Running head: SOCIETY IS TOO RELIANT ON TECHNOLOGY 1

Society is Too Reliant on Technology Resulting in Mental Health Disorders

Jay D. Williams

Stillwater High School

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Society is going to plummet as a whole as it continues to let technology take over their

lives resulting in complete chaos within teenage lives. Humankind is on the edge of losing all of

its self reliance because of technology. Most people in present time have acquired a smartphone

which could cause destruction of someone’s life if they let it happen. Addiction is a possibility

within anything and smartphones aren’t an exception; it is easy to get buried from head to toe in

the world of social media. It is now possible to access the internet from just about anywhere with

a smartphone which has become convenient. On the other hand this causes a problem in teens

and young adults because they can become obsessed with it, which can cause future health

issues. Sleep disorders are serious and can lead to other mental illnesses; unfortunately sleep

quality issues can come from modern technology. For example smartphones can leave a person

with anxiety and family issues just from lack of sleep. Social media has now boomed and

become extremely popular which has created a variety of stress for many people because they

want to look perfect for others. The issue occurs when the person doesn’t think they’re good

enough and that person's self worth diminishes. Henry David Thoreau was an author who

promoted self reliance ideas, and he made a piece of literature called “Walden” to show that he

doesn’t need technology, and that he needs himself. Human nature has completely changed with

all the new technologies it is surrounded by and it is causing people to lose their self reliance.

Smartphones have brought distractions, sleeping, and social issues to the table and society as a

whole needs to return to their self reliance for the sake of better health.

Smartphones have become an addiction with today’s society and it's often that people

cannot go without their phone for a long period of time. “Today, smartphones have become an

essential part of daily activities to the extent of transforming individuals’ lives (Hawi & Samaha
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2017, pg.1). Cell phones have completely changed people to the point of people relying on their

phone for just about anything. Computers have started to die out because smartphones now have

access to the internet. Young adults from the ages 18 to 29 years old are now dependent on

smartphones for internet access (Hawi & Samaha 2017, pg.1). Smartphones can and have now

become a major distraction to teens and young adults. “...smartphone addiction has been linked

to poor academic performance, and some studies addressed the negative impact of smartphone

addiction on people’s physical health including hand function and nerves, sleep disturbances and

headaches”(Hawi & Samaha 2017, pg.1). From what has been said, Hawi and Samaha clearly

explain that smartphones have a negative effect on a person’s life. Smartphones have also been

known to cause health problems among teens that use the cell phone excessively. Anxiety is

highly associated with smartphone addiction shown by a study of 269 Taiwanese students (Hawi

& Samaha 2017, pg.1). This study made a clear point that the excessive use of a smartphone can

cause mental health disorders such as anxiety. Along with health concerns with the addiction of

the internet, social problems can come along as well. The excessive use of internet can lead to

family issues and could be the reason for family malfunction (Hawi & Samaha 2017, pg.1).

There are now commercials on television that show families having their phones put to the side

at dinner because if they didn’t they wouldn’t interact like a normal family. This shows that

families are getting more distant with each other due to modern technology. It has been told that

teenagers in families who are not close with their family members are more likely addicted to the

internet. “Another study showed that 15–16-year-old boys who were dissatisfied with their

families had significantly higher levels of Internet addiction compared to their

counterparts”(Hawi & Samaha 2017, pg.1). Families around the globe are not the same anymore
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because of their addiction to the internet, which is creating more space between family members.

An obsession with the internet most likely includes social media which can cause physical and

mental health disorders. From this cell phone addiction there can also be sleeping issues due to

multiple things from a smartphone.

There has been a phenomenon that the excessive use of smartphones can have a negative

impact on people. Things such as keeping your phone near you while sleeping can affect your

sleep quality because of notification noises that disturb deep sleep. The use of smartphones has

impacted teenagers sleep quality negatively (Wang 2019, 2). There are more specific reasons

than just noises from the smartphones that can affect someone’s sleep. The lighting that is

produced from a phone interacts with a person’s brain to where is it awake longer after the

smartphone is turned off. The lighting that comes off of a smartphone has short-wavelength,

which affects the circadian rhythms creating sleep issues (Wang 2019, 2). Lack of sleep can have

a negative effect on an adolescents brain, leading to future health disorders. Sleep quality affects

mental health and it can be caused by unhealthy sleeping habits like using a cell phone before

sleep (Wang 2019, 2). Using a phone before sleep keeps someone up longer resulting in a lower

amount of sleep. Having a low amount of sleep can lead to varieties of influences in one's life.

