Are People Becoming Addicted to Technology?

As people become more dependent on technology, specifically their phones, scientists are starting to wonder to what extent internet or technology addiction can be considered an actual medical disorder. Recently, a mental health hospital in India opened up a wing dedicated towards those with technology addictions, calling it the “technology de-addiction clinic.” They followed the lead of South Korea, China, Taiwan and Singapore who also see technology addiction as a growing mental health problem which needs treatment. Most patients are children being brought in by their parents, usually who are the most concerned when they notice an academic decline. They are linking this addiction to insomnia, depression, and social withdrawal, which could lead to wrongly medicating young children for problems they may not actually have. This can relate to a widely discussed topic of putting young people on drugs to treat issues that may not actually be real issues, like when doctors put children on ADHD medication because they are hyper, even though it may just be an effect of their young age. Technology consumes our society and should not be viewed as a medical issue. Wrongfully medicating young people can lead to actual drug addictions or dependencies, which continues to be a growing issue in our society that needs to be focused on and stopped.

With our dependence on technology growing, especially within our younger generations, it is important that we dedicate research in finding out whether or not there can be a real addiction to technology: what symptoms may be, how severe the dependency would have to be to be considered an addiction, and how to treat it. Treatment for such an addiction may be the most difficult aspect of this possible new found addiction, being that technology is not something that can ever be ignored, avoided, or cut entirely from one’s life. While you can tell an alcoholic they need to stop drinking and to avoid alcohol, you cannot tell someone to avoid technology and to never use it again- the world now functions on technology, which seems as though a technology addiction would be incurable.

Perhaps the bigger issue to consider is why we have allowed ourselves to become to dependent on technology and what harmful effects could develop should we continue to let technology make flourishing advances. There are now robots who can have independent conversations, which seems more troubling than it does exciting. Are we preparing for humanity to be obsolete and have technology do everything for us? It is time we acknowledge that there are downsides to technological advances, in any field or walk of life, and without interception we may be allowing technology to completely take over our lives.

We should be greatly alarmed that technology can be just as addictive as drugs and that it is wreaking our mental health and stability. If we do not figure out a course of action, we will allow people in medicine to distribute medications to more people who do not need it, while failing to function as a society.

Below is a direct link to the original article discussing technology addiction and about the studies being completed overseas.

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/278530.php

*this was a class assignment in which I had to find a current event relating to our course, “Drugs and Their Implications.” I shared this assignment in hopes that others may find it educational and to shed some light onto an issue we often do not recognize as much as we should. Technology is rearing its ugly head the more we become dependent on it, and action is required on many ends to ensure that the health and safety of our society is maintained.*