BLOG POST #11 Our Relationship with Technology

        Technology was great, until it wasn't. The internet was great, until it wasn't. Cell phones were great, until they weren't. The unintended consequences of technology have put our society in an entirely different light. Things that weren't even imagined 100 years ago are our new normals. Nobody would have ever thought that teenage girls would be committing suicide over social media, or that kids were being bullied without even having to go anywhere. However, in todays society we see it every day. The internet has become one of the worst things in our world, when it was simply supposed to be the worlds best innovation. 

    Today on average, teens are spending 7 hours and 22 minutes a day on their screens. If we were to break that down, it gets increasingly scary. Teens need 7-8 hours of sleep at night, that already puts them at 16 hours of time that they are awake. Now take 7 hours out of that, and they are only spending 9 hours off of their phones while they are awake. Not to mention that there are some teens with way higher screen time averages, which is pulling the numbers up. If someone spent 10 hours on their phone, they would be left with 6 waking hours. When are they eating? When are the learning? When are they socializing? When are the exercising? Definitely not all within those 6 hours, that's for sure. 

    My personal screen time is higher than I'd like to admit. My average screen time is around 8 hours consistently. When I look at individual breakdowns, I spent 10 hours on my phone today. I wasn't even awake until 11am. That means that in the 12 hours that I have been awake, I spent 10 of those on my phone. My relationship with technology is clearly unhealthy, and I'd be willing to bet that most students could say the same. 

    We live in a world where our life revolves around our cell phones. Sometimes they do come in handy don't get me wrong, but most of the time they are used for unhealthy reasons. Social media is one of the most unhealthy things in our society right now. Everything revolves around how many likes you're receiving on your posts, or who is unfollowing you. It is all a competition now. Who's TikTok famous? Who's post "flopped"? Who is "shadow-banned"? When in reality it doesn't matter a bit. It shouldn't. People are upset because they only recieved 50 likes on their Instagram post. Could you imagine if 50 people complimented you in real life? That would be crazy, and you would be excited that that many people like something about you. However, when it takes to social media, it is disappointing. When you look at the big picture of things, it all seems silly. 

    Many researchers have actually linked suicide rates to social media. According to studies, the rate for male suicides in the years since social media has been out increased by 31% and the rate for female suicides hit a 40-year high. Not only is social media driving teens to suicice, but new trends are also killing teens. Everyone knows that teens are highly impressionable and easily influenced. Trends like the "blue whale challenge" which challenges teens to cut or burn themselves, or even the "tide pod challenge" which challenges teens to consume laundry detergent, are also causing indviduals to die. Why do we continue to let this happen? Why are we starting trends that we know could lead to death? We do all of this because we think it's "funny" but whats funny when you watch your best friend die from a TikTok challenge? 

    Our terrible relationship with technology is news to nobody. We have known for years that social media and cell phone usage is destroying mental health, but it never stops. People will say they're going to delete social media, but they always come back to it. Why is such a harmful thing still normalized in society today? This topic leaves so many of us with so many questions and yet they will continue to go unanswered. Why? Because we will do what society tells us to do no matter the consequences. Even as I'm sitting here talking about all of the negative effects of social media, I'm still going to crawl right into my bed tonight and open TikTok before I fall asleep; and this is why this cycle will always continue.