These are the five main areas of technology overuse that may be impacting your life. These are comparable to health related diseases like diabetes and heart failure that strike when one's body is used to a poor diet.
1. Addictions
Technology addiction is sometimes called Internet Use Disorder (IUD) or Internet Addiction Disorder (IAD) and is a fairly new, very real phenomenon. It’s a serious problem involving the inability to control one’s use of various kinds of technology. With any element of addiction is an element of escape- people are creating online lives that they like better than their own. All addictions have things in common, like pleasure while engaging in it or withdrawal when not using it. Pornography is a huge factor in internet addiction. 9 out of 10 boys and 6 out of 10 girls are exposed to pornography online before the age of 18. When exposed to pornography only once, the normal human being’s mind loses part of its ability to generate new brain cells.
In a recent study by Nielson, a media analysis group, it was found that the average time spent on technology is 12 hours and 20 minutes per day. Most people are addicted to technology and do not realize they are. You can tell if you exhibit signs of internet addiction by asking yourself these questions: Do you feel preoccupied with technology, thinking about when you’re going to get on it or check it again? Do you feel the need to use technology in large amounts of time in order to achieve satisfaction? Have you repeatedly made unsuccessful efforts to to control or cut back your time spent using technology? Do you feel restless, moody, depressed, or irritable when attempting to cut down or stop technology use? Do you stay on technology longer than originally indented? Do you use technology as a way of escaping from problems or of relieving a bad mood? If you think you could be doing some of these things, you may be addicted to technology. It is easy to become this way, as technology is constantly around us and we have instant access to it.
In a recent study by Nielson, a media analysis group, it was found that the average time spent on technology is 12 hours and 20 minutes per day. Most people are addicted to technology and do not realize they are. You can tell if you exhibit signs of internet addiction by asking yourself these questions: Do you feel preoccupied with technology, thinking about when you’re going to get on it or check it again? Do you feel the need to use technology in large amounts of time in order to achieve satisfaction? Have you repeatedly made unsuccessful efforts to to control or cut back your time spent using technology? Do you feel restless, moody, depressed, or irritable when attempting to cut down or stop technology use? Do you stay on technology longer than originally indented? Do you use technology as a way of escaping from problems or of relieving a bad mood? If you think you could be doing some of these things, you may be addicted to technology. It is easy to become this way, as technology is constantly around us and we have instant access to it.
2. Broken Relationships
Little by little, technology has become an integral part of the way that people communicate with one another and has increasingly taken the place of face-to-face communication. Here are some major factors in the overuse of technology:
- Isolation. When engaging with technology, one is normally alone. Social isolation is a lack of contact with other people in daily living. Technology greatly adds to this. In a study at Elon University, 100 students were asked about their habits regarding technology. None of the 100 students in the study said that they never use their cell phone or tablet when spending time with friends or family. This is just one example of how technology increases our isolation, even when we are with other people.
- In another study produced by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, it was said that increased isolation and loneliness led to early death. The lack of social contact continued to lead to early death among 6,500 men and women tracked over a seven-year period. As shown in these examples, isolation can have a disastrous effect.
"We expect more from technology, and less from each other." |
"We are collecting friends like stamps, not distinguishing quantity from quality, and converting the deep meaning and intimacy of friendships with photos and online chat conversations." "We sacrifice true conversation for mere connection. So we create a situation in which we appear to have many friends, but find ourselves lonely." |
- Lack of Social Skills. Based on a study conducted by Elon University, 62% of students used technology when in the presence of others. An overwhelming 92% of respondents in the study believed technology negatively affects face-to-face communication. People are becoming more reliant on communicating with friends and family through technology and are neglecting to engage personally, uninhibited by phones and devices, even when actually in the presence of others. Because of these large amounts of screen time and little amounts of face to face interaction, people are becoming consumed with digital friends in a digital world instead of cultivating real relationships.
- A 2012 study from the University of Essex demonstrated that merely having a cell phone visible in the room—even if no one checked it—made people less likely to develop a sense of intimacy and empathetic understanding during meaningful conversations. Interestingly, the researchers suggest that the experiment participants did not necessarily consciously notice the effect of the phone.
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3. Health Issues
As much as it sounds extreme, the overuse of technology can have serious impacts on our physical health:
- Obesity. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, about one-third of American children and teens are overweight or obese. According to a report in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association in 2008, nine out of 10 food advertisements shown during Saturday morning programming are for low-nutrient foods that are high in fat, sodium and added sugars. Technology can go hand in hand with cravings and diet. With a sedentary lifestyle that the usage of technology presents also comes an increase in weight gain.
