Effects of Overuse of Technology on Human Life

The modern age is characterized by a great number of different discoveries in the field of technology. Every year new and new devices appear. They bring significant changes to the life of people, suggesting new possibilities and making our existence easier. New technology is now an integral part of our life. “We rely on it for quick information, social networking, job searching, school-related assignments, and entertainment for when we are bored” (Kelley, n.d.). However, not everything connected with the progress and spread of digital technologies is considered to be of great value. Very often these technologies do harm to our health and our life in different ways. There is a tendency in society to increase the level of addiction to technology. People do not notice that they cannot perform some usual actions or feel completely being deprived of their favorite devices. Having noticed such a threatening tendency, it is possible to analyze and understand the main peculiarities of the influence of digital technologies on our everyday life. To do it better, it is possible to concentrate on certain aspects of our life and analyze changes which occurred in this spheres in details. Taking it into account, analysis of the changes in work and food, caused by the overuse of technology, will be made.

This research paper is based on observations of the author which have been made during a certain period of time. Moreover, to be more precise and support this work with clear evidences, data collected from 120 youth respondents was also used and analyzed (Rather, 2013). Additionally, simple interviewing of occasional respondents was also performed and its results were used to show the processes which occurred in society under the influence of technology better. Majority of the respondents are familiar with all modern digital devices, moreover, they use them actively and cannot imagine their social life without them, being active users of different social networks (Rather, 2013). Moreover, taking into account peculiarities of the chosen issue, the influence of technology on food is investigated. To determine differences in food culture and quality of products comparison between main ingredients of the most common products was made. Moreover, new meal habits were analyzed. This step can help to determine differences and shifts in our everyday life more precise and, moreover, will give some additional information for further research.

Having analyzed the data, it is possible to come to certain conclusions. First of all, there is no use denying the fact, that influence of technology on work of people and efficiency could not be overestimated. The first obvious change is connected with traditional methods of performing a job. At the present day, under the influence of new technologies and devices, these methods are changing. The main thing is, that in general, technology has positive effect on work and efficiency, though, influencing badly the health of a person (Technology overuse creating health hazards for youth and children, 2011). New devices allow better accomplishment of the task, expending less efforts. Moreover, it is possible to perform more complicated tasks and a person will not have to be in such a great strain, trying not to lose attention and cope with his work. However, there is also another side of this problem. It is connected with the overuse of technology. First of all, it leads to dissatisfaction among workers provoked by their uncertainty in future (Shuler, 2005). This feeling is based on the fact that technology can replace workers at all and they will have no place to work. This fact, of course, adds tension to workers attitude to technology. However, there is another issue which is not connected with the use of technology in industrial purposes, though, it deals with the use of different digital devices in everyday life. It is obvious, that addiction influences badly attention, efficiency and general state of any person. The same deals with the addiction to different devices. Being not able to put their phones or computers aside, people spend all free time playing, communicating or just watching TV, being sure that they have a good rest and renew their forces (Newman, 2012). However, it is a common mistake. The brain does not wind down, still being active and performing different activities connected with the use of technology. Some games or other devices demand even higher level of attention than a person should have while working. Moreover, the lack of face to face communication leads to isolation of a person (Mekawi, 2013). That is why, it is possible to say that the overuse of technology is a very threatening fact which lowers efficiency of workers and has pernicious influence on their work and health. It also should be added, that very often work today is connected with the use of mobile or other devices which also leads to development of addiction and decrease of the level of attention and efficiency.

Several conclusions connected with the issue of food should also be outlined Great level of mobility is peculiar for modern age. People can have access to information or entertainments at any place, just using their mobile phone of another device. This fact, of course, influences food habits of a person. There is no time for long meals nowadays. People devote less time and attention to the process of consuming food considering it to be secondary. They put technology on the first place as even while eating people do not stop using their digital devices. There is another aspect of the overuse of technology and its influence on food. It is connected with new technologies which allow creation of new products (Gill, 2013). Modern food industry widely uses different dietary additives to achieve better results and increase level of incomes. As a result, such products cost cheaper and can be preserved for longer terms. However, there are also several disadvantages peculiar for this process. Majority of people consider the products which are now available at shops to be less nutritious and tasty than products which were created at the beginning of the 20th century. Moreover, these products very often are almost artificial and, of course, they are not so useful and do not have a great number of vitamins and minerals. That is why, the overuse of technology in food industry leads to appearance of serious problems connected with the value of products which, in its turn, can lead to different health problems. The problem of the overuse of technology is especially important in terms of food industry and meal habits of population.

