We All are Digital Addicts
Your first thought after reading the title of my essay might have been, ‘Well, not all. I’m not, for example’. But I think that the technological progress made modern American society in a way too dependent on their digital gadgets, though I agree they do make life easier and more comfortable. The following essay gives some information about the phenomenon of digital addiction, reveals my point of view on it, and gives a piece of advice about how to deal with being too dependent on technology.
Now, think of an average young woman in her twenties or thirties, who gets up every morning, turns off the alarm on her smartphone and checks her e-mail while drinking morning coffee. Then she goes to work by public transport reading her eBook or listening to MP3. She is busy almost all day working on her PC with some special programs. After work she gets back home and makes a phone call to her parents. She texts with some friends on Facebook and turns on her laptop to make a Skype call to one of them (sometimes she does both things at once). In the evening she turns on her TV-set to watch some show, which was filmed by a few cameras and put together in some sophisticated editing program. She sets the next day alarm and checks Facebook on her smartphone before going to sleep. She has used at least 5-7 different devices during the day, not to mention using either Wi-Fi or 3G to connect the Interned (it’s important to be online all day long, isn’t it?).
Don’t you recognize one of your friends or even yourself in the description, given above? Modern society cannot imagine their lives without digital technologies. Everyone feels, if not addicted, than definitely dependent on technology nowadays.I understand addiction as a condition of a person who is obsessed with some kind of activity, spends too much time and money on it, to the extent that this activity hampers their ordinary lifestyle, health, behavior, social life, etc. Normally an addict does not understand the harmful influence of their ‘hobby’, and feels uncomfortable when deprived of the possibility to be engaged in the kind of activity they are addicted to. Concerning the modern tendency to use technology as much as possible, a new term appeared in psychology as a name for it. Digital addiction is a colloquial term used to describe the state of a person whose interaction with technology is obsessive, takes too much of one’s time and attention, and tends to have a negative impact on persons real life. Overuse of the Internet, or smartphone, or laptop (of course, I do not mean using them when necessary) fits perfectly into my understanding of what addiction is. ‘Hours-long Internet surfing that contributes to severe weight loss or gain, obsessive e-mail checking and freaking out (beyond the initial few minutes) when your cell phone goes missing may be signs that you …
