Does Technology Actually Make Us Feel More Alone?
When I think about the question of technology and the ability it has to make us feel “alone”, I think about myself, my family and my friends. As a millennial, I have grown up in such a technologically advanced world that it is becoming more and more of a second nature that children at young ages of 10 and 12 are receiving their first cellphone. While time progresses and the need for technology rises, our society as a whole is slowly starting to lose focus of the true realitcal things in life, such as self-happiness and making valuable friendships. My sole understanding of this issue comes from the overwhelming growth of technology, specifically social media. As young middle
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Children are now growing up with a cellphone at hand versus a coloring book or a play-set. As millennials age and the amount of millennials increase, so does the usage of technology. Children are increasingly losing focus and independence and have started to become so reliant on their cellphones; it has even gotten to the point that children are using phone applications to finish homework. Also occurring, is the lack of sleep. Limiting time asleep is a dangerous thing, especially for adolescents whose brains are still developing. A poll from the Aspen Education Group found that adolescents who had four or more technological devices in their bedrooms were almost twice as likely to fall asleep in school and while doing homework. As a result, these children are losing focus on schoolwork. Eventually this will cause a domino effect: an increase stress level due to being behind in class could even increase thoughts of suicide which will eventually make you feel alone being behind in class while everyone else is up to speed. In Jeane W. Tweng’s article, “Have Smartphones Destroyed a Generation” she states that this feeling of loneliness is “swift and significant” (Tweng, 17). Because girls use social media more than boys, the awareness of not being invited to a gathering is obvious. Over-time, these girls and sometimes boys are given “additional opportunities to feel excluded and lonely” (Twang, 17). This trend, in
“...between 2005 and 2012, 35% of the couples marrying in the US had met online” (González). The internet is used in many ways such as, communicating, posting status updates, and discovering new information. People most commonly argue the internet to be the source of loneliness and depression, whereas others say that it generates more relationships and friends. Electronic devices, such as mobile phones and laptops are utilized in everyday life, whether it be for work, school, personal matters, and in many other ways. It helps promote interactivity and involvement in a community, where you are not alone. It also permits transparent discussions, between friends, family, and others, that are beneficial in everyday life worldwide. Technology does not make us more alone as it gives people the opportunity to meet new people, supplements communications, and aids those who are already lonely.
In American author and psychologist, Jean Twenge’s article, “Have Smartphones Destroyed a Generation?” Twenge argues that smartphones have seriously taken a toll on Millennials. She claims that smartphones are wreaking havoc on Millennials’ mental health, as this generation is apparently “safer than ever” physically, they are “seriously unhappy” with life in general (Twenge 4). According to Twenge, children who see their friends on social media more than they do face-to-face feel lonely and excluded. I feel that with a majority of my generation, this is accurate to an extent. Many fights and arguments between younger people stem from Instagram and Snapchat posts. For example, innovations like the SnapMap now allow people to view their friends’ locations. Various viral memes, a humorous image, video, etc. copied and spread rapidly throughout the Internet,
Sherry Turkle, a professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology said “If you don't learn how to be alone, you’ll only know how to be lonely” (Doc1). Technology temporarily fills a void for us, but in the end the void just gets bigger. Technology can make us connected but also lonely, which is why I think we should limit our
We all know technology is a good thing, right? Or is it? We can all come up with reasons why technology is helpful or appropriate like we can for a particular medicine. And while some drugs are really great to cure or prevent a disease, sometimes the side effects outweigh any possible benefit. The same is true with technology. Some common negative side effects of technology are kids playing on their phones instead of going outside to play or young people not interacting face-to-face as much as they used to. Parenting is an area that has suffered since the rise in technology, specifically with phone use.
