Is Technology Controlling Us?
Technology, what does it mean to you? Technology to me means innovation, future, automation, and danger. I am not trying to sound too pessimistic but let’s face it, we are surrounded by technology on a daily basis. We use at least some form of technology daily. In 2017 research showed that the typical American checked or went on their phone at least 80 times per day:(https://nypost.com/2017/11/08/americans-check-their-phones-80-times-a-day-study/). Those results are quite shocking and I feel that, that number will only keep increasing over time. Those results are very important because it shows the type of culture we are living in and what we value.
Technology can be used in many different ways, both positively and negatively. The real problem begins when we don’t limit the amount of time we are spending on our devices. If we are not aware of this issue we will be the ones controlled by our devices. The positive side usually involves research or for school or work assignments which are both part of our professional lives. The negative aspect of technology is when we use technology for long periods of time for simple enjoyment, such as checking your social media accounts- Who’s getting divorced or who got accepted to Stanford University per se. We check our phones for long periods of time and are completely unaware of our surroundings. I get it we are social creatures and we want to know about everything that happens around us, yet the ironic part is that when our eyes our glued to our screens, we forget about what is really happening in present time.
I own an I-phone and it has always intrigued me how deceased CEO of Apple Steve Jobs and his team, decided to name all Apple devices beginning with an “I”- iPhone, iPad, iMac, and so on. Everything begins with an “I” which to me simply means you are one with your device which can be somewhat scary. I to me also means “individual”, which makes me think that we are creating an individualistic society. I guess having this type of society is fine, but when it comes to group projects or group work in professional settings, people will have a hard time collaborating and communicating with others. My point in all this is that being on our phones for too long can lead to having the personality of an introverted individual. Like Kayla Matthew states in her article, (https://www.theodysseyonline.com/technology-and-introverts), “The downside of technology with introverts is that it can cause social anxiety, burnout, and hinder coworker relations”.
I want to create awareness and offer some possible solutions that can help us with limiting the time we are spending on our devices. Personally, I notice that at times I rather go on social media for 1 hour when I could probably be walking around my block as a form of exercise, but 1 hr walking seems so long! When I watch a Netflix film, even if two hours pass by, it only feels like 30 minutes have passed by. I have tried changing my lifestyle in some positive ways, I do try to exercise while listening to music, I use an actual alarm clock to wake me up in the morning, because I noticed that when I use my phone as an alarm clock ill take longer to get ready in the morning, because I get distracted from all the notifications that I receive. Perhaps some other things you can try too would be going somewhere or doing something without using your phone when you would originally use it, simple things like going to the restroom, or not using your phone while you eat breakfast, lunch, or dinner can lead to positive changes. Studies have been done that using your phones while eating can actually a person to be unhappy-(https://time.com/5178352/phone-ruining-dinner/).
Simple changes like the ones I mentioned above will definitely improve your quality of life. There are so many beautiful things to experience outside of our phones in the real world. So if you are the type of person who is on their phone during dinner per se or take your phone to the bathroom, take this post into consideration and know that it is never too late to change to make improvements in your life.
So think about this for a minute, Is technology unconsciously depriving us of the ability to tell time….perhaps not, but it sure does distract us!
