The Other Side of Digital Media

Aulia Nur Hanifa (21421106)

“What if I do all my reading on the web not so much because the way I read has
changed, but because the way I think has changed?” Bruce Friedman, a pathologist at the
University of Michigan Medical School, reveals how the internet changed his mental habits. It
is undeniable that in this advanced era, technological developments make everything can be
done faster and easier. Humans seem to be able to do many things through one hand, without
the hassle of changing the tool or moving places. Through just one medium such as a
smartphone, laptop, or tab, humans can send messages to each other, talking, doing a task,
listen to music, or reading news easily. Because of its practicality, it is possible encourage
people to multitask for time efficiency. Nevertheless unfortunately, this availability of
multitasking often becomes an obstacle. When doing one thing through a digital media, the
temptation to find something else is hard to avoid. Related to that, one study proved that
people who perform media multitask repeatedly such as scrolling social media while watching
movie, or listening to music while reading e-book are more easily distracted and less able to
focus even when only doing one task (Why Multitasking Doesn’t Work, 2021). As a result,
instead of finishing their work, the multitasking on digital media causes anxiety and
shallowness.

The first is related to mental issues. The benefits obtained from using digital media are
closely linked to the level of anxiety. There are several causes from digital media to the level
anxiety, and one of the most common is the highlight reel. Highlight reel means a collection
of a person's best moments in life that he wants to show others on social media (Barron,
2018). Indeed it looks fun, but unfortunately it gives negative impact on others’ mental health
indirectly. In consequence, highlight reel can triggers the feelings of insecurity in someone
since they compare their personal life with other people they see on digital media. For
example, when a celebrity shows off her beauty and luxury, people who see it will ask
themselves, "Why can't I be as beautiful as her or as rich as her?" That question is a form of
self-doubt. Another common cause is FOMO. “Fear-of-missing-out refers to feelings of
anxiety that arise from the realization that you may be missing out on rewarding experiences
that others are having.” (Franchina et al., 2018). Basically, there are many things in this world
that people better to don’t know, but now digital media actually presents it. Seeing that,
eventually can make people feel anxious when they are away from digital media. Worse yet,
FOMO is not limited to feelings of anxiety only, but that anxiety can move people to take
various unproductive acts. One of them is people’s habit of checking their phone
continuously. Research from Business Insider proves almost 90% of students often feel
phantom notifications from their smartphones even though none at all. This virtual
notification does not only happen to students, but also to most smartphone users (Brueck,
2019). As expressed, the outcome of many advantages available in digital media involved to
the level anxiety are insecurity and unproductive acts.

Second, relates to the way of thinking. The use of digital media in the long term
causes the way thinking of human increasingly shallow. Digital media often manages to steal
people's attention. The information milling about in it always tempting anyone to explore
broader. Klingberg (2009), a Swedish neuroscientist wrote in his journal that humans have a
tendency to conditions that require parallel actions or situations which they are overwhelmed
by information. Because they always hungry for more knowledge, more senses, and more
complexities. Specifically, there are many forms of shallowness caused by the use of digital
media. One of them is in analytical thinking. The practicality that smartphones bring to our
daily lives is phenomenal, but it comes at the shortening of their attention spans. Therefore,
certainly people will have difficulty in analyzing interpret the information for deeper meaning
because they are accustomed to reading short overlapping messages quickly. A research
regarding the negative effects of the internet on concentration found that since the advent of
the internet, active users' attention nowadays has decreased from 12 to 5 minutes (The Savvy
Student, 2021). Moreover, most people today are googling the answer for problems in digital
media. They seem lazy to struggle using their brains and prefer an instant way. However, this
is a serious mistake, since people keep googling for answers all the time will decrease their
ability to think analytically in real life. As Danovitch (2019) said, that the long term of
internet use potentially affects on features of cognition, namely memory, exploration
(curiosity), metacognitive judgement, and analytical thinking. Accordingly, the habit of using
digital media for instant behavior results the decrease of analytical thinking ability.

As previously explained, the use of digital media for multitasking and the great
benefits it provides, have side effects that humans are sometimes less aware of, such as
anxiety and shallowness. The level of anxiety caused by highlight reel and FOMO. Highlight
reel leads to feeling of insecurity on people over others’ life on social media, whereas FOMO
encourages them to do unproductive things. Another side effect is it affects the way human
think that become shallow. Because people today too much spoiled by instantaneous in
exploring information results the decrease of their analytical thinking. As a final point, it is
clear that the enjoyment humans get from technology for the speed and ease of completing
their tasks is become a challenge for humans today. Although the benefits obtained from
digital media are numerous, still it should not make people close their eyes to the side effects
it also provides.

REFERENCES :

Barron, M. (2018). Social media: A highlight reel that is destroying our kids. Educate
Empower Kids. Retrieved January 5, 2022, from https://educateempowerkids.org/6176-
2/

Brueck, H. (2019, March 2). This is what your smartphone is doing to your brain – and it
isn’t good. Business Insider. Retrieved from https://www.businessinsider.com/what-
your-smartphone-is-doing-to-your-brain-and-it-isnt-good-2018-3

Danovitch, J. H. (2019) Growing up with google: How children's understanding and use of
internet-based devices relates to cognitive development. Human Behavior and
Emerging Technologies, 1(2), 81– 90. https://doi.org/10.1002/hbe2.142

Franchina, V., Abeele, M. V., van Rooij, A. J., Lo Coco, G., & De Marez, L. (2018). Fear of
missing out as a predictor of problematic social media use and phubbing behavior
among flemish adolescents. International Journal of Environmental Research and
Public Health, 15(10), 2319. https://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15102319

Klingberg, T. (2009). The overflowing brain. Oxford University Press

The Savvy Student. (2021). Excessive internet usage adversely affects concentration in
students. Internet Installation. Retrieved from https://internetinstallation.top/excessive-
internet-usage-adversely-affects-concentration-in-students-the-savvy-student/

Why multitasking doesn’t work. (2021, March 10). Cleveland Clinic. Retrieved December 8,
2021, from https://health.clevelandclinic.org/science-clear-multitasking-doesnt-work/