In this day and age, it is impossible to avoid technology. It surrounds us completely; from our laptops and cellphones to our facebook, instagram and twitter accounts, all of us who own a cellphone or computer to some extent or another have become increasingly dependent on it. The reliance of some on technology, however, has reached to a point of what some may call addiction. This obsession reflects a apparent patterned shift in man's evolution as we move further into the digital age.
Addiction to technology is a fairly recent phenomenon, recent being few years ago, that has taken its roots in our increasingly digital society. Mobile phones, text messages and sites like instagram, facebook and twitter have become the platform for many to network with other people.
The reason for this shift towards technology in my opinion is to fulfill man's innate need to connect with others. This has been proven to be true but it seems as if our innate need to connect with others has surpassed the point of this simple need as social media and internet connection now provides individuals with the ability to seamlessly connect with hundreds of people simultaneously.There is a prestige associated with having the most friends on Facebook or hundreds of followers on your twitter which implies that the self esteem people gather from their popularity on the internet acts as substitute for personal interactions in real life. Similar is the case with cell phones as getting a call is a boost as it makes you feel good to be wanted. This proliferation in the amount of cell phone users is also due to the simplicity and accessibility hence making it more accessible. A direct consequence of this accessibility is that it has reduced face to face contact between family and friends. Nowadays a visit is complimentary to a short message on cell phone or a social networking site such as facebook. This results in people losing touch with what happens in the real world and becoming progressively dependent on technology to fulfill their need to connect.
Technological addiction among teenagers especially is having a disruptive effect on their education. Most school and colleges have banned the use of cell phones during class but this rule is easily overlooked by most of the student body. A quick message to a friend, usually regarding a mundane topic, is much more important to the technological addict students then the lecture at hand. Many of the cell phone and social networking site users have developed this as a habit and many find themselves sending and posting messages almost without any self realization. This disrupts lesson frequently. Cell phone and internet messaging has also given rise to many spelling and grammatical mistakes to short abbreviations of almost anything. This "Internet Lingo" is often found on many papers submitted by such technological addict students. The habit of reading short scripts and text on the internet and cell phone has decreased the concentration of the individual student. These students cannot be motivated to read for longer time hence, the amount of students reading books is decreasing at an alarming rate. Another outcome of messaging on phones and social networking sites is a decrease in the ability of making a conversation. The use of ineffective, social networking websites like Twitter make it more and more difficult for us to communicate the way we once did...by talking. This increasing use of messaging has decreased the communication skill of an average user. Many people are unable to retort verbally to an argument. They feel anxiety and pressure while doing so in a verbal conversation. On the other hand the same individuals will have no trouble settling the debate in a short messaging medium.
Computer Gaming can be considered another "technological drug". Computer Gaming has increased exponentially over the past two decades and has become a multibillion dollar industry. This sector of technology is very addictive as it combines the users' fantasy and imagination and gives them a whole new dimension. Another aspect of the Computer Gaming is online gaming where people interact with one another through their game characters. The Online Gaming is very popular as it again provides a social interaction of people. People addict to online gaming frequently play more than 50 hours a week. This excessive playing has led the gaming addicts to neglect their health, family and social obligations.
I find it should be a necessity to bring awareness to the consequences that cellphones, social media, online games and the internet in general pose on all of us. As the current generation will be the leaders of the their own generation very shortly and it should be important that we begin to disregard our cellphones and computers and start paying attention to living.
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