Technical Trouble: Does the use of technology increase stress levels?

Are you spending your day staring at a screen?  Using technology in large time intervals has become a norm in America.  Whether it be texting a friend to meet for lunch or reading a book on your Kindle, people have become electronically dependent.  Ringing in the New Year, many people shared a resolution to cut down on social media sites, some even hoping to eliminate technology use completley. 

Excessive internet use is believed to promote jealously and competition.  Many people conclude that using techology for extended periods of time decreases health and increases stress.  Researchers at Pew Research Center and Rutgers University studied stress levels, by ranking people’s answers to questions regarding their lives, using a standard stress scale.  They then calculated the participants’ frequency of digital technology use.  Contrary to popular belief, stress levels were found to be consistent across all of the users, and women who used twitter, email, and photo-sharing apps actually scored lower on the stress test. 

These conclusions show that although technology is often seen as an interference and distraction, it is not as harmful as some may think.  Although depending on electronics is not ideal and usage can often make it harder to focus, they reap many benefits as well.  For example, it can strengthen the preexisting relationships between individuals.  According to psychologist Susan Pinker, technology “works best,” when used to increase healthy social interaction.  Overall, studies have shown that technology use should not take full blame for increased stress levels.  With new technical devices being developed everyday, conclusions like these allow us to support the advances in this field. 

Questions for Reflection

To wipe out the overhanging cloud of guilt for excessive technology users, we should elaborate on the issue.  We should focus our attention further on the psychological and visible effects of digital electronic usage for different devices and services.  How would spending three hours on Facebook differ from spending three hours reading an autobiography?  Do people feel differently using a laptop versus a smart phone?  Would profit for companies such as “Apple” and “Hewlett-Packcard” be altered if more people knew technology was not as harmful as they thought?

Sources:

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/16/upshot/technology-has-made-life-different-but-not-necessarily-more-stressful.html?ref=health&abt=0002&abg=1

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