Every year, millions of teenagers and young adults tell their parents that this cell phone "will be their last." But year after year, a new gadget emerges to dominate the smartphone industry. If you were born anytime in the last 40 years, chances are good you make a beeline straight for that new device shortly after it released.
In fact, more than 70 percent of Americans depend on their personal electronic devices. Being a person who is "glued" to such tech devices can impair your physical and mental state. Half of those who are dependent on computers and other tech devices rarely write on paper anymore. Consequently, public schools have almost entirely eliminated cursive from their curriculum. Indeed, we are so overwhelmed by these technological devices that we are content to let our refined skills permanently atrophy.
Devices help us land on the moon…and on web pages
The devices we have now are smarter and smaller than ever before. They have become so rooted in the palms of our hands that according to LetterPiles English Instructor Virginia Kearney, technology devices can impair our social interaction.
Inhibiting our social relationships simply is not enough to keep us from these devices though. Not that there's anything wrong with technology, since it has helped us land on the moon, save lives in the operating room, etc. But moderating how we spend time on them is what will allow us to continue making advancements – both personally and as a race – in the future.
Social media obsessed
In one of the "Keeping Up with the Kardashians" episodes, Kim Kardashian couldn't stop taking selfies. When she stayed at a luxury hotel in Paris and was robbed, she halted her social media accounts. She became "paranoid" and stopped socializing on the internet, choosing instead to "lay low" for a while . This is understandable. It does raise a red flag on how we use tech gadgets and devices. It made her more aware of how she used her social media accounts as far as where and what she posted.
But even when people like her learn such a valuable lesson, can they stay away from their computers, video games or cellphones? Said to have PTSD from her horrific experience in Paris, Kim K. didn't "fully recover." While she is a great entrepreneur, beautiful and successful, she sure did go back to "them selfies" regardless. Then again, she went to a huge event in one of the recent E! Kardashian episodes where she was a target again on social media, criticized for "who knows what" on a few social media sites.
She was once again glued to her phone because of the comments people were saying about her. Viewers can see her distress. Her sisters, Khloe and Kourtney, had to take her phone, with Kim unaware of it. They temporarily restrained her from her social media websites. This action prevented Kim from viewing the comments. Did it work? "No."
When is enough, enough?
When friends and family members have to step in because it affects our personal life, enough is enough. Periodically, we need to put our devices aside and get back to reality. If it keeps us from not socializing, it is best to put those devices down for a few days.
Getting back to reality is not only difficult at times after playing video games for hours, working on the computer texting hours upon hours on our mobiles; over long periods, it can physically impair us. Additionally, the strain it has on our eyes, our backs, our hands and yes, even our mental state of mind. Isn't moderation better than being physically and mentally impaired by them?