The Unseen Toll of Technology on Mental Health - Connor Robinson

Connor Robinson 

Science Writing Seminar 

The Unseen Toll of Technology on Mental Health 


              The mental health movement has gained large amounts of traction over the past few decades for good reasons. There are a lot more resources available for anyone that may have any mental health issues. Therapy seems to be more normalized, as well as counselors being on-hand to help at many, if not all, schools and universities. Mostly everyone would agree that this is to the benefit of society and is necessary. After all, mental health is one of the most important factors to living a joyful life. But with all this focus on how to solve these mental health issues, there seems to be a lack of solutions that combat the root of these issues. 

 It is important to understand the changes that occur that may cause mental health issues to appear. One of the largest developments in the past few decades is the improvement in technology and how it surrounds us. Alicia Kruisselbrink Flatt, of College Quarterly, believes that there are many factors in this generation that contribute to unwellness in mental health, emphasizing technology. She believes that “the ubiquity of technology is taken for granted” (2013). The abundance of technology all around us seems like an improvement in our lives, but how much is it negatively affecting us without even realizing? There was a study done by Daphne Watkins, a professor at University of Michigan that studied how college students depend on technology. It was found that “it was really hard for them to tolerate typical, normal human effects and experiences” (Watkins et al. 2001). The use of technology is creating an issue for humans where they cannot understand what to do in certain situations. This could be from technology taking away many troubles that humans once had to deal with. An example could be dating apps, which essentially cut out the middleman for people trying to meet. The difficulty of going up to someone else and awkwardly trying to talk to them has essentially been solved. However, when people are inevitably faced with having to converse with others, they may lack the skills too.  

One of the benefits of the new development in technology is also the ability to connect with an endless amount of people online. People have the ability to talk to people on the other side of the world or watch videos of their favorite celebrities. These are just a few of the benefits that social media brings. Unfortunately, users also can argue with, insult, and critique others while staying completely anonymous the entire time. I’m sure this is something that we all have experienced. It can be so infuriating to look at someone’s negative comments and then look at their account and see nothing but a blank profile picture. This does not even consider the number of stimuli on social media that can invoke a negative feeling. It can be disheartening for many to constantly compare themselves to the top 0.1% on social media. The number of influencers that are shredded and taking various steroids can really impact someone’s views on what a healthy body looks like. This is just one of the examples of the comparisons that happen when someone views social media posts. 

There are bound to be negative influences when people have access to resources and connections that would never be possible without this technology. Constant comparisons and influence from others can really negatively impact someone, especially impressionable children. Hilal Bashir who is a postdoctoral associate in pediatrics has studied these negative effects and how they can affect real social relationships. He states that “social media usage also enhances the psycho-social problems like adjustment& self-esteem" (2017). This can then lead to symptoms of depression such as “uncontrolled, unhygienic and compulsive usage” due to internet resources. 

 It is almost scary to see what will happen to an entire generation that is exposed to social media throughout their entire lives and their most impressionable stages.  

As someone who did not have social media in their childhood and was exposed to it in their teenage years, it is still obvious that there have been effects to people who are similar in my age. With that being said, kids being exposed to social media during their childhood has the potential to cause inconceivable harm to their mental health and their livelihood in general. There is a real possibility that the true harms of social media have not fully been realized and shown yet and only time will tell if humans can adapt. There needs to be more action to target the root causes of mental illness, and it needs to be done now before another generation gets overtaken by social media and its effects. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Works Cited 

Beiter, Raymond, et al. "The Prevalence and Correlates of Depression, Anxiety, and Stress in a Sample of College Students." College Student Journal, vol. 48, no. 1, 2014, pp. 1-10. ERIC, https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1016492. 

Bhat, Shabir, et al. "Effects of Social Media on Mental Health: A Review." ResearchGate, 2018, https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Shabir-Bhat/publication/323018957. 

Kadison, Richard, and Theresa Foy DiGeronimo. "Increased Demand for Mental Health Services on College Campuses: Perspective from Administrators." ResearchGate, 2004, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/225308957. 

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Scaling the Potential of Vertical Farming Going into 2025 and Beyond

Image
  Matthew P Kearney Scaling the Potential of Vertical Farming Going into 2025 and Beyond      Vertical farming may seem like something out of a futuristic movie, but they are very real in today’s agricultural industry. Vertical farming may promote a stronger relationship between urbanization and sustainable crop production. Based on recent innovations across agriculture and technology, vertical farming has the potential to revolutionize our current farming system. Through the development of vertical farming-based production lines, cities and otherwise unfarmable areas can be provided with fresh, local, and pesticide-free produce. Vertical farming and other adaptations of agriculture are not new ideas, but instead a historic and human process.      These technologies are ready to meaningfully address global food security through the technological and computational advancements in agriculture. Vertical farming has a promising future, which becomes a case...
Read more

Not Just Tired: The Darker Side of New Motherhood

  Vrinda Modi Not Just Tired: The Darker Side of New Motherhood “134, we got a suicidal,” the radio crackles. As my EMS crew heads to the apartment, I think back to my training, where there was little instruction on how to help those experiencing suicidal ideation. A middle-aged woman sits on the couch, visibly exhausted and cowering from the police officers surrounding her. Her husband, cradles an infant gently in his arms, his face a mix of concern and helplessness. I turn down my radio, sit beside her, and begin asking questions, careful not to sound interrogative. She confesses feeling suicidal since giving birth three weeks ago, her voice trembling with shame. She hasn’t slept properly in days. Although she has no plan to harm herself, her worsening thoughts drove her to call the suicide hotline. Her mother-in-law enters, coldly urging her to “wrap things up.”  The woman’s shame deepens when she refuses to go to the hospital, embarrassed by the stigma around postpartum de...
Read more

Molecules, Models, and Magic: The Exciting World of Computational Chemistry

Vrinda Modi I often spend time in a little cubicle in McLean in the freezing corporate cold wrapped in a blanket in the Hoboken summers sipping on free coffee from the office above. It almost always tastes like chalk, but the routine is so embedded in me. Hence, this is the perfect opportunity to talk a little more about my research in computational chemistry here at Stevens and the advances I expect in the next few years. This field excites me because it bridges my interest in chemistry with modern computing techniques, a powerful tool for advancing our understanding of chemical reactions and molecular interactions. This means we are a dry lab – running simulations on computers. No chemicals, no PPE, just models and algorithms. But why does computational chemistry exist in the first place, especially when chemistry is so rooted in physical matter? The answer is efficiency. Modeling molecules on a computer saves us from ordering chemicals, waiting for deliveries (a delay in chemistry t...
Read more