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< | We are Still Truly Free |
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> | Always Connected, Yet Still Alone |
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< | -- By MatthewSchwartz - 17 Oct 2023 |
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> | -- By MatthewSchwartz - 3 Dec 2023 |
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< | Freedom is Obtainable |
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> | Technology and its Relationship with Human Attention |
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< | I have a brain. I can make my own decisions. Unlike the vast majority of people in my generation, I do not use social media. I only have LinkedIn? on my phone. I have shutoff all notifications from text and from LinkedIn? . I only use LinkedIn? to communicate with other attorneys, and I now seldom use the application. This has freed me. Before I deleted social media, I used to have all the major social media platforms: Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, etc. |
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> | The ongoing proliferation of technology across all aspects of life continues to reduce the attention people allocate towards their everyday human interactions. According to Sherry Turkle in Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other, technology has enabled humans to multitask more than ever before. By walking into a modern-day classroom, it is evident that students are distracted—whether browsing the internet, texting their friends, or engaging with a social media app. These distractions come with costs that impair our ability to succeed. According to the Cleveland Clinic, multitasking makes humans less efficient and more prone to errors. In studies looking into screen times and ADHD severity, there is a positive correlation between screen usage and ADHD symptoms. |
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< | Now that I have deleted all of these applications, I have felt a strong sense of freedom. Without the need to reply to people’s text immediately (which notifications pressure you to do), I control my own time. I am in control of my life. I am in control of my decisions. I am in control of what I want to do. This, unfortunately, is not the fate of many people my age. |
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> | The internet is no longer just a tool, but also an addiction. As much as 25% of children are addicted to the internet. Children are glued to their phones and spend an average of 4-6 hours per day on screens. |
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< | I urge everyone reading this to consider whether the pros of social media outweigh the cons of social media to you. To really answer this question, please ask yourself whether you have spent less time pursuing your hobbies and finding what brings you happiness compared to when you were not addicted to your phone. Also, think about how much more you could accomplish without having the need to be glued to your phone. Freedom is obtainable. You have the power now. I recommend trying to quit social media for a week. See how you feel. I promise you will not regret trying. |
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< | Social Media is Evil |
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> | Loneliness |
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< | Freedom from social media is necessary for humans to finally feel a sense of control of their life and ownership of their actions. It is no secret that social media is meant to be addicting. Before I deleted social media from my life, I would have an average screen time of 5-6 hours a day. When looking at this number in the aggregate, that comes out to over 1800 hours a year spent on my phone. The vast majority of my time spent on my phone was dedicated to social media. |
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> | The loss of interpersonal socialization and relationships can have detrimental effects on mental health and wellbeing. 37% of Americans do not interact with anyone at least once a week. And according to Turkle, since 2014, people have reported a dramatic decrease in their interest of others. |
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< | With almost the equivalent of a full-time job spent on social media a year, I realized how evil this time sink is. I did not need social media to maintain relationships with my closest friends. I did not need social media to stay connected with my family. I did not need social media to find out what events are going on in the community. I finally came to understand that the chokehold social media has is not even close to necessary to feeling a sense of belonging. |
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> | The combination of the minimal time spent with others and a decreased interest in doing so helps explain why 34% of Americans feel lonelier than ever before. In 2017, the U.S. Surgeon General said that we are living through a loneliness epidemic. The modern world is an incubator for loneliness as shared experiences and personal connection have now been replaced with time behind a screen. |
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< | Humans inherently have a need to feel connected. Social media led me to actually become less connected with the people I care about most. It is much more challenging to be invested in your closest friends and family when you also need to keep up with the 1000s of other people popping up on your phone via Instagram. My classmate from 10 years ago who was an acquaintance that I no longer speak to is not worth me keeping up with over my friends and family. Time is limited. Why should I spend my time keeping up with my long-lost acquaintance when I can deepen the relationships that I have with the people I care about the most? |
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< | Social media is evil. It is limiting our ability to deepen our most cherished relationships. |
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> | Anxiety, Stress, Depression, and Social Skills |
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> | Anxiety, stress, and depression have been shown to be significantly positively correlated with internet addiction. There have even been calls to include internet addiction into the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, due to the strong correlation between high internet usage and anxiety, stress, and depression. In a climate of rising internet addiction, it comes as no surprise that another study found that the prevalence of anxiety disorders and depressions worldwide are rising. |
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< | Social Media Causes Loneliness |
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> | The physiological impact of technology could in part be to blame for these mental disorders. Technology usage has led to sleep deregulation due to extended exposure to blue-light radiation, which has been shown to disrupt REM sleep. REM sleep is necessary for brain maintenance, keeping elevated moods, lowering depression and anxiety levels, and improving social skills. |
