What Does My Relationship With Technology Look Like?

 

Living with technology has been the norm for me ever since I was a child, and as I have grown up, it has only become more advanced and more prominent in the world population's daily lives. Technology has truly changed our society in both positive and negative ways and will continue to do so for the rest of time. I do not see the use of technology completely disappearing in any future close to our time right now.

As I stated earlier technology has played a key role in my life ever since I was a child. When I was younger, my usage varied from watching Disney Channel on the tv or using our home phone to call my friends for play dates back then to using my parents' laptops so I could play online games. When I was in 7th grade I got my first phone, granted it was a flip phone so I couldn't really do anything besides call or text but it made me feel like I was a "big kid" as most people I knew already had a phone. My first iPhone was my freshman year of high school and was given to me because I got straight A's in my last year of middle school. That was when technology truly took over my life as I then got swept into social media. I loved being able to post when I was with my friends or I would just post anything that was on my mind at that time. It gave me the opportunity to express myself and my memories in a way that I had never experienced before but, at that point, I started to get addicted. It was so interesting to see aspects of other people's lives, but not even just that, I would spend hours scrolling through other posts on my explore page and it became deep diving. 

Ever since junior year of high school, I had gotten my social media usage to a more realistic level by putting a timer on my phone when I needed to start my homework. Before that, I would use my phone all day long and start my homework at night and scramble to finish it. When I limited my time, I was able to finish my work by the evening, and it helped me focus much more. I wasn't only using my phone for social media although that was the main reason, but I was also watching YouTube videos all the time. Now at 21, I do not use my phone nearly as much as I used to and it makes me feel so serene honestly. I of course still go on social media, scroll through explore pages, watch videos online, etc but I do not spend nearly the same amount of time as I used to. 

For me personally, I have always gotten my news and information from the internet. If I find something out on social media, usually I know that it is real as I only follow reputable magazines that do not spread misinformation such as People Magazine and US Weekly. However, sometimes if I see something that is extremely shocking such as a death of a celebrity, I will go online to CNN and corroborate the news story to see if it is actually true. But of course, there is ALWAYS misinformation being spread on the internet, unfortunately. People just need to do their part by corroborating stories to make sure they do not believe any lies that are spread. 

My parents do the complete opposite as they always watch cable tv news however, my siblings are the same way as me. Out of my entire family, I have the largest digital footprint as I value social media and like to express my creativity on there with my posts. Whereas, my parents don't even have social media and my siblings don't really post much on their social media accounts. I also put the most effort into making my profile look aesthetic and nice which no one else in my family does, but I can definitely respect that as it is quite a bit of work. Regarding what I post on social media, I would not say that my digital footprint is negative at all. I have never posted anything on any of my social media platforms that could be used against me as I have always thought about my schools looking at my page as well as future employers. By looking at my social media pages, you will be able to understand who I am as a person as well as what I like whether it is scenery, food, friends, etc. 

Technology is such an asset in our lives but it can also be a downfall. There are people such as myself that can get totally sucked into the digital world. But it is important to be mindful of not only what you are putting out on the internet, but to also be mindful of how much time and energy you are putting into technological devices. It's not worth wasting so much time on something that cannot even physically talk to you like a person can.