Many people today use technology in their everyday lives but how would they know if it has become an addiction or if it has effected there lives. There are many ways to measure out the pros and cons of the use of technology. Many people may say that technology cannot become an addiction but look at the reality. It is. Ever since computers, cell phones, etc have been used the world has changed drastically in how we do things, and how we go from day to day. Technology how I see it is a way to communicate while trying to avoid communication.
Cell phones are now used for many things including texting, gps system, a music player, a event scheduler/email and of course a talking advice but when it was first invented it could only be used for calling people. How has cell phones become an addiction and also a distraction in people’s life. I think the main problem here is texting. People now go to work, school and even social events blocking out the rest of the world while texting and talking on their phones like nothing is going on around them. Why would you think this is bad? Well when you think about how much you personally text in a day, you can say that you could have gotten a lot more work done in a day without texting at all, believe me. People don’t realize just how much more time they are taking out of their days to text instead of doing more valuable things. As you see in some of these videos these teenagers even text people sitting right next to them, at special occasions like their own birthday etc. When you see teenagers with a texting addiction you can see that when they actually talk they do not have good speaking /communication skills because they are so used to speaking there words and thoughts through texts instead of verbally. Our generation today is bound to have trouble getting jobs not only because of the economy but because of their addiction to texting, they do not know how to communicate with the outside world and show their emotion and feelings into something that is real unlike a cell phone that is plastic. Some psychologists say that internet and texting is not an addiction but a compulsive disorder which I personally don’t see a big difference between the two. Psychologists can’t see the negative it does inside the brain but I think we can only see the negative it causes from the outside actions. They say that these compulsive actions to texting and internet use can lead to bad health and poor work performances. Another site I visited they talked about technology addiction being alot like a gambling addiction coming with negative consequences in your life.
Another addiction I find is the internet and the use of Pornography. Many men and even women today watch it very often, which is another thing interfering with your life. This is another debate wether or not it is an addiction or just a compulsive thing, but just like any other addiction it can take control of your life and destroy it in many ways like loosing a job, lose of sleep, divorce, having no money etc. People engage so much on the fantasy world and porn that real life is just as satisfying for them.
An addiction that hurts many teenagers and also middle aged men is video games. As shown in this video, video games can lead to anger and cursing at a very young age. People who play games isolate themselves from social contact causing them to also have trouble with their communication skills. People who play games also have a false sense of reality because they are always playing in a animated world.
What confuses me is when psychologists say its not an addiction but a compulsive thing, well isn’t drinking and doing drugs also compulsive also. A compulsion is like an obsession so whats the difference with drugs, alcohol, texting, videogaming?Are they all cumpulsive acting or are they addictions, I still stick to my beliefs of technology activities being an addiction but I also can say they are very compulsive.
