can have lots of negative effects on kids, ranging from childhood obesity and irregular sleep patterns to social and/or behavioral issues." (Source 2). There are several consequences if we can't have enough sleep, but there are things we can do to prevent it. If people were not staying up all night playing video games or on their phones or going to their bed and getting off their phone when told, we wouldn't be worried about being tired and trying to fight through the whole entire day. This is another principal reason why children should be kept to a limit.
(f) Some people may think texting is another convenient way to connect with each other, it's easier to teach because it's the new century. Source 1 even says that there are social benefits to screen time like “joining clubs can help children practice using social media safely, or playing computer games with friends and family can help them practice turn-taking and cooperation” (source 1). But, it affects the social skills of the people. For instance, if you talk to someone and they 're having a hard time either making eye contact or simply speaking back, you know their social skills are not good. This could mean he or she could have spent too much time on their electronics. If they could be held to a limit it would help them focus on social skills a bit more. People should try to get enough face-to-face communication.
(g) In conclusion, technology and screen time is very beneficial but it can have very negative consequences for health and social well-being. If we could be held to a certain limit like two hours, this could make technology beneficial and enjoyable.
