Is modern technology actually helping young adults succeed?Part 2

Part 2

Previously I took the time to show some ways in which technology is hindering young adults from succeeding. The zenith of that thinking was how much technology is separating us from our humanity. Making everything easier in life strips young adults of the need to persevere, a stalwart component of being human throughout history. You don’t strengthen your mental health if you don’t continuously go through hard things. Second, the rapid rise of technology has disconnected generations from appreciating hardships the previous generation endured. With no connection to that hardship, having never had to experience it in their lifetime, young adults’ ability to experience gratitude for what they do have has been greatly affected. Gratitude has consistently been shown by research to be one of the best things to combat stress and anxiety, so highly cited as the cause of problems in today’s young adult. We simply need to find ways of putting these two very human experiences back into young people’s lives if we hope to help them be more successful.

A third point came to me after thinking about how technology replaces our humanity. And it was staring me in the face the whole time (pun intended). Technology separates us from each other. Physically. We don’t interact with other humans anymore, well not like we used to. We are more connected to the world then we have been in all human history and yet some would say we have never been more alone*. Most interactions are digital. Text. Email. DMs. Social media. Apps. Video game chatrooms. Are those real interactions though? Is working from home the same as going into the office? Does our mind perceive and process them the same way as a face-to-face interaction? Kind of. Whole relationships are now carried out over video chats and filters and avatars. Is any of it real and does it affect our mental health? 

I may be the only one who thinks this but hear me out.  Yes, people carry out romantic relationships digitally. And they find happiness. I think. What I suspect though is subconsciously they know it is entirely possible the relationship they are having is a complete lie. The person could be anyone. Catfishing. No way of knowing for sure what you are seeing, reading, or hearing is true. And I think this kind of eats at them, deep down, creating anxiety and stress they cannot often articulate. Now before you go off on me saying in person relationships have similar “trust” issues; yes but at least you can rule some things out with in-person encounters. Now with A.I., that person could be anyone. A felon. A child. Someone from thousands of miles away. Your cousin. Anyone. I cannot believe any human is so naïve as to be without any anxiety or stress about this fact. Seriously. Are these relationships, thanks to technology, good for us as humans? Did technology make romantic relationships better? Guess that is up to you to decide.

What about other relationships? With your doctor? Therapist? Elected official? Your child’s teacher? Many would argue how much easier and more convenient it is now to have access to these people. Do you though? As a younger man, I liked to play poker. And one of the most important skills in being successful at the game is the ability to ‘read’ your opponent. Body language. Tells. Ticks. They can often tell you more about a person than any conversation can. Using technology, I am now giving up this important informational source with some of the most important people I interact with in my daily life. In the name of convenience? And on the flip side, shouldn’t they want to assess me the same way?  If you ever watched the show House, as a doctor his biggest thing is everybody lies. One of the best ways to detect lies is to meet IN PERSON. What I find even scarier is some fields are making it mandatory. Like the only way you can meet with these people is digitally. And there are studies to prove it* The study essentially says costs, safety (no contact with sick people), and time are why ‘telemedicine’ are preferred. Again, do these reasons supersede taking some of the humanity out of healthcare? If you are from an older generation, I bet you say no. But if you are younger and this is all you know, you have already been sensitized to think this way.

Most of the above reasons are technology trying to make things easier, with unfortunate side effects. But there is one direct affect that cannot be overlooked. People are addicted to their technology, specifically their phones. It is intentional and not even a debate. It is a fact. Four plus hours a day is the average for most young adults on their phones. That’s 28 hours a week of zero actual human interaction. Expand to internet connected devices and that number jumps to 7 hours a day. That’s 49 hours a week*. Food is brought to their door, clothes shopped and shipped, and fun time with friends over text or through a video game. Comments online without consequences. Access to information and propaganda daily, if not hourly. Tons of entertainment. Zero actual human interaction. I might be naïve, again, but wouldn’t a shift from almost all human interactions for thousands of years to almost all technological interactions somehow affect the human psyche and potentially have strong mental health effects?  

In conclusion, yes, technology is potentially harming our young adults. And like the creation of technology, we must learn to acclimate with the changes it brings. Create a balance. There needs to be an adjustment, away from removing all possible friction in a young person’s life. They need to be taught the value of mental strength and how to get it. They need to be shown things we now take for granted. We must temper the effect technology can have and put more humanity back in their lives. Hardship is a hallmark of nature, and nothing brings that out better than interacting with other humans. We owe it to our young adults to help them navigate these rapidly changing times. Technology is wonderful but we cannot let it remove the very thing that makes young adults thrive. Interacting with other people.

https://edu.gcfglobal.org/en/thenow/is-technology-making-us-lonely/1/ Is technology making us lonely? GCFGlobal. August 2024.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10647122/ Patients’ perspectives and preferences toward telemedicine versus in-person visits: a mixed-methods study on 1226 patients. BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making (2023) v23.

https://fortune.com/well/2023/10/24/teens-too-much-screen-time-find-balance/  Teens are spending the equivalent of a 40-hour work week on their devices. Here’s how to help them find the right balance. Fortune Well. October 2023.