Adverse Effects Of Technology On The 21st Century

The difference between technology and slavery is that slaves are fully aware they are not free.” – Nassim Nicholas Taleb.

With each passing generation, the previous will often judge the generation after for their differences, for many years the technological gap between generations was only slightly but with the drastic increase in technological advancement, the story seems to have taken a turn for a change.

One of the largest factors in this gap between generations was majorly caused by the invention of the internet. Before the internet came along the usual standard method of long-distance communication was through written letters which weeks to be sent to the recipient and more weeks for the sender to receive a response, even after the invention of the telegraph and the telephone an average man still used written mail as a means of communication.

The invention of the internet has changed this cycle, people are now able to communicate freely, faster and easier with other people around the globe, messages are sent and received within a snap of the finger the funny part of all is that this new speed of communication has led the younger generation to become more impatient since they are used to things coming to them faster and instantly which earned them the nickname “THE INSTANT GENERATION” who gets everything within a twinkle of an eye. The internet has become an integral part of the way of life for the new generation in a way it would never be for our grandparents and parents.

The sudden boom of social media further oiled the wheel of the difference gap, rather than going outside of their homes to play and mingle with friends youngster prefer spending their time uploading photos, videos and posts for their friends to see, the usual sight of children playing around seems to have vanished into thin air they all sit at home trying to act like adults and devise means to earn popularity which has become the new order of the day. Children are now busy flaunting their bodies, the new gadget they just acquired, photos of exotic new places they have been to all in a bid to oppress their peers and carve out an extravagant image for themselves but in the real sense they expose themselves to more harms and lose out on their childhood which in turn makes it hard for parents to relate with their children since their childhood experience is too different. 

Social media has also caused the early exposure of children to pornography. A child can spend all day moving from one website to watching porn and other related stuff not meant for his age without his parent’s knowledge. Social media has also aided the birth of cyberbullying children and teenagers easily fall into depression and might even develop low self-esteem due to the harsh comments they receive online ranging from body shamming( people insulting the physical weakness of others), and so on, social media is more like a battlefront where predators are lurking for preys to pounce on for instance, on November 24, 2019, a popular Korean actress (Go Hara) was found dead in her apartment with a hand-written suicide note which indicated she was being bullied online and suffered from depression. Who could have ever thought such a person could ever become a victim of cyber bulling let alone fall into depression and commit suicide.

Nowadays, children a lot of their time staring at screens rather than looking at real people which affects how they function in the world. A lot of them are good at chatting online for several hours, texting with their headsets on which make them unable to read facial expressions and body, finds it difficult to hold a reasonable five-minute conversation with someone, and also to interact freely or even work together with other people. The internet has made them accustomed to a fast life at any mere sight of delay they throw tantrums making this worse is their parents who would rather condole their actions than disciplining them.

Finally, technology has been linked to being the major cause the of increase in fatigue, stress, and depression in the new generation, children no longer receive the love, care and affection they need from their parents and families, families spend leisure times staring at TV screens and brings phones to the dining halls rather than conversing with each other, children lock themselves in their rooms to use the social media instead of spending quality time with their parents and siblings this makes them miss out on the part of their emotional and social development causing them to be lonely, anxious and depressed. Youngsters further cause damage to their eye sights by looking at artificial sources of lights and tiny characters on their devices, especially at night.

It’s an eyesore that the new generation is not having the same experience as their parents and grandparents while technology has improved many parts of life and made them more convenient and easier but has come with a high price to pay unfortunately there isn’t much solution to be proffered it’s on the parents and guardian to try to keep their wards and children away from the addiction of technology

This opinion story has been published on CAMPUS REPORTER with very minimal editing to preserve the original voice of the author. CAMPUS REPORTER does not bear any responsibility for the contents of this story, all views belong to the author.