“Concentrate all your thoughts upon the work at hand. The sun’s rays do not burn until brought to a focus,” Alexander Graham Bell once said. As we forget what’s most important, the screen is always there to distract us. What teenagers often forget is that reality still exists, all they need to do is turn off the screen and focus. Their lives are chosen by their focus, they just never realize it.

Being distracted by your distractions and related matters-in a few short words, “modern technology”. Modern technology allows access to all of the latest and greatest advances at the swipe of our thumb. “From cell phone and texting etiquette to cheating in the classroom, electronic devices have introduced a host of problems and with those problems come important questions about how our lives are changing. What’s more, how do we even explain to this generation that this is cheating when they are used to finding the answer to every question on the Internet?”, Mary C. Verstraete, Ph. D.

We’re pretty much in an intellectual “red light district” where you can constantly dip into social media anytime. The Kaiser Family Foundation found that youths are distracted by technology for 7 to 10 hours a day, 7 days a week. Larry Rosen and his research team from California State University observed a group of students. They knew they were being observed but still used some form of technology for 35% of the time within the first 15 minutes. It’s hard to track technology use because so many of us use technology while we are doing something else.

Some may argue and say that the internet is a useful form of communication. The internet helps teens connect with others around the world. Facebook and Skype are used to talk to relatives in different states or countries. Others use Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat to talk to friends and meet new people.

In my opinion, using the internet to connect  to relatives is a positive thing but using social media to talk to friends and meet new people is beneficial  until you realize that they spend every minute and forget that the world still exists. The people who once wanted to spend every second of their time with you think a few minutes of their time is too much to waste. Every minute of theirs is spent in front a screen that when they are away from the internet for so long, they think their time could is being lost. Their lives are being corrupted because they forgot how to talk to people in reality. Teens lives are chosen by their focus. If they want to focus on their lives, all they need to do is turn off the screen - the main distraction in life.

Sources
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/stedman-graham/focus-matters-focus-on-yo_b_6543000.html
Author: Stedman Graham
Article Title: Focus Matters: Focus on Your Dreams, Not Your Distractions

http://societyofwomenengineers.swe.org/swe-magazine-new/499-swe-magazine/blog/4232-modern-technology-on-being-distracted-by-your-distraction-and-related-matters
Author: Mary C. Verstraete, Ph. D.
Article Title: Modern Technology: On Being Distracted By Your Distractions & Related Matters

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/11/18/the-internet-a-welcome-distraction/?_r=0
Author: Marie Myung-Ok Lee
Article Title: The Internet: A Welcome Distraction