I went three days without social media. No Instagram, Snapchat, or Twitter. There were no posts to like and no stories to watch. I have to admit, it was not easy. I did notice more positive sides than negative. I spent more time with my family, I procrastinated less, and I got more sleep. Technology is addicting and our society does not realize that. It is slowly taking over our lives. It is now part of everything we do. We need to look up from our phones and see things from a different perspective. If we can do that, we can accomplish so much more. Technology is causing harm to our society. It is causing depression, anxiety, seperation, and stress.
It might appear as if technology is helping us communicate through social media and educating us. What this argument fails to consider is that, “They play games and communicate over the Internet” (Gray). Children are spending most of their time in front of a screen. Parents are purchasing tablets for three year olds to keep them busy.
Gray takes the position that, “We would prevent children from educating themselves in ways that they always have, and we would see the ride of a generation of adults who don’t know how to be adults because they never had a chance to practice” (Gray). He is saying that parents shouldn’t ban or limit a child’s screen time because they need to be able do it on their own. Gray is mistaken because he overlooks the fact that adults are addicted to technology as well. If adults can’t even get off their cell phones, how will a child?
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Social Media is a big part of technology. It’s what we use to share our lives with others. We communicate with family and friends. It’s also worsening depression. “In several recent studies, teen and young adult users who spent the most time on Instagram, Facebook, and other platforms were shown to have a substantially higher (from 13 percent to 66 percent) reported rate of depression than those who spent the least time” (Miller). Girls are comparing themselves to models on Instagram. It is bringing down their self-esteem.
“‘Many girls are bombarded with their friends posting the most perfect pictures of themselves, or they’re following celebrities and influencers who do a lot of Photoshopping and have makeup and hair teams,’ explains Hamlet. ‘If that’s their model for what is normal, it can be very hard on their self-confidence’” (Miller).
Teenage girls are negatively comparing themselves to photoshopped celebrities. They are not satisfied with their appearances anymore. Some girls are even trying to look like someone else. Cyberbullying is happening at younger ages. Children are getting bullied because they are not pretty, or popular. Cyberbullying has gotten so bad to the point where some teenagers self harm themselves or even commit suicide. It’s starting to happen at younger ages because devices are now being given to younger children.
People are spending more time alone and on their devices instead surrounding themselves with others. Nowadays, we would rather interact with people over a screen than with our parents or siblings in the next room. “Not having your phone is a high level of stress” (Turkle 242). We start to panic when we do not feel our phone in our back pocket. Texting can bring anxiety when we are waiting for a response. “Parents text with one hand and pushed swings with the other” (Turkle 266).
Parents are so caught up in their phone, they don’t give their full attention to their children anymore. You can walk into a restaurant and see a family sitting at a table with a cell phone glued to their hand. Families need to learn to put the devices down and get back to having communication with each other. It is beneficial to be able to talk about your day because you have no idea what a family member might be going through.
After researching this topic, I became more aware of the negative impact technology can bring into our lives. As convenient as it may be, it has caused so much damage. We need to bring open communication back and not allow technology to take over our lives. There is no doubt that technology addiction has to be taken more seriously.
Work Cited
- Boyd, Danah. “It’s Complicated: the Social Lives of Networked Teens.” Yale University Press, 2015
- Gray, Peter. “The Culture of Childhood: We’ve almost Destroyed It.” Psychology Today, 31 Oct. 2016, https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/freedom-learn/201610/the-culture-almost-destroyed-it.
- Miller, Caroline. “Does Social Media Cause Depression.” Common Sense Media: Ratings, Reviews, and Advice, www.commonsensemedia.org/mental-health/does-social-media-case-depression.
- Turkle, Sherry. “Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other.” Basic Books, 2017, 242-266
