The Negative Impact of Technology

The Negative Impact of Technology on Our Future

By Noah Solovey

Consider this: Would our daily lives be highly impacted if technology didn't exist? How would you react? Would you panic if you came home one day to see that your phone wasn’t present, and your TV had vanished? Or, would you be urged to go outside, enjoy time with your family, and step into the real world, away from technology? In our day and age, technological devices are advancing by the second, and more and more human beings are constantly on their phones, iPads, or TVs, wasting seconds of lives, that they’ll never get back. Technology is continuously sucking people out of the real world, and it’s an innovation that is harmfully changing us. Our devices negatively impact us and our futures because it is an addicting and distracting subject in our everyday lives.

First of all, technology is an addicting concept that might have a child saying, “Just one minute!” Only to see two hours later the child is still on their device. Scientists mention, “The simulation provokes excitement - a dopamine squirt - that researchers say in its absence, people feel bored.” Take a moment to take in that dopamine, a chemical that is released in your brain while using a device, creates a sense of happiness. However, when dopamine is no longer being fed to your brain, it can lead to loneliness. It shows how addicting screens can be when you're sucked in by dopamine, and then you just can’t get out. Another example of addiction caused by screens comes from a neuroscientist; Adam Gazzaley. “We are exposing our brains to an environment and asking them to do things we weren’t necessarily evolved to do.” “We already know there are consequences.” Dopamine squirts are not normal for the human brain, and with electronics, we expose our brains to chemicals that put us in danger. Gazzaley mentions the word: Consequences, in his quote, hoping to tell you that our devices will not benefit us, instead, it may drawback us. Technological addiction is one reason why you may be at a restaurant, and the table next to you has a little kid who won’t get off his mom’s phone, or at a barber shop, where while the barber is cutting a kid’s hair the kid is just playing games addicted to a screen. After all, our devices are chronic subjects that affect us and those around us. Not only are our electronics addicting, but it is also distracting.

The word: Distraction, has a negative connotation, and when it comes to technology, the connotation of the word doesn’t get any better. Author Matt Richtel notes, “The resulting distractions can have deadly consequences, as when cell-phone-wielding drivers and train engineers cause wrecks.” Remember that cell phone-wielding drivers are only one of the billion examples of the consequences of electronics. Going back to the constant dopamine you get from screens, if you are in a moving vehicle on a device, you might be so distracted that you get in a crash, to the point where you may die, demonstrating the extreme danger from screens. Another quotation that shows distraction is a statement from Mr. Campbell, a dad who often experiences internet distraction. “We didn’t go out to dinner, we just sat there on our devices,” he noted. This quote zooms in on how our devices suck us away from the real world, into a pixelated world that rains dopamine. Imagine taking a trip with your family but not enjoying it because screens took you away from it. Technologies’ constant distractions take reality away from those who use devices in their everyday lives. 

Some may argue that technology is an innovation that helps us academically and mentally, and there are so many resources you don’t get anywhere else. But to the point where people have used these resources to their advantage, they become addictions and distractions rather than beneficial resources.

After all, technology is destroying us, and we’re not going to get anywhere with it. Let’s live in the real world, rather than the digital universe. The addicting aspect of social media is shown by the dopamine that sucks you into an imaginary world and could be so taken away that it steals you from those around you. Secondly, the distracting aspect shows the dangers of technology, and how our devices distract us from our families and our lives. To take action, use your device less, and pay attention to the world around you. Your future matters and technology will negatively impact that.