In our everyday technology world, the cell phone has changed the person inner soul mentally. Through time cellphones have advance from a positive shift being an interactive media tool to one friend. Smartphone allow us to communicate long distance, form friendship, and unite with our lost self. One may believe it has resulted in an advantage in how people verbally communicate and interact with one another, but that is not the situation. Cell phone have shifted the state of character in which a person goes from the state of solitude to a state of feeling loneliness. An intimacy that is lost. Meaning technology has an effect on our social isolation, many times making us feel lonelier than before. The Illusion of phones
To begin, technology has had negative effects in the behavior pattern of adolescents. There has been recent research done to study how technology has affected the behavior of teenagers.According to the article, “The Dark Side of Internet Use: Two Longitudinal Studies of Excessive Internet Use, Depressive Symptoms, School Burnout and Engagement Among Finnish Early and Late Adolescents,” “Simultaneously with supporting creative social activities, socio-digital participation may also lead to compulsive and addictive behavioral patterns affecting both general and school-related mental health problems” (344.) School-related mental health problems such as depression and school burnout are examples. Depression
For this very reason, people of all most all age group are lonely and socially isolated. Well, the worst part is that not many realize they are trapped by the smartphone, which substitutes a full social life full of values and bonhomie with a false sense of reality. Do you remember how tongue-tied you were when you met your Facebook friend in person, whereas you could chat with him for ages and could share
Currently, a common belief is that technology makes people closer and linked, but people are paying more attention to their devices instead of noticing the world around them, which makes people more alone. At family gatherings, more people are beginning to use their cell phones instead of communicating face to face with their families. The truth is that people who are overusing technology do not see how they are perceived. While these people think, they are socializing through their cell phones, they are in fact losing their real-life relationships, causing a sense of loneliness. According to Julie Peterson “Characterized by the rapid expanse of liberalization, urbanization and globalization, loneliness is no longer a positive delicacy nevertheless, the boundless openness towards the world is making people more alone than ever.” Instead of people talking to cashiers or waitresses at stores, people are on their phones. As a rule, in many restaurants and businesses, a
It's important that children socialize and go out there in the real world and see new perspectives with their own eyes. Therefore, technology has created everything to be seen through a screen; this has created isolation. It prevents teens from interacting with other people anywhere they go; this results in having no social skills and having a challenging time to have an open conversation. On Roogirl, the article demonstrates that, “We isolate ourselves by walking around in our own little world, listening to our iPods or staring at the screen of the latest mobile device even when we are around other people” (Hosale). This shows as time passes young adults are getting used to heavily relying on, especially younger children
The cellular telephone or commonly known as the cell phone is a common contributing factor to this. The invention of the cell phone has allowed us to communicate with someone anywhere in the world at any given time with just the push of a button. Which is amazing when thinking about it. But with cell phones comes text messages. Which has taken on a life of its own. It has spawned its own language through short hand and Emoji’s. People have almost lost the ability to interact with each other without a phone, normal conversation are conducted by text and not face to face. People are even using text lingo for instance, lol, BRB, and BFF in normal conversations. This has taken the personal aspect of getting to know someone out of the equation. Leading to more people on phones rather than interacting in person. Application otherwise known as APPS are being developed for everything. From online banking to social networking. While being extreme useful for daily task it almost becomes too easy to accomplish something. Gone are the days of knowing your bank teller or grocery store clerk we can bank
Most would agree that the technological advances today have caused this generation to become crippled in their creativity. The lack of face-to-face communication has severely damaged this generations ability to separate text-speech from formal speeches. Being born in a generation were technology is only at it’s peak, it’s hard to separate yourself from the tech-savvy world. As stated in the article The Creativity Crisis by Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman The accepted definition of creativity is production of something original and useful, and that’s what’s reflected in the tests. There is never one right answer. To be creative requires divergent thinking (generating many unique ideas) and then convergent thinking (combining those ideas into the best result).
The future of shopping is all about technology. Retailers are investing in all sorts of new technology to try and help their business make more profit. Robot assistants, a virtual you, digital butlers and drone deliveries are a few of the new inventions that companies are trying to make to advance their business (The Guardian, n.d.). Online shopping retail sales are predicted to grow to around $370 billion in late 2017, up from $231 billion in 2012 (CMO, n.d.), it is estimate that this number will keep going up as advancements in technology keep improving. It is also estimated that 72% of people aged between 13 and 35 research and shop their options online before going to a store or mall. These statistics show that every year young people usages of technology to buy a goods or service through technology is getting higher and higher. An example of a company using new technology is Dominos. Dominos have decided to add drone deliveries to their already successful business. “We invested in this partnership, and technology, because we believe drone delivery will be an essential component of our pizza deliveries, so even more customers can receive the hottest, freshest pizza we can offer” said by managing director Mr Meij. Dominos have taken a calculated risk using modern technology to try and give them that boost they want. This is an example of a business trying to gain a competitive advantage over there rivals (pizza hut). As technology is becoming the new way for the casual
The second theme in this review is children and technology. This is a popular topic when looking at how technology fits in family dynamics the research is often focused on looking at its effects on children and adolescents. For adults, modern technology such as cell phones and laptops are a recent occurrence, however, for children technology is something they have grown up with and is something they come into contact with on a daily basis. Which is why it is so important to look at the research that will give us insight into the implications technology has on the younger generation.
With the advancements in technology we have been able to accomplish a lot more in life, but in the end there is an argument whether or not these advancements have been positive or negative. Society has become so dependent on technology and its ability to conquer everyday task that some people believe we have became stupid and lazy. However, I feel that that our success in developing technology is a positive thing. We have been able to achieve many accomplishments because of these technologies.
Technology is there wherever you go in the world, whether it’d be the computer in your living room or the cell phone in your pocket. In fact, as of November 6 2016, it was estimated that 95% of all Americans have some kind of cellphone and 77% have a smartphone (pewinternet.org). But the real question is: does all this technology lead us to stray away from our friends and make us feel more lonely? Some might be led to believe so, with how many people are so dependant on technology, but the answer is no. In fact, technology actually helps us not feel lonely rather than doing so. Social media, the internet, and how we connect with each other is what makes technology helps us stay more connected with people rather than making us feel lonely.