Negative Effects of Technology on Mental Health Essay Example

📌Category: Health, Mental health, Science, Technology
📌Words: 1213
📌Pages: 5
📌Published: 25 June 2021

Technology is the sum of technique, methods, and processes, used in the production of goods and services or in the accomplishment of objectives, such as in science. It has always been in a series of debates on whether or not it is good or bad. Technology has become a big part of our society. A lot of technology is helping us advance, but there is a harmful side too. Technology can help us advance in schooling, medicine, the economy, communication, and knowledge. However, it can also harm us in ways, such as our mental health, our sleep schedule, the way we perceive things, schooling,  and communication. 

Even though technology helps us and the people around us, it is a major cause of why we have a lot of problems with not only ourselves, but our mental health as well. The reason why technology affects not only ourselves, but our mental health as well is because it messes up the image we have of ourselves, our sleep schedule, the way we communicate, or the way we view things. For example, When we go on apps like: Instagram, TIkTok, Snapchat, and Twitter we tend to look at the things we find funny, beautiful, or sad. Which can either have negative or positive effects and it mainly has a negative on us because we compare ourselves to the models we see on these apps and immediately judge the way we look or we feel lonely because we have no one to laugh with when finding a funny post. That is why technology has such a negative impact on an individual and their mental health.

Technology can be a good or bad thing when it comes to us and our mental health. The reason why is because technology can either make us confident and make us feel worthy or it can make us feel ugly and not worth anyone's time. A couple of ways technology affects our mental health and ourselve is sleep, depression, addiction, 24/7 stress, fear of missing out, isolation, incivility, insecurity, and anxiety (9 Ways Technology Affects Mental Health). Sleeping is affected by technology because using technology before bed or late at night can really mess with our sleep patterns, habits, and our brains. Which can leave us with a sleeping disorder, stress, or depressive symptoms. Depression is affected by technology because individuals who feel the need to have their phones always available are the most likely to be in a darker place than others. Addiction is affected by technology because the brains of individuals who abuse technology develop certain patterns over time that keep on repeating. Also, the amount of times technology abusers check their devices are just enough to trigger the addiction oriented parts of their brains. 24/7 stress is affected by technology because when we come home from school or work and immediately get on our devices our brains don’t get the chance to de-stress causing our brains to get stuck on stress mode. With technology comes the fear of missing out which is why people feel the need to always be a part of the social app world. They are scared they are going to miss something, then be left out or made fun of. Isolation also comes with the use of technology because it can lead us to become isolated due to us always being on our devices and avoiding interactions with others. Incivility and insecurity are a big part of technology use because incivility is due to bullying over technology has increased and insecurity happens because people are constantly comparing themselves to models or people who are pretty or skinny. Anxiety is affected by technology because technology can cause anxiety because of the fears of missing out or making us think we might not be as successful as other people.

Technology has both advantages and disadvantages that affect us and the world around us. The advantages that technology has on us and the world around us are access to information, saves time, ease of mobility, better communication means, innovation In many fields, and better learning techniques. The access to information is helpful because we have easier access to the news and to questions we have. Technology saves time because we can access things like GPS’s or homework questions that we are confused about. Technology has also helped create cars, planes, buses, motorcycles, and much more. This helps us get around faster and easier to the destination we have in mind. Our devices help us communicate with family or friends easier if they live in a different country or if we just want to talk. Technology has made many advances in fields like: medicine, farming, or electronics. Technology helps us find new and easier ways to find diseases and cures for people and animals. Lastly, technology makes learning easier and better for not only students, but teachers too because teachers can find new ways to teach and students can learn new ways to study. The disadvantages that technology has on us and the world around us are data security, privacy concerns, social disconnect, work overload, digital media and manipulation. Data security is a disadvantage because our data can be stored and collected. This can cause making sure our data is secured and safe difficult because there is a chance that it can be hacked into and taken. It affects our privacy because that can also be hacked. Technology can also cause us to become isolated and to disconnect from society. Our devices can also be very stressful because we always want to check out emails and work load, so that we don’t miss out on anything. Social media can cause us to become insecure and unsure of ourselves because we are always comparing ourselves to one another and who is prettier, skinner, and taller.

Technology has affected not only individuals, but the world too because now we look at the world and individuals through a device. Technology is changing the way we see the world and people because, “Automation is a normal part of society, social media changes opinions, communication usually involves screens, we are in constant need for entertainment, changes in focus starts young (How Technology Is Changing How We See the World). Technology not only affects the way we perceive the world, but people too. The reason why is because people are influenced by other people, so if a group of people doesn’t like an influencer or a random person then you are most likely to follow them because you want to fit in and not be bullied because you do like them. When interviewing Kim I had asked her what her thoughts were on this topic and her response was that “technology can help us view and see what is in the world, so that we know where we want to go and to know if it is safe enough to go there. However, technology has taken away the need to want to leave our houses because we feel as though everything we need to see and know is already in front of us” (Richardson).  Technology helps us make trips easier because we can look up the costs of everything, such as plane tickets, hotels, food, or other expenses.

Throughout the research I have conducted I found out that technology is a big part of our lives and that we are connected to it in more ways than one. We as a society have built around technology because as technology improves, so does our medicine, schooling, careers, and automobiles. We use technology in everyday life to make our lives easier and more productive. Though we have disadvantages in technology the advantages outweigh them because technology helps us improve our life for the better. Technology brings together tools to promote development, make tasks easier for us, helps us find information, and helps solve problems for mankind.

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