We all know technological advancements have drastically changed human lives,
from extending our lifespan to ease of many tasks that now we take for granted.

Technology is so intertwined with our lives right now that it’s hard to imagine life without modern conveniences. So what are these Ramifications of Technology?
How has it affected our lives beyond its marvellous breakthroughs?

Dividing this into 3 parts,

Psychological

Let’s start with the obvious one,

“Lack of Focus”

With instant access to information and rapid communication.
Perception of time and patience has altered for us,
We all have a superfast computer in our pockets with 4G connection, this has fostered an expectation of immediate results. Patience for slower processes has eroded in our lives.
Here is a pretty good documentary if you have time that i watched few years ago
The Social Dilemma.

Emphasising how attention span has decreased,
You might have heard an average human has lower attention span than a goldfish now (not sure if it’s true) but here is an interesting fact:

  • 6 hours and 58 minutes per day is screen time of an average human today.

Researchers from France and the United Kingdom found that frequent media multitasking may contribute to diminished gray matter in the anterior cingulate cortex, an area of the brain where attentional control resides (Loh & Kanai, 2014).

Digital Amnesia

The more we outsource tasks to smartphones, the less we use our memories.
Which becomes weaker thus forcing us to depend more on the devices.

Have you needed a calculator to solve basic calculations.
Ok let me rephrase it, We hardly have one or two phone numbers memorised and it is not easy for us to remember a phone number, on the other hand i know few people who don’t save contacts on their smartphones (few of them have memorised my phone number also, even i get confused sometimes what my phone number is)
Because we have contacts saved in our mobile phone right?

We don’t need to care about such trivial things or by outsourcing tasks which require mental efforts, we are letting our minds focus on more productive tasks?
This is what atleast i used to think then i came across this Harvard paper.

“If you don’t use something, You lose it” this was written in some book
(i am bad at remembering names)

  • The dependency on GPS navigation systems reduces the brain density matter in the hippocampus, causing diseases like depression and dementia. reference

Short term memory is destroyed by short videos,
There has been surveys which shows that if you watch a full movie or read a book, you will be able to narrate the story even after few days. But if you watch 100s of short videos (10–20 sec videos), you are not be able to recollect even 5 of them right after you put down your mobile. These short videos are like junk food for brain, it does not allow or give enough time for your brain to settle down and process. Brain keep switching between different videos which are of different theme, different genre, different types.

Feeling content

Let’s talk about living in the moment and feeling pleasure.
When you go out, sit in the rain or watch sunset ask yourself how much time do you actually spend feeling the current moment. Remember when we were kids and all we focused on was the current situation, no phones. Aren’t those one of the best memories we all have. When we are constantly distracted, we fail to pay attention to important moments in life and cannot form good memories.

Short term memories fail to get transferred into long term memories and we don’t form insights.

Brain can become hyperstimulated by dopamine. This overstimulation can make our brain’s pleasure centres less responsive to other enjoyable experiences, such as eating a meal, reading a book, having a conversation or holding hands.

Some more issues:

  • Easy access to web search can sometimes encourage a reliance on readily available solutions rather than cultivating deeper critical thinking and problem-solving skills.

  • Technology is Killing Creativity

Physical

Let’s start with Sleep disturbance?

  • Light from electronic devices has showen to hinder circadian rhythm.

  • Prolonged sitting in front of screens contributes to a sedentary lifestyle. This increases the risk of obesity, heart disease, type 2 diabetes, muscle and joint problems and poor posture. Humans are designed for physical activity, and prolonged sitting can lead to weakness.

  • Human body is made to endure certain conditions such as cold or complicated hard daily tasks that have been taken care of by technology, as a result our minds and body have become weak.

Social

While technology enhances connectivity, it can also hinder the development of in-depth, face-to-face social skills necessary for strong interpersonal relationships.

Change of character

The internet can create a sense of individuality, making us feel unique. However, it’s important to reflect on whether this feeling is genuine.
Reflecting constantly on “Am i using it or am i being used?”

  • Many technological advancements including advertising and social media often fuel bad decisions and personality disorders.
  • Studies demonstrate that increased time spent on internet use correlates with higher rates of depression and envy. Not only limited to making a person feel weak or having low self esteem. A person can also start to live in fantasy world online and have high confidence while achieving nothing in real life, not only limited to causing further hate towards real life but causing many sociological problems and being stuck in a loop. Making it hard for people to confide in real life, in future maybe people will prefer talking to ai bots over real humans.

On the other hand, we can also say that social media has made us unnecessarily self conscious. A teenager feels he/she has to do certain things to be accepted by his/her peers. That netflix documentary shows it perfectly.
Everyone has an instagram profile you should too?

Being able to find communities online can be very beneficial yet there is also another side to this coin. Impulsivity, narcissism, and aggression rate is showing significant increase. Isn’t it self explanatory at this point?

Person’s individuality is essential but having support for you weaknesses and stupidity then portraying it as normal is not. Spending time without your phone and detoxifying your brain once in a while from the internet for reflection should be encouraged.

Exposure of kids at young age

  • Delays in language development, social and emotional development
  • lower creativity.
  • Children experience the thinning of the brain cortex, a precursor of aging and neurodegenerative diseases.

These are some researched effects on children and here are some on YT consumption

  • YouTube game videos have been found to have an effect on traditional game culture, leading children to imitate people and events in the videos and diminishing their creativity.
  • YouTuber videos produced for children often contain negative verbal expressions, visual content related to violence, aggression, slang, slander, harmful habits, product advertisements, and sexuality.
  • The consumption of videos on YouTube by young children can influence their knowledge, behaviours, and attitudes, making it important to understand the types of content they are consuming. YouTubers have been observed to use language that deviates from the linguistic norm, which can have a negative impact on the development of correct language patterns in children.

However, YouTube can also have positive effects on children’s learning, such as increasing their interest in learning English vocabulary or to teach them certain things in a fun way if parents don’t have time (though it should be strictly supervised and limited)

Early childhood experiences from birth to age 8 affect the development of the brain’s architecture, which provides the foundation for all future learning, behaviour and health. Some studies suggest potential links between heavy technology use and alterations in brain structure and functioning, especially in areas related to attention control and emotional regulation. This is mostly studied in children, where developing brains might be more vulnerable.

Even after 8 years,
During early teens and tweens, humans start to learn to become more independent from being very close to parents, what a child consumes during this time is very crucial for character development.

Ok so this is not a guide to raise kids,
i’ll just end this with writing about the good old days when i was 7,
Being an only child i spent most of my time with my computer, it was like a whole universe in my hands all inside my room. Back then we had a PCs that were not portable at all and a simple 1GB file took 6 hours to download, streaming hd videos was next to impossible ( my generation was the last one who didn’t watch chuchutv growing up), even then my parents used to cut off electricity so i could only access my pc for few hours a day.