Final Blog Post Option 1

My Usage of Technology

As someone who was raised in the twenty first century, I have developed a very interlinked relationship with technology. It is something I use quite often every day. It is hard to imagine a life without screens and I don't believe I realize just how much of an effect it has on me and the way I think/feel.

As a kid I spent the majority of my time outdoors and wanted nothing to do with television and video games. The more time that's spent going for walks outdoors or watching a sunset versus staring a a blue screen in a dark room, the happier someone is going to be. There is a link between technology and declining mental health. Our dopamine receptors are fried from the constant and instantaneous access social media scrolling provides. Excessive usage of social media leads to a higher youth risk of anxiety and depression.

I personally feel I spend far too much time with technology. I use just my phone for up to six hours every single day. Twenty five percent of my life is spent staring down at the little computer in my pocket, and that makes me feel like I'm wasting time. If used sparingly social media and technology can be an amazing tool. The amount of things I can do by tapping a few buttons is truly incredible but it is up to me to regulate that usage and hold myself accountable. 

For every new innovation or convenience society conjures up, multiple unintended consequences sprout from beneath it. You have to take the good and the bad with everything, but it's more dangerous here. Venturing into the uncharted waters of artificial intelligence could be a deadly endeavor. It can feel quite harmless when people create beautiful AI generated art, but some dislike it and feel it isn't truly art and merely an amalgamation of most relevant images to a few key words. This is an image of 'Media Law and Literacy I had an AI generate within five minutes.

The rising prominence of social media in the daily lives of teenagers has led to knew issues. There is a lower level of people and communication skills now that more is said to a screen then one another. There aren't nearly as many real conversations anymore, everything is behind a cordial email or a rude text message. When I had Covid and had to spend time in isolation, I found that only using my phone and basically not talking to anybody else immediately affected my communication skills. I was 'rusty' once I recovered.

I cannot imagine going more than a day without checking my phone or opening up my laptop. This is plain and simple an addiction. It's weird thinking about that now, knowing I lived the first thirteen years of my life like that. I love that I can communicate with my best friend who lives on the other side of the country at any time. I cannot understate how much good has come from the rise of cellphones and technology. That said, we cannot ignore the negative effects being dragged with it or they will spiral out of control.