Ruining My Mental Health: A Personal Look at the Impact of Technology and Social Media

The Orwellian society portrayed in George Orwell's 1984 has become a living reality for many of us modern netizens. Just as the people living in Orwell's fictional world, people today often do not realize their predicament in a world designed to capture their attention for as long as possible. This scenario also resembles parts of the Pixar movie WALL-E, where humanity is depicted as having been reduced to passive consumers of content every waking hour. Moments before I go to sleep, my eyes struggle to keep up with the stories that Netflix offers to me. The moments after I wake up are spent frantically trying to catch up on what I might have missed during the night. This constant need for engagement has made many aspects of life miserable. We cannot get bored; we're not allowed to get bored. This seems to be the modern mantra.

Tools that were supposed to ease our way of living have become the only means through which we can bear to live. A simple explanation like this accurately portrays what our lives have become. However, it is evident that those who control the technological platforms that dominate our lives do not wish to live or raise their children the same way billions of us do. Despite the emphasis on engagement that these technologies require to thrive, it seems that humans are not meant to be engaged fruitlessly for such long periods.

A study published in the journal Preventive Medicine Reports found a correlation between high screen time and lower psychological well-being among adolescents. Additionally, research published in the Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology found that reducing social media use can lead to significant reductions in loneliness and depression. Given this predicament, it is no wonder that the suicide rate among teenagers has significantly increased, and we are becoming lonelier and more depressed as the years pass, misusing these technologies.

Sources:

1. Twenge, J. M., Martin, G. N., & Spitzberg, B. H. (2018). Trends in US Adolescents' Media Use, 1976-2016: The Rise of Digital Media, the Decline of TV, and the (Near) Demise of Print. Preventive Medicine Reports, 11, 271-283.
2. Hunt, M. G., Marx, R., Lipson, C., & Young, J. (2018). No More FOMO: Limiting Social Media Decreases Loneliness and Depression. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 37(10), 751-768.
3. Screen Time v Play Time: What Tech Leaders Won't Let Their Own Kids Do. The Guardian.