How Much Technology is Too Much? November 18, 2013 Megan Iaconelli
How many times a day do you check your phone; to check the time, to refresh your twitter feed, to check up on friends on Facebook? How many times in a day do you subconsciously and meaninglessly scroll and scroll when you’re alone? According to the Daily Mail, a UK based online newspaper; the average person checks their phone, for whatever reason, nine times an hour. What is the only other thing we humans do just as frequently? Breathe. The average human takes 12 breaths a minutes, scarily close to the amount of times they post, text, call, email, etc.
But this is all normal right? Everyone is doing it so there are no real consequences except maybe some wasting of time, right? It’s just how our generation is supposed to be, right? Wrong. There is an increasing amount of evidence that the more time spent with technology, especially smartphones, (and even more specifically social media,), the more damage we are causing our own mental, physical, and emotional health.
In May of 2013, Kelley Simpson of the University of New Hampshire wrote an article titled Is Technology Affecting Mental Health? What she, along with many researchers across the globe found is that the answer to that question is a very clear yes. It is obvious that technology has numerous benefits that make our lives less stressful but think about every time you’ve stressed out overthinking technological situations, like why someone hasn’t responded to your text or why no one has liked your Facebook status. These are both negative stresses that we may not see as dangerous to our health but are taking a serious toll on our mental and emotional stability.
An interesting article my Alice Martin on Edudemic.com stated what she believes to be the four most important side effects of technology. Elevated exasperation, meaning that children get so frustrated so easily when asked to do something while their “busy” playing games on their phones that, while possibly mentally stimulating, are for the most part negatively impacting them. Children that over use technology also show clear signs of deteriorated patience. This generation is used to googling an answer to a complex question and it appearing in moments. If a webpage takes a minute to load, they get angry, and they expect lighting quick results in everything they do, which also leads to a lack of determination and persistence in everyday life. Martin also speaks about children’s declined writing skills. Kids in this day and age rely on spell check and grammar check and never learn these important skills to becoming good writers. Children barely know cursive anymore because they always rely on typing.
So these negative effects are not enough to convince you of the negative effects of technology? How about the physical effects; eyestrain and carpal tunnel? Still not enough? Then we must consider the most terrifying effects that the overuse of technology can have on children. For one, the academics of children greatly suffer the more they use technology. A study found that high school and college students that checked Facebook at least once during a 15-minute study period achieved lower grades than those students who did not.
So from this overuse, there are clear physical and academic problems, but for me, the most terrifying of these consequences are the effects on mental health and social well being. Daily overuse of media and technology makes teenagers more prone to anxiety and depression, which in turn leads to future health problems. Teens who use Facebook often show narcissistic tendencies and signs of psychological disorders including aggressive and antisocial behavior. These children don’t know how to feel real empathy for other people, often resulting in a generation that is socially awkward, cannot be alone, and is not to mention extremely unhealthy.
So next time you feel yourself subconsciously grab your phone, think about why you’re doing it. Is it because you are afraid to be alone? Maybe because you feel awkward in a social situation? Remember at that moment that those feelings are normal. It is okay to be alone, beneficial even. And the only way to feel less awkward socially is to be less awkwardly socially. Don’t grab your phone, put it down and smile at people and see how much better you feel.