Have you ever received a phone bill that said that you have sent and received over 10,000 text messages in a month? Well you could say that the girl that holds the record of 36,666 texts per month is obsessed with technology. Many people debate over which technology has caused a negative or positive effect on the social skills of youth. People in general use technology for everythin. I think modern technology has had positive influences on social skills for youth when used appropriately, but if addicted to technology; there are negative effects on their social abilities.
If used appropriately, technology can benefit people. For example, the computer has many positive effects:


The Internet can make it easier to keep in touch with friends. With the Internet, information can be transmitted and received with ease at any time of the day to any number of friends. (Coget and Yutaka 1)
The Internet is an awesome tool for research, locating and communicating with people, and cuts down on paper usage. These ways are how technology has impacted a positive effect. The Internet can also make people more comfortable too:
The Internet can foster openness, self-confidence, and a greater since of ease and comfort in dealing with others. In electronically mediated communication that hides or camouflages physical appearance and social identity, one tends to be more communicative and revealing of personal information. In the respect, the Internet can even provide opportunities by freeing those who are too depressed to conduct social life in the real world. (Coget and Yutaka 1)
I think this is true that people are more comfortable without all of the social interaction.

Technology can also be the cause of negative effects on youth social skills too. When youth are addicted to the Internet it causes more time away from friends and family causing depression, “They also reported spending less time talking with their families, experiencing more daily stress, and feeling more lonely and depressed. These results occurred even though interpersonal communication was their most important reason for using the Internet” (Affonso 1). The Internet also causes harm, due to addiction and isolation. I think that being isolated from everyone for ten hours a day causes depression of loneliness. Another negative effect of technology is less communication or interaction. It is causing people to be isolated when they could be socializing, “’Oh, I was listening to my iPod. My bad.’ Visible from a good distance away, white earphones signal one thing to most people: don’t bother trying to talk to me. iPods are a major deterrent from conversation, with it becoming increasingly acceptable to converse while still listening to the iPod” (Song 1). While people are jamming away on their iPod they could be making a new acquaintance or socializing with other people.

There are different ways technology could be making an impact on you, either due to being a resource or a comfort zone or depression and loneliness. Everyone in America should bare about this because these effects are probably happening to you or someone in your family. So every once in a while you should have a reality check and make sure you are spending most of your time with friends and family not isolated from the world of interaction.