Most of us at GAA would probably agree that technology is on course to take over our lives at school. 

As one GAA student, who preferred to remain anonymous, put it, “the advancements of tech can help us understand the world a lot more and open new things to learn, but it can also be overwhelming and distracting to have so much knowledge on hand.” 

We see technology all the time in our school, from students using their laptops and phones to teachers using projectors and laptops to help educate the students. This usage starts to beg the question; How does technology affect us as students? Over the past couple of years, students have gone from preferring notebooks and hand notes to having all of their lessons online and almost every education-related thing they do becoming online. Now, we come to the present, where we blend technology and other forms of media to adapt to our social situation.                                                                                        

Experts and outside sources also say that technology is a benefit for students, with Karen Gill, a doctor of Medicine, saying technology can create “Enhanced communication with others, which can improve the feeling of connection.”

Students can interact more with new games and activities online instead of sitting and taking notes on a lecture or handwriting essay after essay. Thanks to technology, we can use tools that we couldn’t have before: simulations, new labs, experiments with hazardous materials, none of which students could do before. 

Students also feel the same way, with another GAA student saying, “The development of technology is essential, especially because our planet is constantly evolving with new technologies and inventions, therefore, we need to stay up to date in order to further our education.” 

We can have a similar sentiment as the students since technology is becoming more and more common in work and is even the entire purpose of many newer jobs, like software engineering or computer science. 

On the other hand, teachers may have conflicting ideas about the benefit of technology in the classroom. According to some, technology is both a benefit and a potential issue. While it is the way forward in our lives and education, reliance on technology can be a flaw, leading us to become completely focused on our screens and need electronic devices to do everything for us. There is also the medical and mental health side to consider when exploring the overuse of technology; studies have shown various adverse effects on our health from being on our screens for too long. These effects can go from sleep deprivation to an increased chance of obesity to even a change of mental degradation. 

The majority of students at GAA would likely agree that technology and its use in classrooms benefit us, although we should take this opinion with a large grain of salt. As both students and experts have put it, technology helps our school and learning environment by giving us new opportunities that we would never have otherwise gotten. On the other hand, according to teachers and health experts, overuse of technology stresses our minds and can be a net negative if it continues. Looking back over these stated reasons, most of us would likely agree that a hybrid system is the best possible option. Using a hybrid system, we can get all of the benefits of doing labs and online research without all the issues that come with staying online for hours and hours at a time. We can develop skills on paper and pencil, a media that we use when going into higher education. We can have all the knowledge from reading a textbook while also having the benefits from being online.