Poor sleep quality can lead to a higher chance at alcohol abuse shown by Kenney, Lac in a study

of 1,044 college students (Wang 2019, 3). Alcohol can be a way to cope with stress, and stress

comes more often when there is a lack of sleep. With having different ways to cope with being

sleep deprived, negative thoughts tend to pass through the mind. Rough sleep quality can also be

linked to self harm and attempted suicides; it can also lead to smoking, drinking, and a poor

mental health (Wang 2019, 3). Unfortunately teens are influenced really easily and when they
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use drugs they often land in an uncomfortable situation. Teens are also heavily invested in social

media and it is effecting

There is a common problem that the human brain does that the human doesn’t do

purposely, and it is comparing itself to others. Humans naturally compare themselves, if it's a

good thing to think they’re better or a bad thing where they think they’re not good enough

(Vogel, Rose, Roberts, Eckles 2014, pg. 206). This is a problem that has always been around it is

just more present because of social media users. The authors of this article present the different

kinds of health issues that social media can cause to a person. Long term usage of social media

can affect self-esteem in everyday life (Vogel, Rose, Roberts, Eckles 2014, pg. 207).

If someone compares themselves to a person that they think is better than them it can cause the

person to think they are not good enough and it will lower their self-esteem.

A study on just the facebook platform has shown strong evidence that an addiction to social

media can harm a person’s self worth. Previous research has shown that excessive use of

facebook has led to depression and a decreased self worth (Vogel, Rose, Roberts, Eckles 2014,

pg. 207). Seeing other people’s “perfect” lives on social media can make someone think that they

are not good enough. Everywhere on social media there are people ranging from high to low and

that’s where comparison starts to come into play. Research has shown that exposure to upward

social comparison can lead to negative effects on one’s self worth. (Vogel, Rose, Roberts,

Eckles 2014, pg. 208). This can cause a major problem leading to mental illnesses, which can be

extremely hard to deal with. Current research shows that people who compare themselves to

others on social media have a higher rate of depression symptoms“ (Vogel, Rose, Roberts,

Eckles 2014, pg. 208). This is where the problem begins and the depression symptoms get worse
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and lead to other types of mental health issues. It is thought that people who use facebook often

have a lower self esteem because they see other people’s lives which they think is better than

their own, this is due to upward social comparison (Vogel, Rose, Roberts, Eckles 2014, pg. 208).

This again is one of the largest reasons that social media is so harmful to human nature. The

majority of social media that is active is women, so the symptoms that come from social media

are worse. Females typically have a higher usage of social media which later results in a lower

self esteem and self worth (Vogel, Rose, Roberts, Eckles 2014, pg. 211). All of these issues that

are being created by modern technology could all passover if society started to rely on

themselves again.

Henry David Thoreau was an excellent author who deeply believed in self reliance. He

stayed at a pond that was named Walden for two years with little to nothing for supplies. Some

believe that he was proving that people need to revert back to how it was originally and stop

relying on technology. Humans were like other animals until we advanced farther than other

species, so we still have our natural instincts to rely on. (Thoreau 1845 para. 5). This shows how

far we have come from where we started many years ago, but it is also creating a problem with

all of the health issues that are going on in the world from technology. If you simplify life, things

become easier, and if you don’t do the most and only what is necessary it is easier to live

(Thoreau, 1845, para. 5). Thoreau truly knows how life is without modern technology and it

makes things simple, which ultimately reduces stress from a less complicated lifestyle. Nature

and humans complement each other in such that they were made for each other. People are

meant to survive on this earth, which means that all of the technology that surrounds the world

today is not necessary. Nature provides for humans, and with self reliance we are able to survive
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(Thoreau, 1845, para. 9). It is looking like people are being too reliant on technology and losing

their own self reliance and to the point that they wouldn’t be able survive on their own.

Thoreau believes that the one of the best ways to become successful is through the use of self

reliance. If a person follows his dreams, he will be able to become successful with himself

through self reliance (Thoreau, 1845, para. 14). Kids are now growing up with technology and

they are becoming addicted. Books are getting more and more irrelevant to the youth because of

the addiction to modern technology. People don’t read as much as they did and it's showing on

tests in school (O’Mara 1996, para. 22). Teenagers are so caught up in their cell phones that they

are failing school due to something that is supposed to make life easier.

In conclusion technology has taken mankind on a toll away from home, and society is

losing self reliance. Smartphones have brought distractions, sleeping, and social issues to the

table and society as a whole needs to return to it's self reliance for the sake of better health.

People in today's society want efficiency and through smartphones, but they don’t understand the

harm that can be caused by modern technology. The addiction and obsession can land someone

far from who they want to become. This is an unhealthy habit that the majority of people have

nowadays. Sleep is a really important part of life and technology takes away from that time

because people put entertainment over health. The sleep is important because without it, it can

lead to future mental health disorders like anxiety or depression. Social media takes a big play in

how humans have lost their self reliance because life is no longer simple and there are more

things to stress about. An example is social media, many teenagers stress about how they look to

other people for no good reason at all resulting in depression and anxiety symptoms. Thoreau

believes that society needs to simplify life so it is less stressful and it could gain back self
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reliance. Seeing how humans progressed farther than any other species, they might have taken

steps in the wrong direction losing what matters the most, self reliance.

