Now more than ever, we realize how much of a dent has technology put in every single one of our daily lives. Having to spend all of our time inside our homes, some form of a smart device has made itself an integral part of our routines; working from home, watching movies, calling, or texting our friends. But I’m going to play the devil’s advocate here for some time. Is it all unicorns and rainbows with technology? Let’s try and find out.
Why Did Technology Make Way In Our lives?
As human beings, we have always strived to make our lives more simple, comfortable, and easier to lead. From the discovery of fire by striking two stones together to the invention of artificial intelligence, everything was done, by accident or on purpose, to better human lives. And they have done so, with remarkable effect.
Every single industry sector that we can think of, IT, manufacturing, human resources, telecommunication, has technology integrated into it. This is the macro outlook on the subject. Even at the micro-level, the daily life of the common man has been equally impacted by it. Cell phones, laptops, smartwatches, all have made the lives of human beings simple to a great extent.
But Is It All It’s Done?
That’s a very hard claim to make. With all the positives, come a bunch of negatives as well. There have been serious claims that the use of technological devices is large to be moderated. I am going to put forth some food for thought here. There are various apps on cell phones, whose primary purpose is to curtail the usage of cell phones themselves. If the picture is all rosy and pretty, why put something like this in the devices themselves?
Harmful Impacts Of Technology
Although there have been numerous scholars who have outlined the various harmful impacts of the usage of technology, here we will try to highlight what we found were the most important and noteworthy of the large list.
In this time of social media, there have been various studies that indicate that societies are more isolated than they have ever been before. It is quite intuitive when thought of, but gets very shadowed due to all the glitter around the pros of technology. Furthermore, social media is one of the key contributors to the increased cases of depression and anxiety in the current global scenario.
This is caused due to a plethora of reasons, from small and personal issues like overthinking on the end of the users themselves to large and more social issues like cyberbullying.
2. Unhealthy Lifestyles
It is a widely accepted fact that all the screens that we use in our daily lives emit a large percentage of blue light. This blue light emitted has shown to negatively impact the circadian rhythm, which impacts our sleep patterns. In addition to this, the usage of technology in daily lives itself has been termed as something close to an addiction. A study suggests that the average person uses their cell phone for as much as 32 hours a week.
Apart from this, the integration of technology has increased the time that we stay stationary. This is contributing to the increased cases of hypertension, obesity, diabetes, and spondylitis.
3. Psychological Harms
With little kids being given cell phones when they start crying or refuse to eat to occupy them, the emotional growth of kids is being stunted because of this. The constant occupation of children with cell phones, be it for “educational videos” or entertaining games, gives them very little time to actually feel what they feel.
It is a large plus for parents to actually not have to deal with children struggling with growth, hormones, and whatnot, but the issues pertinent to the impacts of this practice are those which would manifest at a later stage in these kids’ lives in the form of anxiety, social ineptitude, etc.
Conclusion
It’s not all bad with technology, but it is very crucial to note that moderation is very important to maintain in the usage of technology; not only that is done for entertainment purposes but also which is done for so-called “productive” purposes.