What kind of negative impact does technology have on your life? How can technology lead to poor social skills?
Adam Alter says that, if you have a behavioral addiction to technology, you use technology so much that it interferes with your ability to lead a healthy life. Habitually prioritizing tech use over other parts of life has cumulative negative effects on your well-being.
Continue reading to learn about the negative symptoms and effects of technology addiction.
Behavioral Effects of Technology Addiction
Definitionally speaking, you’re addicted to something only if your engagement with that substance or behavior harms you more than it helps you. Here are some of the harmful effects of technology addiction that Alter lists:
- A digitalized social life: Your most important social interactions might occur online because that’s most comfortable for you. For example, Alter explains that some young people prefer digital conflict over face-to-face conflict.
- Isolation: If most of your social life happens online, you lack the face-to-face interaction that is needed to keep loneliness (and consequently, depression and anxiety) at bay.
- Constant use of or proximity to the device or platform: You might compulsively check your texts dozens of times an hour, spend hours per day on your phone, and then sleep next to it.
- Reduced capacity for attention: The compulsion to use technology interrupts other activities, resulting in distractedness and the inability to focus for long periods.
- Poor social skills: The more isolated you are, the less practice you have developing social skills like empathy and effective communication.
- Poor sleep: Using your phone or laptop late into the night prevents you from sleeping well because the light it emits disrupts your brain’s natural sleep-wake cycle.
- Overall life dissatisfaction: If your technology addiction cuts into family time, worsens your work performance, or creates physical health problems, you may be generally unhappy with your life.
- Dissociation from physical reality and attunement to virtual reality: You’re so engrossed in technology, you don’t notice real-life problems. You might ignore a cue like hunger to keep playing a video game.
| Additional Symptoms of Technology Addiction Beyond the symptoms Alter lists, experts have identified a multitude of behaviors that suggest you may be addicted to technology. These include: Obsessive thinking about your device or platform of choice when you’re away from it Angry outbursts that occur when your access to the object of your addiction is limited Lying about your addictive behavior because you feel ashamed and don’t want others to know about it Crossing your own boundaries regarding the addictive behavior (for example, by staying online too late when you’ve told yourself you wouldn’t) Your symptoms may vary depending on what type of technology addiction you have. According to Petros Levounis, president of the American Psychiatric Association, there are several types: addiction to technology-mediated shopping, gaming, gambling, or sex (including pornography use and toxic online dating behaviors), addiction to digital communications (like texting) or social media, and addiction to browsing information online (known as “infobesity”). If you’re addicted to, say, online shopping, your behavioral symptoms will probably be slightly different from those of someone who’s addicted to social media. For example, an online shopping addict might spend too much money, while a social media addict might endlessly scroll through Facebook. |
| How Serious Are the Effects of Technology Addiction? When you think of addiction, you might think of the life-threatening dangers associated with substance abuse—like organ failure resulting from alcoholism, infectious disease exposure via needle sharing, and the risk of a fatal overdose. You may also think of the mental effects substance abuse can have—for example, some drugs can induce mood disorders or paranoid hallucinations—and the emotional burden families of addicted persons can experience. Or you may think of the societal and environmental effects of substance abuse, like increased rates of child endangerment and cigarette litter. In comparison, technology addiction may seem relatively harmless; it can result in distressing effects, but these effects don’t seem as dire or immediate. However, experts say excessive technology use does have serious and far-reaching consequences. Alter mentions some that are obviously harmful (sleep deprivation, for example, is linked to chronic physical and mental health problems, including a higher risk of death). Let’s explore some other potential harms: Physical effects include lasting damage to the eyes, onset of musculoskeletal disorders due to improper posture or excessive stress on body parts like the wrists and hands, and greater risk of disordered eating and physical inactivity. Cognitive effects include memory impairment, greater vulnerability to misinformation and disinformation, and higher rates of errors in thinking. Emotional effects can include embarrassment or shame stemming from the stigmatization of technology addictions. This stigma can exacerbate the isolation Alter mentions since it makes you less likely to discuss your problem or seek help. Social effects include poorer conversational quality (because you’re distracted by technology when you speak to others) and less interaction with strangers (because you’re on your phone in public), which can impede your ability to make friends. Societal effects of widespread technology addiction include increased rates of cybercrimes, cyberharassment, dangerous distracted driving, and cyberchondria (technology-mediated hypochondria). Environmental effects of widespread technology addiction include the accumulation of e-waste, excess pollution derived from online shopping fulfillment, and increased greenhouse gas emissions fueled by overuse of technology. |
8 Effects of Technology Addiction That Take a Serious Toll
