When was the last time you surfed the internet, checked your email or sent a text message from your cell phone?
Maybe at this very moment you are reading this article from your smart phone or from your notebook while tapped into a hotspot at the local Starbucks as you sip on your “quad-shot-venti-caramel-mocha-latte.” Wherever you are, and whatever you are doing, I think you would agree we me that we are now in the Information Age.
Just think for a moment how integrated technology has become in our lives. If you are like the “average Joe” in America, chances are that you feel dependent to some degree upon the use of computers, the internet, email, wireless and satellite technology, GPS navigation … need I say more?
Certainly, technology has enhanced our lifestyle, as the advent of any new invention is intended to do. Look at the Industrial Revolution, and how it brought about automated mass production enabling us to be more efficient and productive with our time and energy. The Technological Revolution (or the Information Age) has brought its benefits for us as well — efficiency, precision and a seemingly infinite array of options and information just a “click” away. But at the same time, we have become accustomed to a sedentary life of convenience and immediate gratification.
So, how much is too much? Technology, and particularly computers and the internet, at best are easily overused and abused. At worst, they are addictive. The combinations of content, ease of access, low cost, visual stimulation and autonomy, and relationships, employment, grades and school achievement, health, and legal and financial issues are just a few.
Technology affects the way we live and the way we love. As we become enticed and enamored by the use of technology, we may find ourselves drawn to becoming depersonalized, disconnected and buffered from the reality of human relationships. We may even find ourselves using technology as an impersonal and insidious escape — be that through our use of social networking, video games, mindless internet “surfing,” compulsive shopping, gambling or indulgence in online chat rooms, pornography or cybersex. If we are not careful, the allures of technology can lead us down a dark path toward isolation, depression and self-destruction.
Don’t get me wrong — I’m not suggesting that we go live in caves (there aren’t many of those here in Florida anyway). Technology, computers and the internet have many benefits to our society. Nevertheless, we can become all-consumed in our relationship with technology where it gets in the way of our more important relationships — with people. It should be remembered that technology affects the way we live and the way we love. Unless technology improves the quality of our lives, it is of no benefit to us. Just because we create and provide wonderful new technologies does not mean that they are benign.
Jason Hosch, Ph.D., is director of Life Transitions Counseling in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. He works with addiction recovery, depression, anxiety and several other mental health issues. For more information, go to www.lifetransitions.cc.
