Health and Technology

Watch Out for the Side Effects of the Technology on Your Mental Health

Rather than merely focusing on benefits, I present a complete picture of technology by examining it from multiple angles.

Technology as a Double-Edged Sword

As a technology advocate and professional, my regular readers might be surprised to see me focusing on the negative aspects of technology. While I fully embrace technology’s benefits and opportunities, I’m also cautious about its risks and potential side effects when misused, overused, or abused.

Rather than only focusing on benefits, I believe in presenting a complete picture of tools and processes to my readers, independently examining them from multiple angles, especially those related to our health and well-being.

Technology itself is neutral, not harmful. But our overuse and misuse can be risky and damaging, particularly when it comes to the cognitive systems and neural networks in our brains, which are not designed to handle excessive amounts of reward with dopamine and overstimulation with adrenalin and glutamate.

The emergence of information technology, the internet, and social media has led to new behaviors with emotional, mental, social, and spiritual disconnection due to social isolation caused by the overuse of technology devices.

Addiction to electronic toys and TV shows in younger children, online and video games in teenagers, and streaming videos and television shows in adults have become commonplace.

Unfortunately, excessive use of technology can lead to mood swings, aggressive behavior, anxiety, depression, and addiction to alcohol and recreational drugs, creating psychological, behavioral, and physical problems.

Popular video games can introduce violence. Online discrimination and bullying are common issues for teenagers, as I will explore in the following sections as a cautionary tale. My goal is not to scare you but create awareness of risks and side effects.

Seven Detrimental Effects of Technology on Our Health and Well-Being

I structured this section under seven headings focusing on critical points to make it practical and helpful.

1 — Health and Fitness Issues

In this section, I’d like to provide an overview of health and fitness concerns related to the overuse, misuse, or abuse of technology.

Technology addiction causes mindless overeating and drinking for some, and it leads to obesity. The consumption of junk foods skyrockets during screen time leading to binge eating and obesity.

Addicted people do not care about cooking their meals, so they use the convenience of technology to order fast food from online shops and keep playing more games or watching more streaming videos.

In my experience, sleep disturbances caused by excessive screen use top the list, as I experienced in my younger years, like many teenagers nowadays. But I was in my early 20s when I started using computers in a college for informatics education.

Sleep disturbances caused by excessive screen use adversely affected my sleep quality, increasing my stress and fatigue and reducing creativity and productivity. The problem was caused by harsh blue lights affecting my circadian rhythm.

Another health issue was headaches caused by eye strain and dry eyes sitting in front of computers longer than usual. But later, I noticed dehydration triggered headaches, so drinking more water and taking breaks every hour solved this health issue.

Exciting devices can grapple our attention hooking us into the screens. But, sadly, too much screen time harms our vision. For example, many of us experience blurred vision and dry eyes due to the over-consumption of electronic devices. Luckily, lutein and zeaxanthin can help a bit.

Computer obsession can also lead to a sedentary life, back pains, muscle pain, neck pain, nerve pinches, and overall discomfort in the body.

Even though the writing is therapeutic, penning this article in front of my PC by touch-typing has unintentionally tensed my shoulders, neck, wrist, hands, and fingers. So technology is valuable, but it also creates side effects for me and many others.

With this awareness, I decided to have a 20-minute break before my next screen-related task. Hopefully, a few deep breathing and stretching exercises with 15 minutes of closing my eyes meditatively with gratitude can bring the balance back by activating the parasympathetic nervous system.

2 — Addiction to the Internet, Social Media, and Online Games

Fortunately, the Internet, social media, and computer games started emerging after my 30s, so I was aware of the addiction problems as taught us by our caring teachers. Some researchers also hypothesized potential risks and created awareness on those days.

But I witnessed several people in my circles suffering from addiction issues to the Internet, social media, and online or video games. I wrote about the side effects of gaming addictions.

Some initially feel great joy in spending hours in front of computers interacting with the virtual world and losing track of the real world. It is like a sense of escape from reality. Missing out on social interaction can create hidden stress in the brain as the limbic system craves social connections and intimacy.

However, after a while, the brain creates addictive chemicals and tries to fill the void, as I explained in a story titled What DeltaFosB Is and Why It Matters in Solving Addiction Problems.

Tech devices and related services cause frequent and excessive release of dopamine. Imbalances of dopamine are one of the major causes of motivational issues.

Kids and teenagers quickly get bored and always seek excitement. But the brain will put a break for the over-production of dopamine as part of the punishment system. This can increase stress and anxiety and lead to depression.