Annotated Bibliography

Hawi, N. S., & Samaha, M. (2017). Relationships among smartphone addiction, anxiety, and

family relations. ​Behaviour & Information Technology,​ ​36(​ 10), 1046–1052.

https://doi.org/10.1080/0144929X.2017.1336254​. This article is about society’s addiction

to modern technology by the authors Nazir Hawi and Maya Samaha. These authors

present with statistics of people who have become fully dependent on their phone for

mostly internet access. It is found that smartphone addiction can lead to poor academic

performance and sleep quality issues. A study of around 300 students at a university

showed that anxiety was highly associated with smartphone addiction. This information

is crucial in my argument for this essay because it shows that overtime modern

technology can affect a person mentally and physically. Unfortunately people have made

cell phones a necessity in a part of their daily lives. Things such as family relationships,

anxiety, sleeping issues can come from addiction with smartphones especially for

teenagers. Since new technology has arrived in our lives people have started to see

physical health issues within their own lives. With that being said, it is proven that we

have become too reliant on technology because it is causing so many long term issues

that many people are not aware about.

O’Mara, R. (1996). Obsolescence, the Death of Newspapers, and All That. ​Virginia Quarterly

Review​, ​72​(2), 240–248. Retrieved from

http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=afh&AN=9604165222&site=eho
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st-live​. This article is told by Richard O’Mara where he examines obsolescence. He looks

at this through newspapers and how they are dying out to emphasize how much we have

relied on technology to the point of people without jobs. Technology is advancing and

there are jobs being taking from people by new technology. In my argument that humans

are too reliant on technology this really shows because the work isn’t being done by

something that will always be reliable and won’t break down, which is a human being. It

might be more cost effective to invest into technology and overtime it will pay off, but it

just goes to show that we are relying too much on technology. He goes on to show the

new computerization for newspapers and journaling to show how much new technology

has been born to take others jobs. O’Mara also tells us that 69 stems of newspapering

died within just 5 years, because people can read online now.

Thoreau, Henry David, 1817-1862. (1992). Walden ; and, Resistance to civil government :

authoritative texts, Thoreau's journal, reviews, and essays in criticism. New York

:Norton. Henry David Thoreau was a man born in the early 1800s that was an essayist.

He wrote the book “Walden” which was published in August of 1854. This book is one

of my sources because it will play a great role in showing that we don’t need all of the

things we feel attached to. Thoreau went to live in the woods near a pond named Walden;

he didn’t need much and he didn’t use much. This goes to show that we as humans need

to learn to lose the things we’re attached to because we cannot take them with us when

we die. Thoreau wrote in his book the different feelings he had throughout Spring,

winter, summer, and fall. He says to simplify things and it truly makes things easier and

less stressful to cut out the extra problems. Humans are just like other animals as in we
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have our natural instinct, but since we’re like other animals we need to trace back and be

more self reliant.

Vogel, E. A., Rose J. P., Roberts, L. R., Eckles, K. (2014). Social Comparison, Social Media,

and Self-Esteem. Psychology of Popular Media Culture, Vol. 3, No. 4, 206-222.

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Erin_Vogel3/publication/275507421_Social_compa

rison_social_media_and_self-esteem/links/55c2b71108aeb975673e47f6/Social-comparis

on-social-media-and-self-esteem.pdf​. This article contains information about social

media specifically and how it can affect someone’s personality, outlook on life, and

mental health. It was written by Erin A. Vogel, Jason P. Rose, Lindsay R. Roberts, and

katheryn Eckles. Social media can cause many problems throughout a person’s life. An

example is that humans have a fundamental drive to compare themselves to others. There

are two types of comparisons, which are upward and downward comparisons. Upward

comparisons are when people see someone on social media that they think they are better

than so it gives them a good feeling. On the other hand, downward comparison is when

they see someone that they think are better than them which causes many problems such

as depression and other mental disorders. Social media is a big thing for teenagers and

especially females because they have a greater tendency to be on social media. This

article is important to my argument because it shows that social media can harm people

in many ways just through comparing.

Wang, P.-Y., Chen, K.-L., Yang, S.-Y., & Lin, P.-H. (2019). Relationship of sleep quality,

smartphone dependence, and health-related behaviors in female junior college students.

PLoS ONE,​ ​14(​ 4), 1–12. ​https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0214769​. This article is

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presented by Po-Yu Wang as she explains how and why smartphones can affect sleep

quality. Wang shows that adolescents are more likely to have sleep quality issues because

it's a more common place for smartphones to be used. Smartphones were studied with

human interaction to show that it's the short wavelength lights in the phone that keep

people up at night. For her study she asks adolescent college students and finds that sleep

related problems occur the most within the girls because of there more often use of their

smartphones. In adolescents she finds that lack of sleep due to smartphone usage leads to

problematic behavior. Sleep quality is often associated with smartphone dependence.

This article is important because it really shows how people have lost their independence

and it's affecting them in a negative way. With direct information of what these studies

have shown I will be able to use the information directly to prove that my argument is

valid.