Technology , connecting or isolating people ?
Signs & Symptoms of Cellphone Addiction !
How has social networking through technology change society the most?
For young people who’ve never really known a world without social technology, how can you stress the importance of having a life without tech?
What are some benefits of solitude and taking time off from technology ?
- Reaching for the phone first thing in the morning: When something becomes a vital part of your daily routine, it can affect thinking and emotions. Studies show, 68 percent of adults sleep with their phones near the bed.
- Using cell phones when bored: Many people experience feelings of excitement or euphoria before or after using their smartphone. This creates a highly addictive response, causing them to want to repeat the action over and over, the same article explains.
- Becoming anxious or agitated when the cell phone is out of sight: Symptoms like stress, irritability, and panic that occur when individuals can’t find their phone or are separated from it indicate that they have formed a dependency. Entrepreneur cites research that notes “Sixty-eight percent of all adults have an irrational fear of losing their phone.”
- People complain about cell phone use: If loved ones frequently mention that individuals are always on their phone and that it bothers them, it is likely time to cut back. Smartphone use could be negatively impacting social life or family time.
- Inability to cut back on cell phone use: “Relapse occurs when you set every intention to cut back on your phone use, but find yourself reaching for it with a force that seems beyond your control,” Entrepreneur explains
- Young people growing up in this generation are only familiar with having social media, they are unsure with what life would be like without it therefore, they use it as if life depends on it.
- A recent poll on mobile device usage from Common Sense Media found that 50 percent of teens said they “feel addicted” to their mobile devices. At 59 percent, even more parents thought their teens were addicted, CNN says. The survey asked more than 1,200 parents and teenagers about mobile device usage and family conflict.
- According to Fortune, “Social media may be particularly entrancing, with notifications from apps like Facebook and Twitter providing jolts of pleasure in some ways similar to the effects of drugs and gambling.” This level of use indicates that mobile technology will remain a staple in our society.
- Social networking isolates us from society and is basically used as an outlet to hide from eachother
- Social networking has made it easier to communicate over text and/or over the phone vs. having a face to face conversation.
- Social networking causes us to be more interested in whats going on online vs. whats going on in the real world
- if we don’t teach our children how to be alone, they will always be lonely. When they’re always connected, children, adolescents and adults become dependent on the presence of others for validation in the most basic ways.
- In a recent New York Times article, the founder of an online dating site (www.datemyschool.com) summed up the problem of his generation by saying that, “People in the 21st century are alone. We have so many new ways of communicating, yet we are so alone.”
How to Defeat Social Networking Addiction
Do people who feel isolated just tend to engage in social media more or use it as a form of connection?
Smartphone Addiction Stats
Is Social Media Ruining Relationships ?
Social Media Provides a Distraction from Real Life
- Track your time online: take note of how much time you spend online and how you should limit yourself. Apps like "Quality Time " keep track of how much time you spend on each social media site.
- Acknowledge your addiction: take a break from social media for an hour or more and reflect on how you feel.
- Reflect on your need for social media: Develop your plans to address the problem, if your issues stem from boredom, look for fun activites to do offline
Our expectations are becoming unrealistic.
- With access to post and view photos of other people’s lives, we begin to get jealous of what others have. The “relationship goals” and “body goals” are misleading people to expect unrealistic things out of their relationship than what’s actually possible.
Nothing is Private
- Social media is also a new way people vent. Whether it’s a simple status or tweet, our feelings are being let out and put on display for the world to see. When we get into a fight with our significant other, it’s not a shock to go straight for our phones and make a post about how upset or angry we are with them.
- The researchers asked 1,787 participants ages 19 to 32 about their social media habits and how they feel about their places in the world.
- They made their agreement with statements like "I feel that people barely know me" or "I feel that people are around me but not with me."
- Still, it turns out, participants with high usage of platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram perceived themselves to be more socially isolated.
- Social media has dramatically changed our ability to stay focused on what’s going on immediately around us and lets us “escape” and instantly go “elsewhere”.
- In social settings if things become awkward or uncomfortable, we often seek solace in social media.
- For example, instead of learning to deal with these feelings and work through them we can revert to our phones or online social networking sites to distract us from the difficulties in our real time and immediate relationships.