Nobody can escape technology’s grasp. Nobody wants to.
Yet we are trapped and suffocated by it daily. Everywhere we turn, it is lurking around the corner. It’s in almost every restaurant. It’s in almost every store. It’s in almost every home. It’s in almost everybody’s pocket, purse or hand. It surrounds us constantly, and we, as consumers, love it. We’d be lost without our smart phones and internet connections. But with the waves of technology continuing to rise, there are side effects.
As more interaction transfers from real time to online, we see less face-to-face interaction occur, and the ability to effectively communicate begins to fall. Social interaction is vital to survival, yet everyday people are finding ways to avoid interacting with others.
Take for example, a young woman I work with who refused to pick up the phone to make a phone call. Instead, she typed an email to the person. Why was it so difficult to dial a phone and speak to a person?
Because we text more than we talk.
Let’s do some math. If a person spends about an hour on Facebook a day, that equals about seven hours a week. Take a closer look. That is 365 hours a year on Facebook. Keep going. Three hundred sixty five hours a year is equivalent to 15 days a year.
That means half of a month has been spent on Facebook or, more importantly, half a month has been spent interacting with people online instead of in person. According to Nicholas Carr in his book “The Shallows,” a book about the effects of technology on the way we, “think, read and remember.” In 2009, the average adult American was spending 12 hours a week online while people in their twenties spent approximately 19 hours a week. And this was four years ago.
The less we interact with others, the more we isolate ourselves and hinder our ability to interact with people. In Megan Puglisis’s article ““Social Networking Hurts the Communication of College Students,” Kelly, Crowley, instructor of public relations writing at West Virginia University, said that her students have become intimidated by speaking to her in person and will leave class only to immediately email her a question that could have been asked in person a few minutes earlier. Our extreme use of technology has scared people out of interaction.
When there is an increased amount of screen time and a decreased amount of face- to- face interaction people are more likely to show symptoms of loneliness, according to Stephen Marche’s “Is Facebook making us Lonely.” This isn’t supposed to happen. It doesn’t have to happen. But it does because we are too stubborn to tune down the technology even for a moment.
The more we use technology, the more we hinder our ability to interact with others. We begin to feel much more comfortable sending an email while safely behind a computer screen. We begin to show signs of loneliness because we, as humans, need interaction to survive. It’s a basic instinct.
For example, studies on prisoners after a week of solitary confinement show that the lack of human interaction may cause the brain to become impaired in the same way a person suffering a traumatic head injury would, as seen in Atul Gwande’s “Hellhole.”
Because our brains are plastic, able to be shaped and changed, periods of time online change the way our brains work. A study conducted by Gary Small of UCLA, shows the effect the Internet is having on our brains – it is changing our minds, rewiring the way in which we work. It makes us crave speed in our interactions. If it’s not quick and to the point we are beginning to avoid it.
In turn, this also changes the way in which we act. Our interpersonal skills suffer due to lack of practice and lack of patience. Our ability to relate to others will suffer immensely as face-to-face interaction continues to decline. The ability to solve problems with others will slowly dissolve as it become a lost art. This screams bad relationships. If we can’t talk to other effectively, how are we supposed to have a good relationship?
We are becoming virtual zombies, lost in our technology. It’s as if a piece of us dies when we lack human interaction. It seems the more time people spend surfing the web, the less time they are connected with reality. Essentially, technology is hindering us from interacting with others in a proper, effective way. This is a shame.
What we once thought was a blessing, a way to make our lives easier, is turning into a curse. It’s rewiring the way our brains work in such a way that we are unable to effectively interact with others. It’s time to take back your mind and turn technology off, even if just for a few minutes.
