Technology: A Boon or a Curse?

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As Millenials, we have witnessed the two different eras; the old school analogue lifestyle and the current technological matrix we live in. To have a progressive mindset whilst retaining those conservative traditions proves to be quite a challenge more often than not. Having been brought up in such an age has encouraged us to strive for bigger dreams for ourselves. Technology has enhanced our lives that too at an extent we probably can’t survive without it. Befitting its nature, that same technology has also managed to make us its slaves.

The constant comparison with friends posting about their new success stories on social media has been a major factor of anxiety and depression in our generation. The portrayal of success by fake superficial influencers also has had a negative impact on our psychology as opposed to any motivation. On the other hand, in trying to keep up, over-ambitious people keep burdening themselves with boulders of responsibilities, seeking financial stability or social status. Having been influenced by this, our life goals have drastically transformed from following our dreams to earning more money, chasing depreciating assets and winning the rat-race. We have been so busy visualizing success from the society’s perspective that we actually missed what we were aiming for in the first place. So while following these artificial lifestyles, every time we hit a setback our self-confidence gets shattered. Why did we allow our will to be so fragile? How did we hand over the reins of our lives to technology? When did we start viewing our lives from the lens of a smartphone?

Economic growth has definitely led to an increase in the average happiness index of developing nations [1] but simultaneously, the rapid rise of social media has also played its part in a higher rate of depression and anxiety patients throughout the world [2]. Social Media was meant to connect lives and bring people closer but lately, it has been having the opposite effect. Having thousands of social media followers whereas, in reality, you hang out with only a bunch of chosen friends. Showing off your lifestyle via daily posts & updates is the new trend. Someone living a low-key life is labelled as an introvert. This constant comparison between the two lifestyles triggers social anxiety leading to depression. Some value privacy while others love being the prime focus. Either of those factions hasn’t got the right to judge or be opinionated about the other one. What I want to convey is that maybe instead of being sad or envious of those posts by your friends, try being happy for them, realise that they are proud of something they’re posting about having worked hard for it or perhaps they just want to share their happiness. Instead of assuming your friend is up to no good because they are inactive on social media, you should rather acknowledge and respect their discreet lifestyle, maybe try to know them better by personal bonding. It’s high time we stopped rivalling our lifestyle with someone else’s.

As Carrie Snow says, ‘Technology brings you great gifts with one hand, and it stabs you in the back with the other’. If well used, technology can help solve most of our problems. It has always been a tool intended to upgrade yourself, do not allow it to become a dictator of your lives. There needn’t necessarily exist a symbiotic relationship between your happiness and technology. The expensive block of circuits in your palms that you are using to read this article right now is a supercomputer when compared to the technology used to put a man on the moon decades ago. Use it carefully and responsibly, as a medium to enrich your life, do not let it consume your soul and rot away your brain with cheap junk.

Technology is nothing. What’s important is that you have a faith in people, that they’re basically good and smart, and if you give them tools, they’ll do wonderful things with them.

– Steve Jobs
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