My Unhealthy Relationship with Technology

 

  

 

What is my relationship with the internet?

10 hours a day.

My screen time during the height of coronavirus when I was doing online school and studying was 10 hours a day. Granted we were in the middle of a global pandemic, and going outside and hanging out with my friends was not an option, but I am still incredibly surprised that I managed to spend 10 hours on the Internet. Eight of those hours I had spent in school that day, another two hours doing homework, but when I got the reminder that next day I was shocked. Technology, for me, has represented many different things. It represents the school, and represents networking, it represents making friends. Despite the benefits, I have found myself struggling with separating myself from my Internet use. I am not good at taking breaks, so I spend myself spending hours working on my homework, internships, and extracurriculars online. I can only wonder how technology will affect me for the rest of my life because it is so ingrained within society. 

Technology Effects Before and During the Pandemic

I was spending hours of my day, and a pandemic, doing homework rather than letting myself mentally recover from the exhaustion that was felt when living in the early days of the pandemic. When it was finally summer, I had work to do before college, virtually (of course). I understand the teachers had to make do with what they could and that time, but to be expected to be near my computer, and working on it all day was exhausting. My eyes would turn red from the eyestrain, I would have trouble sleeping because of the blue light exposure, and I would get headaches from reading on my computer all day. It was not a pretty sight. It was also a completely different experience from my high school. On nice days at my high school, my teachers would take us outside. We will go on walks around the school, do our classwork in the grass, or just take a quick breather. Technology was not at the forefront of my high school experience.

Generational Consequences of Technology:

Sometimes my friends and I wonder what it would’ve been like to grow up without social media, without AI, without Blackboard and Canvas, and the likes. Oftentimes I find my friends scrutinizing over the smallest imperfections in an Instagram photo, or sitting silently with their phones out instead of conversation. I think that social media has grasped our entire generation with an iron chokehold.

When I went to Costa Rica as a freshman and we went ten days without our phones. It was amazing. I truly felt free. I loved it so much and at the time I was mad at the chaperones for making that rule, but now I am so grateful. I got to explore a country and a culture that I wouldn’t have paid as much attention to had I been on my phone. I want to take another trip like that.  

What Would I Do Without Technology?

I think I idealize no technology in my head because I am jealous that some people got to grow up without having to spend so much of their time on the Internet. I get off of it when I can, but I am expected to reply to emails promptly, complete my internship work virtually, create social media posts for the clubs that I run in college, take my tests, take my notes, so it’s easy for an adult to tell me to get off my computer, but it isn’t so simple. Society has completely disregarded the separation that people need from their work because of the Internet. Technology is not innately good or bad. It is what you make it. Unfortunately, for many students, technology has made our lives in one way or another worse. It has changed the expectations of our work and more. With all of that being said, there are many positives I experience from technology. 

But as a whole, is technology good?

It is so easy to do technology through a small scope. Viewing it as social media, as technology within classrooms, and as a resource for the young to connect with other people from their generation, but it is so much more than that. Technology is an innovation that allows for life-saving methods to be implemented within research facilities, that allows for illnesses to be treated, and lives to be changed. Technology has many deficits. It has increased his suicide rate exponentially, it has created more mental illness problems than it has helped, and it has fueled self-esteem issues within teenagers-despite this, I think it is good within it. Technology is not black and white. It is not social media or powerful AI robots. It can be good. It can be safe, in the right hands. 

As a generation, technology has entirely changed how we act with each other. Just today I have downloaded an airplane ticket, checked in online, FaceTime to my boyfriend that lives 10 hours away, researched this very question, and looked at funny pictures of dogs on Instagram. as with everything in life there are good aspects and there are bad aspects of it. It would be foolhardy to say that technology has harmed our entire generation, but it would be foolhardy to ignore its facts as well.

Who am I within technology? What is my online footprint?

When you Google Savannah Sparks I don’t typically come up. The pharmacist on TickTock who lives in Mississippi comes up. If you are to refine the search by typing in the words “LinkedIn “or “Instagram “you may be able to find my accounts. When looking at the photos you can see a picture of me from Prom, a picture of me from when I was 12 and had my first boyfriend, And a very unflattering photo of 10-year-old me that ended up in the newspaper while I was making a silly face for my volunteer work. I have worked to manage my online profile for years because I believe that it is important to present respectively. After all, prospective employers often check the online resources regarding their new employees. I think it is important to teach younger children about presenting themselves respectively online and it is important to remember that what you post can be seen by a future boss!

Sources Reflecting on Mental Health and the Internet:

https://www.all4kids.org/news/blog/effects-of-technology-on-mental-health/#:~:text=Overall%2C%20in%20terms%20of%20the,%2C%20and%20lower%20well%2Dbeing.

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/negative-effects-of-technology

https://onlinedegrees.bradley.edu/blog/how-does-technology-affect-mental-health/