The modern
world has become impressively different from the last century thanks to the
technology and information revolution. Today, modern technology allows anyone
to get access to a huge amount of information without making any particular
serious efforts. However, with the advent of new technologies, new problems
have emerged. With the invention of social networks, more and more people have
created accounts on them every year. The amount of content in applications grew
exponentially and people, accordingly, consumed it more and more often. Thus,
the world has become aware of many cases of the negative impact of gadgets and
media on the human body. This has been proven by more than one study, for
example, K et al. claim that “Technological gadgets though necessary do have an
influence in health and lifestyle of medicos in a negative direction which
could be attributed to overuse” (2020, p. 204). However, what specific problems
can be caused by the abuse of gadgets and an overabundance of information from
the media, you will learn from this article.
ences of this. One study “identified four typical symptoms of smartphone addiction, namely, withdrawal (eg, experiencing negative feelings when having no access to smartphones), salience (eg, constant checking and thinking about smartphones), conflict (eg, smartphone use interferes with family and work-life), and phantom phone signals (eg, illusory perception of a phone vibrating or ringing) ”(Li & Lin, 2019). According to Walters “significant increase in anxiety in our youth and identifies social media as a contributor” (2017, p. 8). Therefore, it is extremely important to control your “diet” from news and other content, and it is quite important to control the amount of content that your child consumes if you have any.
Another
problem with social media is subscribers' misconceptions about bloggers. The
fact is that no one knows for sure how the posts on Instagram correspond to the
user's real life. For example, if you see a photo of a man in an expensive car,
then you will probably think that he is very rich and successful. However, this
may turn out to be a simple deception, because in reality the car was rented
for a photo on Instagram. Such conclusions can lead people to despair, lead to
the idea that something is wrong with them and that they are worthless and will
never achieve anything. Such constant thoughts lead to various psychological
problems, sometimes even very serious ones, so you should never trust such
posts.
The
simplest action to solve these problems is to abstain from the use of gadgets
and social networks as much as possible. For most of us, this will seem wild,
since it may seem that at the present time it is impossible to live like that
and is completely stupid, however, this approach will definitely save you from
numerous problems and will open up a lot of free time for you.
References:
Hegde, A. M., Bhandary, M., & Balraj, K. (2019). Negative Impacts of
Electronic Gadgets on School Going Children in Dakshina Kannada District. Journal
of Advanced Medical and Dental Sciences Research, 7(11), 66–68.
https://search-proquest-com.unyp.idm.oclc.org/scholarly-journals/negative-impacts-electronic-gadgets-on-school/docview/2354386403/se-2?accountid=17238
K, S., Nair, S., & Achuthan, A. (2020). Influence of technological
gadgets on health and lifestyle of medico. National Journal of Physiology,
Pharmacy and Pharmacology, 10(3), 201–205. https://doi.org/10.5455/njppp.2020.10.12377201908012020
Li, L., & Lin, T. T. C. (2019). Over-connected? A qualitative
exploration of smartphone addiction among working adults in China. BMC
Psychiatry, 19(1), 1. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-019-2170-z
Walters, A. S. (2017). Solution to social media overuse? Put the phones
away! The Brown University Child and Adolescent Behavior Letter, 33(12),
8. https://doi.org/10.1002/cbl.30260
Hey, Kyrylo! I totally agree with you that media overuse has become one of the major issues of nowadays. I know a lot of people who are suffering from insomnia because of the all-day spending on surfing the Internet. Also, personally I faced cyberbullying in the early age, and thanks to your blog, researches and experts opinion, I can understand that maybe if I dedicated less time on posting pictures on Instagram and making people jealous of them, then I'd decreased the amount of hate towards me. Overall, I liked your blog and it was a pleasure for me to read it! It fully grabbed my attention!
ReplyDeleteI would like to start by saying that I thank you for covering this particular topic. In my personal view, we live in a world where social media has become nearly unavoidable and new psychological issues and addictions can come as a consequence of its overusage. I can definitely see why it is a problem, as just as most addictions, abstaining is a simple, yet difficult way of limiting and moderating the usage of media platforms. This was a insightful read flooded with relevant and useful information. Do you think that there is a possibility that media overusage is only going to become more common with each passing generation ?. Thanks in advance for the reply.
ReplyDeleteHi,
ReplyDeleteYou have broad up a very important topic. I agree that media overuse is a major issue nowadays. I have to say that it is crazy how time consuming and addictive social media can be. I think it is very important to be self-aware of our media usage and to be able to set boundaries as well to decrease any device usage before bed due to its negative impact on our melatonin levels. I like the evidence you have provided because it has made me think about my personal media usage and as well has been very eye-opening.
As someone who's had trouble getting his sleep schedule in order for over a year now, reading about the correlation between the overconsumption of media and poor sleep was eye-opening. In my opinion, the notion that the overconsumption of media can be directly tied to escapism is also something worth considering when discussing this topic. Here's an excerpt from an essay I recently wrote (for ENG 101) on my experience with media addiction after moving to Syria; I hope it can add something to the conversation:
ReplyDelete"After a few dozen failed attempts at socializing with my newfound countrymen, it finally dawned on me that I was ill equipped to integrate into Syrian society. That combined with the excruciatingly miserable living conditions led me to the conclusion that I’d rather isolate myself in my house than deal with the outside world. The first thing you see upon entering Latakia is a piece of graffiti that translates to “welcome, citizens of hell”. There are only so many times you can watch toddlers beg for scraps in the streets before you it starts breaking you down as a person. I started looking for something to fill the void, and turned my attention to my phone. According to Nyal, most of the time we spend on our phones can be linked to loneliness and anxiety (Bowles, 2019). Keeping this in mind, the number of hours I spend on screens per day skyrocketed from four hours a day back in the U.A.E, to a whopping fourteen hours a day in Syria."
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/06/technology/phone-screen-addiction-tech-nir-eyal.html