My Final Blog Post - #11

 Our Relationship With Technology 

When deciding what to write this final blog post, a few too many ideas came to mind because it feels as if there will never not be something to talk about regarding technology and its impact on our world today. But, I was able to organize my thoughts and connect some to the Mad World Remix of Moby Video we viewed in class. This video is one that deserves to be watched multiple times so every small detail can be caught.

What first stood out to me was the small boy which you could say is the main focus of the video. He is the only person without a phone held up to his face and isn’t distracted by a screen in front of him, rather horrified at the reality of what the world has become. This made me think of my younger brother. He is 13 and just entering middle school. He’s always been one to kind of have a difficult time finding good friends his age, and I think technology, or his lack thereof, is making it harder. By not having a phone or access to apps children his age may all be using like Snapchat or Instagram, he may miss out on funny videos everyone knows, school events, or be left out when an activity is planned.

This is what makes the argument of technology so complex; it helps people to connect and makes it easier for people to communicate. But at the same time, this is only true if the technology is paired with already developed social skills. When children receive devices earlier and earlier, they have more freedom to meet people and share their thoughts, but an online image or conversation can be cleverly built. When it comes time to interact in person, they may feel nervous without the safety net of having however long they need to respond to a question or a filter to cover something they’re insecure about. Technology makes things too easy, so it becomes harder to exist in reality. 

I thought about this ongoing issue on a bigger scale when listening to the Morning Wire, a podcast I highlighted in my first blog post. I heard a few startling statistics in an episode from February that stated there has never been another time recorded in U.S. History where people have spent this much time alone. Social isolation is on the rise and turning to social media is both a response and cause of the problem. I didn't have access to social media apps other than Pinterest during the pandemic until about a year and half after. I turned to platforms like Youtube and Netflix, still feeling like everyone seemed so out of reach. But, I do think my lack of interaction online helped me to stay more reliant on healthier forms of entertainment like basketball and it made it easier to return to school.

But, when I downloaded Instagram my junior year, I found myself to be more aware of what the social expectations and trends were among my peers. I started to care more about what was being posted, afraid I would miss out on a joke or school event if I wasn’t checking online regularly. I did find my friendships to be less genuine when social media was added to the mix and if I saw something that made me feel left out, I chose to self-isolate rather than address the situation. I’m grateful to be in a healthier, less reliant phase, but I still struggle to limit my Instagram intake everyday. The episode also mentioned adding to this “loneliness pandemic” is the fact the marriage rate has gone down by a shocking 65% (9 minutes into the episode). I pondered if  technology added or detracted from this percentage and what has been its impact on dating.

Another aspect of the video that caught my eye was the clip at 2:03 where it illustrates the ease, but sad reality of online dating. I’ve always been skeptical of the idea of meeting someone online due to some healthy paranoia and just the fact I personally prefer meeting someone organically. Without immediately overthinking what someone may mean over text, I could rely on what I learned about them and their personality from our face to face conversation. But, the video made me think past my initial reservations, and more on how online dating could hurt any user. While depending on your app of choice, you can only see a certain amount of information and pictures of the other profiles, and the main attractive aspect of online dating is how many options you have. It can be nice to know that if it didn’t work out with someone, you have plenty of people you can meet and spend time to find who’s right for you. But, does this idea of never ending eligible candidates sabotage us in a way? 

The woman animated in the video switches instantly from man to man, not even really giving each a chance to truly introduce themselves. I began imagining, even if someone goes on a really nice date, they could leave thinking if that person is as good as who else awaits them on the app, instead asking if they liked the person. We may be missing out on true connections if we are too distracted with switching from person to person to see what we could have instead of what we want. I researched my theory further and a Psychology Today article discusses choice overload. It was found users who were shown less profiles on a dating app were more satisfied than a group shown more as they were less stressed and were able to prioritize quality over quantity. 

While I think the advancement of technology is inevitable and done with good intention, but it proves to have more harmful effects than expected. Its strengths can be taken to the extreme and negatively impact users' social development. Measures past small features like my time limits that can be easily ignored, need to be taken to ensure the future of a happier society.