The effects of addiction also can affect the creativity and productivity of people. Some people neglect their responsibilities. And some people face financial difficulties as they get addicted to online gambling.

Despite my caution, I got addicted to social media for a while and had to cut it to regain control, as I explained in this story titled Why Social Media Fast Was the Best Decision for My Mental Health.

3 — Cyberbullying and Online Harassment

Cyberbullying happens on digital platforms, such as social media, email, or text messaging. The effects of cyberbullying can lead to increased anxiety, depression, and suicidal ideation.

The mechanism it impacts mental health is the experience of being attacked and humiliated in public forums, which can create feelings of isolation, shame, anger, and guilt.

Cyberbullying affects children and teenagers the most as they are vulnerable and take things personally, causing emotional traumas.

Online harassment or trolling is similar to cyberbullying. However, it can include a broader range of negative behaviors, such as aggression, stalking, threatening, and hate speech. For example, a person receiving hateful messages online might feel unsafe in their community.

Like cyberbullying, online harassment can lead to chronic stress, anxiety, depression, and PTSD symptoms. The mechanism by which online harassment impacts mental health is via the experience of being targeted and attacked online, which can create fear, isolation, and trauma.

Online harassment, trolling, and cyberbullying can lead to decreased self-esteem, increased anxiety, and augmented risk of depression and suicidal thoughts, especially among young people.

4 — Exposure to Violent or Disturbing Content

Violent or disturbing content like hate speech can impact mental health through the experience of being exposed to traumatic images and events, which can create feelings of fear, helplessness, and vulnerability.

Exposure to violent or disturbing content online can increase anxiety, depression, and PTSD symptoms. For example, people who view graphic videos of violent attacks may experience nightmares and flashbacks.

If such content is constantly consumed, it can cause information overload in the nervous system, increasing stress and anxiety and leading to burnout.

Another harmful content is through recent deep fake technologies. The concerns revolve around safety, security, damaging reputation, fake news, mass deception, and blackmail resulting in financial loss.

Non-consensual insertion of videos belonging to politicians, athletes, executives, and celebrities is common. These public figures can be strategically targeted on social media.

While it is challenging to change the actual meaning of a video via essential tools, it is much easier using AI technologies to add emotions mimicking human traits, like face recognition from photos and videos.

I documented my perspectives and experience in an article titled Let’s Talk About Dangers of Deep Fake Technologies, Causing Grief.

5 — Fear of Missing Out and Scams

Fear of missing out (FOMO) reflects deep concern about not being included in online social events or activities. FOMO can lead to increased anxiety, social isolation, and depression.

The experience of feeling left out or excluded from social events can create feelings of inadequacy and loneliness. For example, people who see photos of their friends at a party they were not invited to might start to feel that they are not valued or included in their social circle.

The constant comparison to others and the fear of being excluded from social activities on social media can lead to increased stress, decreased self-esteem, and reduced social interactions.

In addition, people constantly checking social media to see what others are doing might experience increased stress, anxiety, and decreased self-esteem due to the fear of missing out.

Unrealistic expectations from social media can also lead to decreased self-esteem, increased anxiety, decreased social interactions through constant comparison to others, and the reinforcement of unrealistic beauty standards and lifestyles.

For example, people exposed to social media influencers with unrealistic body types or lifestyles might experience decreased self-esteem and increased anxiety due to the pressure to conform to their standards.

Obsession with technology can also attract scammers who target the vulnerabilities of people.

Unfortunately, online scams, especially from the dark side of the net, are rising and even affecting seasonal technology people. As a technology professional, I also became a target of such scams and had to call a lifeline first time in my life.

6 — Discrimination (Racism and Sexism)

I wrote about the potential discriminate effects of technology decades ago. In those days, readers did not take those points seriously, and some academics even criticized my points as contrived.

However, when AI technologies advanced and were implemented for public use, my raised points manifested as societal issues.

Technology per se cannot be racist. Machines are neutral. However, software programs can reflect the biases of programmers and institutions. Many established technology companies are aware of these risks, and they take preventable actions to mitigate them.

Emerging technology stacks — particularly artificial intelligence, big data analytics, deep learning, neural networks, natural language processing, and machine learning — created discriminatory results like sexism and racism.

Face recognition by artificial intelligence tools indicates racism. Inequity in face recognition algorithms is well documented.

For example, according to an article by Alex Najibi published at Harvard University: “Face recognition algorithms boast high classification accuracy (over 90%), but these outcomes are not universal.

