Peter had always been known as a hardworking, down to earth student. But over the past few months, friends and teachers began to notice subtle changes. He lost his temper at problems very quickly. He had always looked very professional, but now he had bags under his eyes and his clothes would often be wrinkled and messy. His work and output was less than satisfactory and he seemed to have no motivation for anything, even fishing, which before had been his favorite pastime. He would be gone for hours at a time and when he did come home he would head straight to his bedroom. If one were to open his door, they might find him indulging in some extremely dangerous and terrible substances. Ones that are known to rip families apart and ruin lives. Yes, you would find Peter with a laptop watching pornography, messaging a stranger on Facebook, or Googling the complicated life of a tortoise. Unfortunately, he is only one of thousands who lives under an addiction to the internet.
With so many tablets, phones, and computers to basically do anything with the click of a button, our society has become one that depends on technology. In fact, nearly 84% of people worldwide say they can’t go a day without checking their phone at least once. So what is everyone saying about technology? “I am always on twitter checking in and on Snapchat. I’m addicted but not bad, its more like mediocre,” Alana Miller, 9, says.
By allowing technology to be the median between relationships, we are settling for a robot only to avoid the emotions and issues live contact can sometimes bring. More and more, this generation shows social issues and inability to talk face to face. Although Aaron Konecny, 11, admits that he does have an addiction, he says, “The negative is you tend to not talk to your close friends as much.”
When people spend all their free time glued to a screen, cooking a homemade meal is all but non-existent. The grab for that next Twinkie or ordering pizza becomes a daily ritual and so the health issues come hand in hand with technology addiction.
Over the past decade, the internet has done much to advance our society and much to ruin it. Most agree though, “It’s hard to focus in class and it takes away from family time. I’d rather have a face to face conversation then over the phone,” Miller explains.