Having obtained results and data, it is possible to come to certain conclusions. There is no use denying the fact, that technology influences greatly modern world. That is why, the work is also influenced. However, this effect is not positive. Game addiction, addiction to the Internet and mobile phones depolarize forces and efficiency of workers (Cash, Rae, Steel & Winkler, 2012). More dangerous this phenomena is for that kind of people whose work is connected with the constant use of modern technologies and necessity to be online (Lawson-Borders, 2011). Being not able to have a good rest, they live in a constant tension and destroy their health. There is no doubt, that some solutions to this problem should be found. First of all, it is possible to introduce some relaxation rooms and breaks at every enterprise, where people can have a rest, being totally isolated from the influence of technology. Obviously, it is very difficult to control the life of workers at home so there are not many possibilities to guarantee a persons rest, that is why at least such break should be introduced. Additionally, in very complicated cases some help of a psychologist could be needed as addiction to different types of devises is the same disease as alcohol or drug addiction. This help should be suggested by an employer in order to save a worker and rise his efficiency.

The same deals with the issue of food. It is also of a great importance and there is a great necessity in discussing this question, in order to find some possible solutions to this problem. The situation is worsened by the fact that current state of environment influences the quality of products greatly and even natural products have lower characteristics than the same products of the past century. Implementation of new technologies and materials in food industry makes the things worse. Being almost artificial, these products cannot guarantee healthy existence of a person. One of the possible solutions to this problem is to introduce severe control over the process of production in order to limit number of additives which are used. Moreover, products of this sort should be marked distinctively for a person to know what to buy. Another side of this problem, which is connected with a persons new way of eating, can be solved by creating special canteens where people should be forbidden to use digital devices in order to enjoy meal and get satisfaction from the process. There are only several solutions, however, it is obvious, the that problem should be discussed in details in order to study all advantages and disadvantages of different methods and their influence on the issue.

Having analyzed the data and different researches in this field, it is possible to come to certain conclusions. First of all, it should be said the problem of the overuse of technology exists and it is very actual nowadays (Campbell, 2013). Contrary to popular belief, technological progress is not always beneficial. That is why, it is obvious that different solutions to this problem should be found in order to guaranty further development of these devices and society. Overuse of technology and its influence on work and food threats prosperity and health of nations. Resting on these facts, further investigations of these issues should be made in order to collect more data and provide new conclusions and solutions to existing problems.

References

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Cash, H., Rae, C., Steel, A. & Winkler, A. (2012). Internet Addiction: A Brief Summary of Research and Practice. Curr Psychiatry Rev., 8(4), 292–298.

Gill, T. (2013). Nanotechnology and the living city. Nanomed Nanotechnol 4(6), pp. 272 – 281. Web.

Kelley, S.(n.d.) Is overuse of technology affecting mental health?. Web.

Lawson-Borders, G. (2011). Making the Connection: Digital Media and Intelligent Networking. Global Media Journal, 11(19), n.p. Web.

Mekawi, M. (2013). Commentary: Overuse of technology has killed communication. The lantern. Web.

Newman, S. (2012). Why Adolescents Overuse Technology, and What We Can Do About It. Psychology Today. Web.

Rather, A. (2013). Overuse of Facebook and Academic grades: an Inverse Correlation. Journal Of Humanities And Social Science, 12(6). pp. 68-72. Web.

Shuler, P. (2005). When Computer Based Technology Fails. NACTA Journal, 49(2), n.p. Web.

Technology overuse creating health hazards for youth and children. (2011). International Business Times. Web.