From notepad to studying Cyber Security
A study performed in 2003 published on the website MentalHelp.net suggested that children should not be using computers before the age of 4, as it can have detrimental effects on their brain development. My first memories of operating technology took place when I was around 4–5 years old, on our old white family desktop computer, an age which modern studies suggest is too early. I remember asking my mother to open a blank notepad document, as I had no idea how to, and I’d sit there and spam random characters on the keyboard, which lead to my unique, yet fast paced style of typing.
I branched out into the digital world when my father got my little brother and I an Xbox, and even further later when my mother bought us both a Nintendo DS. As I venture back into my childhood memories, the impact technology had on my life seems to multiply with every memory. By the age of 12, technology was the most predominant aspect of my life outside of school, and on my 13th birthday my mother finally permitted me to use Facebook, it forever changed my life.
My mother was a police officer who served in the special weapons team and in her time in the police she learned the dangers of the Internet, as a result she heavily restricted what I could do on it. At first, I had to put her maiden name as my last name on Facebook, so that I’d be “safer”. I was only allowed to add family, and my mother created a Facebook account purely so she could monitor what I was doing.
I had always been an active child, I was involved in scouting, swimming, soccer and target rifle shooting, but as I committed more and more of my time to my expanding social media accounts and online gaming, I found myself becoming less interested in things outside the digital world. At the age of 12 I quit the soccer team due to the bullying from some of my teammates and the fact I was becoming increasingly bored with the sport. My parents picked up on my increasing time spent on the web and they began to restrict how long I could spend on ‘screens’. I began putting on a lot of weight, and many other teenagers and children began to do the same. A study published by the ABC found that that 82% of Children and teenagers were not meeting the recommended amount of exercise, mainly due to the excessive time they were spending on Social Media, TV, or gaming.
Now at the age of 18 when I look back and realise my interest in technology was the biggest development factor which lead to my current social reputation and love for the field, and my reason for Studying Cyber Security at University. Unfortunately it has also contributed to negative factors such as a poorer standard of health, and my former clinical psychologist Melanie Kuhn believes it may have of lead to, or worsened my generalised anxiety.
Sources —
In-text: (ABC News, 2018)
ABC News. (2018). One quarter of Australia’s teenagers overweight or obese, survey reveals. [online] Available at: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-02-19/a-quarter-of-australias-teenagers-are-overweight-or-obese/6144806 [Accessed 20 Mar. 2018].
In-text: (Mentalhelp.net, 2018)
Your Bibliography: Mentalhelp.net. (2018). Computers and Young Children. [online] Available at: https://www.mentalhelp.net/articles/computers-and-young-children/ [Accessed 17 Mar. 2018].
