Communication Technology: An Unhealthy Addiction

Technology is becoming an unhealthy addiction within the world, we are becoming too dependent on our devices and need to take a step back and learn to focus more on our surroundings. Back in 2015, the average person would check their phone 85 times a day, that number has dramatically increased as the years have progressed. To show this I had tracked how often and how long I was on my phone which was an average of 88 times, and a range from 17-242 depending on the day. Due to technology advancements today, our communication skills are in danger. Today a majority of us would rather talk to each other through texting, social media, phone call or some form of Facetime. Teens and younger children are more likely to stick to these types of communication

Think about how you use your phone or the apps on your phone, specifically social media. Do you find yourself posting everything you do on social media, or having the urge to post them on social media as soon as they occur? Do you post things about places you visit, things you eat, or when you are with certain people? Are you busy taking pictures to post or just busy scrolling through social media while you are around others? If you said yes to any of these you may need to take a step back and look at how social media is affecting your life. I personally downloaded an app that tracks how often I am on my phone a day, and it came out to an average of an hour and forty minutes. I on the other had found that I am not on my phone as often as others around me are. There is a YouTube video that is perfect for showing what our smartphone-obsessed culture looks like (Gonchar 2016). Gonchar (2016) says, “while the clip has many funny scenes like a man proposing on a beach while trying to record that special moment on his phone, it’s mostly

According to Craig (2016), “there is a term that is commonly used known as “FOMO” short for “fear of missing out.” People have come to a point in their lives where they feel that if they don’t check social media every five minutes, they will miss out on something ( Craig, 2016). We are so caught up in knowing exactly what others are doing that we aren’t enjoying things ourselves. After personally tracking how much time is spent on my phone, I noticed that if I decrease that time I would be able to be more productive throughout the day. For example, I spent four hours and three minutes on my phone Wednesday, February fourteenth, I could have spent those four hours at the gym or going bowling with friends. Instead, I laid in bed and spent those four hours switching through Snapchat and Instagram, worrying about how others were spending their