The Relationship We Have With Technology
Technology is one of the greatest things to ever happening to our modern-day society. We rely on it to win presidential races, to find out information within seconds, and, as a fun hobby we get to share with others. The benefits of technology are a long laundry list detailed in every which way. However, over the past few years as technology becomes more and more popular there seems to be more problems that arise. Whoever invented social media probably was not thinking about cyberbullying, revenge porn, and making people into lifeless souls. Technology brings out the best and worst in us as people and whether you're old or young everyone has a relationship with it.
Technology is at the center of everyone's lives and some people prioritize it over family, others well being, and their well-being. While this is unfortunate, this is not the part of technology that bothers me. I think that society's relationship with technology is toxic because we abuse it. It sounds silly that overusing TikTok can have a real effect on our lives, but studies say differently.
Youth suicide rates are rising now more than ever in our country, and social media is playing a factor. NBC News covered a story where a 15-year-old girl, Sadie Riggs committed suicide due to cyberbullying and name-calling online. A prime example of people abusing their privilege on social media to hurt someone else. A 10-year-long study at BYU showed that girls who use social media 2-3 hours a day starting from the age of 13 are at higher risk for suicide when they become young adults.
Social media also encourages unhealthy trends that kids think are normal. The University of Utah's blog explains a challenge called the blue whale challenge. Teens on Snapchat are encouraged to cut and burn themselves which can lead to injury or death.
As I attack society for their use of technology I have a relationship with technology that I should discuss as well. I think my technology use is in the middle between healthy and unhealthy but learning to be on the healthier side. I only use my computer for educational purposes keeping that side of my technology life very healthy and intentional.
As a student-athlete, we have rules about what we can and can not post on social media. That takes away any temptation I may have to post anything bad. I do not comment on others' posts unless I know them personally and if I do comment they are always positive or silly comments. I also never tend to receive negative comments online and if I do I do my best to ignore them. My use of technology starts to become unhealthy when I look at my screen time on my phone.
I spend far too long scrolling on social media aimlessly looking at videos that are not healthy for my mind and soul. Scrolling for too long can cause one's brain to rot making them feel lazy and unproductive. While I don't think my scrolling habits cause danger, it is also something that is not positively benefitting me.
I think that technology is both teaching me and misleading me at the same time but it depends on what platform I am using. When I am looking at a news article usually my family has sent it to me or it is a required educational article. I learn about recent events that have happened around our country like the shooting in Florida state that I looked up. Whenever I look at news websites I am rarely misled.
The problem is I am rarely looking at news websites. As a young adult in this society, I am attracted to the fast news on social media. Fast news is quick videos where people cram in stories to try to get the point across. This misleads me a lot because people lie and often leave out the whole story. I am unfortunately the young adult who gets a lot of their information from TikTok because it draws my eye and it's convenient.
It does concern me that technology is misused and abused. People are doing it unknowingly and harming their brains and others in the process. It is not a coincidence that as social media rates get higher so do suicide rates. These statistics are being ignored and overlooked by the public. People are losing their loved ones due to something that's happening behind a screen. Will we create a society filled with robots and lifeless souls? I am concerned about society as a whole but mainly my generation specifically. We all spend way too much time on social media and we fill our head with lies. It makes me uncomfortable that people are using conspiracy theories as their main news source. What is the solution when people are convinced that false information is fully true?