Technology: A 21st century drug

DO you neglect chores to spend more time online? Are you frequently checking your e-mail? Do you often lose sleep because you can’t help logging in on the Internet late at night? If you answered yes to any of these then you may be allowing technology to re-shape your personality. But don’t be afraid, you are not alone. Technology in today’s world has become so addictive that this “drug” has taken over our lives. Dr. Elias Aboujaoude, director of the Impulse Control Disorders in America says: “More and more, life is resembling a chat room.” High speed Internet has made us impatient with our slow-speed children. We are trying to turn our real lives into a virtual reality without being aware of its devastating consequences.
Addiction to technology has led to excessive multi-tasking, which as it turns out, isn’t very good for us. A study described in a New York Times article showed people classified as “heavy multitaskers” had more difficulty blocking out irrelevant information and also took longer to switch between tasks. Scientists say that those who are continually multitasking are also prone to greater stress than others. Being able to simultaneously text messages, send I.M’s, answer e-mails, while watching T.V, it seems is not as impressive after all.
In 2008 people consumed three times as much information each day as they did in 1960. Computer users at work change windows or check e-mails or other programs nearly 37 times an hour, new research shows. Our brains have not yet evolved to deal with such non-stop interactivity and we need to recognize this fact.
With more time spent using technology, less time is ultimately left for family. An article published in The Independent (a UK newspaper), stated that the average UK family spends only 49 minutes a day together! Quality evenings spent playing board games, or even reading bedtime stories is slowly dying out. Children are more reliant on screens than humans today. Many children today have their own TV in their rooms so it’s no wonder that an average kid between 8-18 years of age spends seven and a half hours a day using technology, five of which is spent watching TV.
A survey conducted by A.C. Nielson Company showed that when a group of 4-6 year olds were asked to choose between watching TV and spending time with their fathers, 54 percent would rather watch TV. It is therefore not surprising that by middle school the average kid spends more time with media than with their parents or teachers. Even the youngest kids today are downloading apps, and are able to use smart phones and tablets. Consumer reports reported last year that more than 7.5 million kids in America under the age of 13 have joined Facebook which requires users to be 13 or over to open an account. How are we allowing all this? We need to understand that there is a direct correlation of amount of hours spent with gadgets and obesity, poor grades, impatience, violence and loss of family time.
It must be noted at this point that technology itself is not harmful. In fact, we are able to gain knowledge at a faster rate than ever before and studies show that those who play certain types of video games develop better visual acuity than those who don’t. Technology has also allowed us to be just a finger click away from loved ones living on the other side of the world from us. My point is, as with everything in life; moderation. Without moderation, technology can turn from being something beneficial to detrimental instantly.
A study called “The world Unplugged” by the International Center for Media & the Public Agenda (ICMPA) was conducted to highlight just how much technology has taken over our lives and underline how addictive it really has become. For this study, around 1,000 university students from 10 countries in 5 different continents were asked to abstain from using any sort of media for one day only. The students were then asked to report their success and admit to any failures once the 24-hour period was over. These are just some of the surprising comments made by these students after the experiment: “Media is my drug; without it I was lost” (UK), “I was itching like a crack head, because I couldn’t use my phone” (US), “I felt sad, lonely and depressed” (Slovakia), “…when you get off the media you realize…how many quality things you can do” (Lebanon).
Through the facts obtained from this in-depth study, it is not hard to see how technology has literally become a “drug” for people, and without it, cravings take control of one’s self, gadgets such as phones have become an extension of ourselves and going without it has, therefore, made it seem as if a part of ourself has been lost. If we could just step out of our virtual bubble we might actually realize that we all have an actual living pulse within ourselves and that gratification from the cognitive world we live in is far more valuable than the stagnant make-believe reality we have drowned ourselves in.

n This article is exclusive to Arab News