- Developmental Issues. Four critical factors necessary to achieve healthy child development are movement, touch, human connection, and exposure to nature. These types of sensory inputs ensure normal development of posture, bilateral coordination, optimal arousal states and self-regulation necessary for achieving foundation skills for eventual school entry. Young children require 2-3 hours per day of active rough and tumble play to achieve adequate sensory stimulation to their vestibular, proprioceptive and tactile systems. With the sedentary lifestyle that comes with technology overuse, children are not getting this- leading to a higher risk for serious developmental issues in children.
- Physical Issues. Time identifies “Computer Vision Syndrome” as the complex of problems associated with excessive screen time, including eyestrain, blurred vision, and dry eyes. The National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders reports that about 15 percent (26 million) of Americans between the ages of 20 and 69 have a reduced capacity to hear high frequency sounds because of exposure to loud sounds. A 2005-2006 study published in the Journal of American Medicine in 2010 reported that 19.5% of American adolescents aged 12 to 19 suffered from hearing loss. That’s a jump of one-third from the numbers reported in 1988-1994. Some of that increase may be attributable to earbud use. All of these physical issues are very real things that happen to so many users of technology.
- Sleep patterns. Heavy cell phone use showed an increase in sleep disorders in men and an increase in depressive symptoms in both men and women.
4. Emotional Stressors
Technology overuse doesn't just interfere with our interaction with the world around us. It also blocks the road to connection with ourselves:
- Anxiety. In a recent Mobile Mindset study by Lookout, it was found that 73 percent of people would panic if they lost their smartphone. Another survey conducted by the Salford Business School at the University of Salford with 228 participants were polled for Anxiety UK’s research- Forty-five percent of responders said they feel “worried or uncomfortable” when email and Facebook are inaccessible. Anxiety is a very real force that goes along with technology overuse.
- Depression. Studies show that if you are exposed to social media only once a day, you are 30% more likely to engage in suicidal thoughts and depression that day. Leeds University researchers, writing in the Psychopathology journal, said a small proportion of internet users were classed as internet addicts and that people in this group were more likely to be depressed than non-addicted users. Most people become depressed when comparing their lives to others they see on social media, as well as a type of depression that comes with not being able to be on technology.
- Stress. British researchers are hypothesizing that perhaps people become so used to and even dependent on receiving constant messages, emails, and tweets, that the moment they don’t receive one, their stress level increases. In a study conducted by the Huffington Post, social network users were found to be 14 percent more likely than non-users to characterize their lives as at least “somewhat stressful.” Simply being “plugged in” all the time is a major stress-driver. Many feel stress when on social media looking at other’s lives, because users feel the need to improve their lives. 40% of people post things to improve their image. Overall, technology can have a major stress factor.
5. Clinical Disorders
This continued to bring validity to the fact that addition to technology is a real and ever-present danger:
- Nomophobia. The anxiety that arises from not having access to one’s mobile device. The term “Nomophobia” is an abbreviation of “no-mobile phobia.” The condition has found its way into being proposed by several researchers and studies to be labeled as a Specific Phobia in the most recent edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5). It has prompted a dedicated Nomophobia treatment program at Morningside Recovery Center in Newport Beach, California.
- Phantom Ringing Syndrome. According to Dr. Larry Rosen, author of the book iDisorder, 70 percent of people who self-categorize as heavy mobile users have reported experiencing phantom buzzing in their pocket. It’s all thanks to misplaced response mechanisms in our brains.
- Narcissism. According to the DSM IV-TR, Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD) is diagnosed in between 2% and 16% of the population in clinical settings. A study at Elon University with 93 women found that 55% of participants agreed that posting of selfies to different social networking platforms encouraged their narcissism and selfish behaviors. College students today are more narcissistic and self-centered than a generation ago, according to a study released by San Diego State University. In their study, researchers trace the phenomenon back to the "self-esteem movement" that began in in the 1980s. And, they say, young people's self-regard is fueled by current technologies such as MySpace and YouTube.
- Online Gaming Disorder. An unhealthy need to access online multiplayer games. According to a 2010 study funded by the South Korean government, about 8 percent of the population between the ages of 9 and 39 suffer from either Internet or online gaming addiction. The country has even enacted a so-called “Cinderella Law,” which cuts off access to online games between midnight and 6 a.m. to users under the age of 16 nationwide.
As you can see, the overuse of technology has very real effects in every aspect of human lives. The grip that technology holds on us is like filling our bodies with unhealthy food- we are overindulging in something that is going to eventually lead to disaster. The way to fix this is simply maintain a balanced lifestyle- like maintaining a good and healthy diet. |