In 2022, it feels like technology seems to follow me wherever I go. Whether I am at the house, library, or even the coffee shop, there are very few places you can go where you will see no technology, and obviously, this is wrong and good. Technology has positively and negatively impacted me in many ways. I hope you can learn from my mistakes and live a better life by reading this.
Now my journey with technology, I would say, was not the traditional one. I was one of the last people in my circle to get a cell phone, but I still had a footprint. When I was younger, I would love to go to my cousin's or godparents' house because that meant I could use their phones to either play Minecraft or some of the apps already loaded on their phones. My memory is obviously fuzzy for some of these parts, but I remember it was Christmas 2009 when I got my first device, and it was an iPod. Obviously, not knowing the difference between an iPod and iPhone, I was very excited; it was an all-orange iPod, and I loved that thing. I downloaded so many games onto it. Since I could not text on an iPod, I gave everyone my email, which at the time did not seem weird but looking back on it I was using email like it was a text service, which is very weird. This is all obviously very boring, so I will speed up the history a bit. I got my next device, a kindle, in 2011 because my parents wanted me to read more, but in all honestly, I also used that for games. Then finally, I was able to get my first phone in 2014, which would make me around ten years old, and I would be in fifth grade then. I feel like to this day, I was sort of young to have a phone; obviously, I was excited and could text all my friends, but immediate access to the internet from such a young age is very troubling.
In all honesty, I was never addicted to my phone or laptop; the piece of technology that caught my eye was gaming systems. The first system I ever got was a DS, and I would play that all the time; it got to the point where my parents would limit my time on it. I feel, however, that limiting it for me made me really want it more the time I had to play with it felt valuable, and I remember some nights I would sneak into my parents' room to steal it at night. This addiction eventually transferred over to my Xbox and Playstation. Xbox was the first time I could play with my friends and other people, and I loved it. I stayed up late countless nights to play with them, even at the risk of school and other activities. I loved to play with them. A part of this addiction is playing games felt like an escape from stress, school, and practice; no matter what was happening in the world, it all kind of felt like nothing else mattered except for having a good time and playing with my friends. I would rationalize this behavior usually by saying I am getting good grades and still performing well in other areas of my life, so it cannot be too bad. Unlike most addiction stories, there was no significant moment where I decided to turn my life around and stop playing games; it was more or less a moment of self-realization. Before I ever touched a system, I was a very avid reader. I loved books; people would always gift me books for Christmas and my birthday, and I wanted to return to that because now games took up all of my free time. While I still play games in my free time, it is not as nearly as much as I once did. I try to do more productive stuff in my free time, like reading and getting ahead of homework, but every once in a while I will fall back in and play some games.
The effects that technology has on young people are highly detrimental. Nowadays, it feels like social media is more of a requirement rather than optional to have some of these apps.
At least 75% of teens (13-17) have at least one social media app. I say it feels forced because if you are not on social media, you will feel left out from your friends or might even struggle to make friends. This dynamic is very concerning because, on the one hand, if you do not have social media, you will have a hard time fitting in but on the other hand, having social media opens you up to bullying and harassment. 37% of people between the ages of 12 and 17 have been cyberbullied, and while that seems like a small number, many of these kids can fall into depression and even suicide because of these rude comments.
A significant point I want to discuss in this day and age is your digital footprint and presence. When we first brought this up in class, I really was not worried about my online presence or trail I use social media apps, but I never post on them I mainly use them to see what is going on and to talk with my friends. So when I look up my name, I'm not surprised that many of the sites that popped up were mostly pertaining to my athletic career since I used to be a swimmer and cross-country runner. Then some sites were about my dad, but since they mentioned me, it popped up as a result for me. After seeing those results, I was curious about my digital footprint, and I was eager to find a site that would let me see where my email has been I eventually found one. I will link the site right
here. This site lets you input your email, and it lets you know how many sites have your email. At the beginning of the process, it makes you guess how many sites might have your email, and I thought no way it was over 100, and when it showed me, it was over 300 sites that have my email on file. The best thing about this site, however, is not that it only tells you how many sites it helps you email these sites to reclaim your data, and it has a bar you can fill up to 100% if you complete each data claim which for me will take a while. I invite anyone reading this to try this site out and see how many sites own their information.
As I stated earlier, it is impossible to not live with technology in this day and age; it is sometimes a blessing and a curse. I, for one, am happy with my technology journey; while it has its setbacks, it has allowed me to talk to my grandma and make friends from all around the globe. I know everything can't be perfect, but I hope for everyone's sake, technology has helped make their lives better. I know most people do not say this, but sometimes it is ok to just unplug from the web and have a few moments of peace; while it probably will not last long never prioritize anything over your mental health; I hope you had a blast reading this and all my other blogs and I wish you the best luck in any future endeavors.
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