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< | It is obvious that mental health is suffering now. Depression is at an all-time high. Social anxiety is at an all-time high. Loneliness is at an-all time high. The United States is suffering a loneliness epidemic. If you look at communities where social media is nowhere near as prevalent, like in the Blue Zones, you will see what truly leads to a long and happy life. |
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> | Technology is also altering our natural communication patterns. Non-verbal cues, like body language, facial expressions, and voice tone are all much more challenging to identify now that we are spending more time than ever in front of a screen instead of face-to-face. Following the COVID-19 lockdown, I realized how much harder it was to socialize, since Zoom interactions became the new norm. While the COVID-19 pandemic was an extreme form of an antisocial experiment, I believe continuous exposure to screentime throughout the course of life will affect humans’ ability to socialize. |
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< | In the Blue Zones, like in Sardinia, there is a much higher proportion of centenarians than in the United States. Japan is also known for having a very long lifespan, too. A central component of these Blue Zones is a strong familial community, a sense of belonging, and a life purpose. The Blue Zones focus on caring for their family, put the community first, and exercise and keep their mind strong. Something that these zones have in common, a lack of social media dependence, is no surprise. I would argue that it is not possible to keep your mind strong when you are dependent on a drug, your phone. |
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< | While we are in the United States, we do not have the same luxury of living in a culture where it is the norm to not use social media, but I promise you will not feel anywhere near as lonely or unhappy if you quit social media. You will make more friends along the way, and your connections with said friends will be stout. |
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> | Relationship Simplification due to Confusion |
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> | According to Turkle, technology causes confusion about the proper amount of communication required in an interaction, which has led to the simplification of relationships. People are in a constant state of confusion about whether they have communicated enough; in fact, many often try to not engage too much or appear overeager in order to seem “cooler.” In turn, as a society we now have lower expectations from our relationships. For example, we don’t expect our friends to engage us in deep conversation over text, or for them to reply immediately. |
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> | Nevertheless, people are more connected than ever before. Adults under 45 send and receive 85+ texts per day, on average. However, our definition of “connected” has shifted. While we may literally be connected to people at all times in a virtual world, our relationships are shallower and more surface-level than those developed through in-person communications. The number of people that technology allows us to communicate with at once also reduces the attention a person can allocate to any single individual. |
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< | Conclusion |
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> | Technology as a Gap-Filler
Technology has also become our escape from human relationships altogether. We often spend time interacting with robots and other online avatars, which per Turkle, is a way to fill any voids in our life. Our identities as people have changed, as we now think about ourselves by both our real-world identities and internet personas combined. We are no longer just who we present ourselves as physically; we are also judged by how we appear online—whether that be how many followers we have on Instagram or how many friends we have on Facebook. |
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< | You can become free from social media. You can break the addiction. You can break the dependence of social media. Social media is evil. It is also causing you to be lonelier. Please try to heed my warning and recommendation. Without the constant urge to check your phone and see your notifications, you are finally in control. Social media is dehumanizing us because we need to constantly check our phones to feel a sense of self. We are very complicated creatures, but social media limits our ability to make our own choices. Please trust me, before it is too late. |
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> | Turkle mentions how in her studies she has identified that younger humans are more accepting of falling in love with a robot or using robots to replace humans’ roles in particular tasks. It will not be unheard of for humans to marry robots and become best friends with robots, instead of trying to befriend a real human. Humans prefer to feel in control of their conversations and relationships, which robots are able to accommodate. Robots accept our feelings, feel safe, and allow us to be 100% in control. This may help explain our preference for texting conversations, where we can determine when to reply and end a chat. With this in mind, it is no surprise that Gen Z is opting to avoid calls. |
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I'm glad you're feeling better. We'll know in seventy years or so, I guess, whether you got more longevity by the deal. You must have realized, I think, that the effect on longevity in Japan of behavior that began after 2010 will not be ascertainable, if at all, for many decades. That's why I think the draft is straight-faced satire. |
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> | Conclusion
With the influx of technology, we expect less out of each other. The result is we find ourselves feeling more alone. Technology and social media are now used as a gap-filler and are seen as part of who we are. How many followers do I have? Anxiety, stress, and depression are at all-time highs. Social skills are weaker than before. It is clear that social media and technology have the power to destroy relationships altogether. |
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< | Either way making it better means putting the next draft in touch with reality outside yourself. The literature on loneliness and social media is not inextensive: I assigned an entire book on this and related subjects (Turkle's Alone Together) which you haven't touched yet. Let's start there.
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You are entitled to restrict access to your paper if you want to. But we all derive immense benefit from reading one another's work, and I hope you won't feel the need unless the subject matter is personal and its disclosure would be harmful or undesirable. |