Technology: What Is It Good For?

by Kali Longwell

There are several articles out there stating the effects of technology and its

downfall but have yet made the world stop and think about the actions of our life

being sucked away from a small device that was supposed to help us. It is giving us

stress when we thought it would reduce it. There are countless articles out there

stating the same thing that I am, trying to warn you about the consequences of our

actions before it is too late to turn back.

In the world there are 7.26 billion phones, making up 91.69% of the worlds

population, kids between the ages of 12-17 have 78% of that. A new study from the

University of Illinois suggests that the activity from your smartphone can indicate

anxiety and depression. Yet we are still glued to the addictive aspects of our phones

causing us to also have bad social behaviors. Think about it, if you were thrown into

a group with people that you did not know, the common thing to do for comfort is to

reach for your phone so that you don’t have to be social and talk to others. Our

phones give us a false sense of confidence and security.

In this day and age my generation, Generation Z is nicknamed “The loneliest

generation.” Nine out of ten people in generation Z said they have experienced

loneliness or the feeling of being lonely due to the hyper-connected world of

technology. People used to be happier when they just went outside and played, now

there is cyberbullying and self-hatred due to relentless self-shaming of wanting to

look like someone else. It is honestly disgusting how a shiny piece of metal could do

this to a world. Are we that easy to corrupt?

Sleep disruption also is another problem caused by our cell phones. Most

teens keep their phones by their sides when they go to sleep causing our sleep

habits to be interrupted when you should be getting 8-10 hours of uninterrupted

sleep and I can tell you that the people in my grade do not get that, in-fact 70%

don’t get that. The blue light which is reflected off of our phone screens restrains

the production of melatonin which is the hormone that controls your sleep-wake

cycle. Making it difficult to wake up and fall asleep the following day. It can make

you more alert at night causing you to have a more difficult time winding down.

Sleep deprivation can cause a lot of health issues too like heart attacks and disease,

high blood pressure, stroke and diabetes.

Now don’t get me wrong smartphones are a wonderful piece offered to

society, when used properly and not taken advantage of they can help in times of

emergency, they store all types of world knowledge and you can connect with

someone halfway across the world like it’s nothing. The problem is we are taking

advantage of it, majorly and I don’t know if theres anyway to really turn that

around. According to the accap.org, teens spend an average of 9 hours a day on

their smartphone. It is sad to think that through those 9 hours we could have

brought something new to our lives but we are all victims to this silent killer.

I often ask myself “Is it worth it?” Is being on my phone, disconnecting from

social life, the harmful effects on my eyes and body, becoming another statistic,

worth it? To me, it’s not but in the past few years, teenagers have lost that inner

moral. I never thought that technology was a big deal until I started experiencing

some of the things I listed above myself. That stuff will never be worth it because at

the end of our precious lives what are we going to have memories of? Time with our

friends, families, events that brought us joy? No, it will be a small portable piece of

aluminum alloy.