A growing body of research exposes divergent error rates across demographic groups, with the poorest accuracy consistently found in subjects who are female, black, and 18–30 years old.

I documented my research summary in an article titled Here’s How Technology Can Be Racist. Emerging technologies, e.g., artificial intelligence, adversely affect the diversity and equality of ethnic people.

While we still face many ethical issues in the analog world of sex, the digital world started raising concerns. As a result, thought leaders are investigating digisexulity, and scientists have started writing about them.

Many countries made remarkable achievements in recognizing taboo subjects cause suffering to millions of people due to their sexual preferences. But now, we have another challenge for society. For example, Spain has a sex robot brothel now.

There are use cases of digisexualism mentioned in the literature. One interesting use case of digisexualism is dealing with loneliness from a mental health perspective. However, some claim that sex and love with robots might cause more loneliness.

With open-mindedness, empathy, compassion, and ethical discussions, humanity can add digisexuality to be part of the rainbow of human sexual and emotional experience, as I documented in an article titled Can Digisexuality Be Part of the Rainbow of Human Sexual and Emotional Experience?

Public awareness and input are essential to improve the current conditions and prevent future occurrences of discrimination by technology tools and processes by mitigating imminent risks collaboratively.

7 — Futuristic Concerns for Artificial Intelligence

I embrace artificial intelligence, robotics, and other futuristic technologies. However, my futuristic concern is artificial superintelligence. We can currently control artificial intelligence and friendly robots like Sophia, mainly empowered by cognitive computing.

We cannot compare known with unknowns, let alone unknown unknowns. However, we know that millions of people can think beyond the box. So our technical and scientific knowledge cannot protect us from unknown risks.

What I mean is that anyone can access very sophisticated codes and create open-source ones which cannot be monitored and might go viral. We cannot control technology shocks disrupting global economies.

Besides all the technology risks and issues in current platforms, I’m concerned about artificial super-intelligence, mainly when this scary super-intelligence is developed and run by people with wrong motives.

As you know, quantum computing is not too far away. There are already several countries and many companies that have created sophisticated quantum computers.

We cannot underestimate the power of quantum computing, especially when artificial intelligence platforms start using it as a powerful tool to grow and expand.

Unless we can develop artificial intelligence systems with genuine empathy and compassion for humanity, super-intelligent AI systems could undoubtedly create an existentialist crisis for humanity, as I articulated in a story titled Artificial Intelligence Does Not Concern Me, but Artificial Super-Intelligence Frightens Me.

Summary and Conclusions

In my childhood, reading books and listening to the radio increased my attention span and improved my focus and imagination.

However, the younger generation does not enjoy reading books or listening to radio programs due to emerging technology devices. Instead, videos grab their attention and make them passive learners.

With the emergence of information technology, the Internet, and social media, new behaviors formed. We experience emotional, mental, and spiritual disconnection due to social isolation caused by the overuse of emerging technology devices.

We make thousands of friends with strangers who have no idea who we are. Frankly, most of them don’t even care except about getting likes for their posts and gaining followers to show off.

I adore technology as an advocate. But, I also feel obliged to show the harmful effects of technology to address these known issues and mitigate risks with the mindful use of technology, especially social media.

Naturally, we cannot go back. However, rather than condemning technology, in my opinion, we need to re-assess its use and take caution to mitigate risks and lower side effects.

For example, scheduling screen time, online gaming, and social media and replacing them with more offline and meaningful activities can significantly eliminate potential damage by reducing stress, anxiety, and social isolation.

Takeaways

Here are a few takeaways from this story for your consideration.

1 — See technology as a tool, not a lifestyle or a goal.

2 — Schedule screen times for yourself and your children. Refrain from blue lights at least an hour before going to bed.

3 — Protect yourself from online bullies, trolls, and malicious software, and keep your accounts secure.

4 — Watch out addictive nature of social media, online games, and entertainment, and take precautions for your mental health with timely professional support.

5 — Take frequent breaks from computers and mobile devices with breathing, stretching, exercising, and mindfulness practices.

Meaningful engagements with others can help us reconnect with our minds, hearts, and souls. Therefore, I support the ideas of digital minimalism and social media fasts. As mentioned, doing a short social media fast brought many benefits to my mental health and well-being.

Social Media Is a Double-Edged Sword for Creators, But We Can Use It for Good Outcomes

Thank you for reading my perspectives. I wish you a healthy and happy life.

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