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Technology Ruining Society

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As our society progresses, more and more things are becoming electronic. Everything seems to be on some type of electronic device, and as individuals in the society we rely on our phones, computers, ipads, ipods, and television for everything. The evolution of technology will not slow down and it will keep progressing further and further. Soon, every single thing we do will be electronic based if it isn’t already. When I look around, I see people always on their phones and it doesn’t matter how old they are. I am growing up in an era where technology trumps all, especially smartphones, which raises some questions. Are our technological devices ruining us? Do they change the way we act or carry ourselves? Are they making us dumber and …show more content…

There was a study done by researchers at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business. According to the marketing professors Anastasiya Pocheptsova, Rosellina Ferraro, and graduate student, Ajay T. Abraham, "The cell phone directly evokes feelings of connectivity to others, thereby fulfilling the basic human need to belong. This results in reducing one's desire to connect with others or to engage in empathic and prosocial behavior.” When I was exploring this data I was absolutely shocked. I thought about all of the people I know, and it all made sense. Not only do smartphones rid people of prosocial behavior, it makes them flat out antisocial too. When I look around and observe other people, many times everyone is just staring at their phones, and I think that causes issues with their prosocial behavior because I don’t think they like being disturbed while they are doing something “important” on their …show more content…

What exactly causes people to always be checking their phones, especially if they are already performing another task? So, I decided to conduct a little study of my own. Although not scientific, a friend and I did a study, which answered my final question. For three days my friend and I shut off all of our notifications from our apps on our phones. I was quite interested in what would happen, and the results I found were quite interesting. After shutting off our notifications we realized we weren’t checking our phones as much, which made me come to the conclusion that not only are our smartphones the problem, but the apps we have as well. I believe that a big problem is with all the apps people download, comes endless amounts of notifications, which causes people to check their phones constantly. After clicking on the notification, it leads people to start browsing social media or doing other activities on their phones. According to Jeff Stibel, a cognitive scientist and entrepreneur, “Dopamine is a brain chemical that literally makes us happy, and it is released every time we receive something on our phones”. Every time someone hears a buzz or sees a notification dopamine hits them right away, and it clearly explains why people are constantly checking their phones. People find pleasure when someone comments on their post, or if they get a text message.

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