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Theodore Kanell

Kade Parry

English 2010

25 April 2017

Evisceration of Distraction

Since the dawn of time, humanity has been driven to progress. First we were driven by

hunger, next by competition and finally by automobiles. With the advent of technology,

humanity faced a series of unforeseen problems--in fact, a few hundred years ago the problems

would have been unfathomable. Humanity is suffering from too much technology. The

abundance has led to complacency: people spend hours scrolling through the various social

medias or playing the latest hit game. This is time wasted. Of course, humanity has always

wasted time, but now there is an abundance of time wasting activities that require vigilance to

overcome. It is, therefore, necessary for the forsaken teen who is obsessed with their phone to

reduce the amount of time they use their phones and seek moderation in their usage of phones in

order to overcome the distraction of technology.

In the last few years, a debate has sprung up to evaluate how technology should be

implemented into the daily lives of individuals. There are several proponents that believe the

technology is paving the road to societal progress and the evolution of humanity. Others believe

that technology is eroding humanity's ability to focus and to develop. Understanding the effects

of technology reveals that technology doesnt cause a blanket good or bad effect but rather is

both negative and positive. Technology allows for individuals to communicate with friends,

family, and strangers all across the world. It also creates a canvas for individuals to post and
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show theirfriends how life is going. Evaluating the intricate effects of social media reveals that

a change is necessary; the status quo is not sufficient. Social media, which includes Facebook,

Twitter, and Instagram, allows for individuals to post pictures, thoughts, and messages for their

friends and followers to see. Certain studies have shown that too much use of social media

can lead to depression, because of the tendency to compare ones life with the perfect illusion

presented on social media (Houston). An overuse of social media amplifies the detrimental

effects of social media. Therefore, individuals need to change their use of technology from an

addictive amount of use to a moderate amount, and they need to limit their use of social media to

allow for truly personal relationships to develop. Instituting these changes will allow for

humanity to enjoy all the benefits of technology without the detrimental issues.

In order to find a desire to resist the temptation of continual distraction, it is necessary to

understand the detriments of never ending distractions. In Genevieve Roberts article Does

Tech Make Us Stupid? Roberts assures the masses that not only is technology making us stupid,

but it is also rendering individuals emotionally illiterate (Roberts). The implications of not being

able to understand emotions are very detrimental for individuals and society. Without an ability

to understand emotions, the future of relationships among humans is placed in peril. This may be

histrionic, but emotional understanding is a necessary component for effective communication.

The ability to communicate is essential for working together as a team to build a rocket to travel

to space, group solving problems so that you can overcome the insurmountable challenge of

math, and also relationships both platonic and romantic. Kenneth Goldsmith in his article Left

to Our Own Devices asserts that losing certain abilities because of technology will not create a

catastrophic effect. He argues that technology fills the gaps it creates (Goldsmith). Considering
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both Goldsmith and Roberts it becomes clear that technology is changing humanity, but with

careful consideration and proper implementation the changes can be beneficial. Goldsmith

illuminates an avenue of hope that humanity can continue to maintain healthy problem solving

relationships with the help of technology.

As a specific use of technology, social media has become the breeding ground for many

relationships. However, the relationships produced by social media are superficial; social media

does not create close personal relationships. In the article "The Dangers of the Endless Scroll:

Social Media Use as a Mental Health Indicator by Jackie Houston, the negative effects of social

media are revealed. The article reveals some stunning correlations between social media and

mental health issues. In fact, the study found forty-two percent of subjects faced mental health

issues as a result of excessive internet use (Houston). Issues of mental health are very

detrimental to individuals and hinder the progress of the individuals and society as a whole. A

mental health problem can often cause a lack of functionality for a person and can even lead to

death. The strong connection between depression and excessive internet use proves the need to

curb the excessive aspect. Continuing to explore the effects of social media, a study by

Facebook in 2014, discovered that social media can have a profound effect on peoples behavior

and attitude. The study found that if positive imagery and words were shown to the user, then the

user would be more positive and the opposite was also true with negative imagery and words

(Houston). This study has been used by proponents of social media to advocate for social media

as a beneficial tool of change. Social media advocates argue that through the manipulation of

social media users there can be positive effects. While it is true that social media can be used to

manipulate emotions positively, it is clear that there is a definite danger created by social media
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and its ability to manipulate emotions in either direction. It is undesirable to lose control over

ones emotions, which provides a strong reason to avoid social media or to at least lessen the

amount of use of social media. Also, when the emotional manipulation of social media is

combined with the mental health problems of addiction to the internet, it becomes abundantly

clear that individual use of social media must be eliminated or limited. Therefore, gaining control

over ones emotions by reducing the amount of use of social media and thereby eliminating

addiction to social media, will allow individuals to avoid a plethora of the detrimental effects of

overuse of social media and perhaps allow them to focus on real relationships.

Real relationships can be difficult to find, but it is clear that the overabundance of social

media hinders the development of tangible, positive relationships through its harm to mental

health and emotional manipulation. However, not all aspects of technology act as a roadblock to

the development of deep personal relationships. As Kenneth Goldsmith stated one can use

technology to learn how to communicate in this new age, so continue to text and message your

friends(Goldsmith). This new type of communication will allow for a new type of relationship

to be created. In an article by Cecilia Kang titled "More Teens Meeting Online Friends, Kang

evaluates the effects of technology on relationships. Kang realizes that technology is allowing for

various individuals to develop close personal relationships that translate from the internet to the

real world. Technology allows individuals to be in constant communication with new friends

providing a close connection between the individuals, which would be far more difficult without

technology and demonstrates a positive effect of technology. Allowing youth to have more

personal relationships is beneficial for social development, and social development is essential

for interactions between individuals to solve problems. The personal interactions between
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individuals, which technology allows, is the interaction that needs to be nurtured. It is essential

to prioritize the close relationships allowed by technology instead of the superficial relationships;

foster the personal connections that technology allows instead of the hundreds of friends that

barely know you.

The friends of social media arent necessarily imposters to the title friend. In fact, in

many ways social media is a beneficial tool allowing old friends to stay in contact through the

trials of time and distance. These enduring relationships are bolstered by social media. A

moderate amount of use of social media provides ample amount of time to strengthen a

connection between old friends. Social media does well at protecting the past, but it does not

pave the road for the future. Social media, in fact, does nothing to open up routes to new friends.

Kang reveals how other technology based modes of communication allow for new relationships

to be born and to grow into beneficial close, personal relationships. Online gaming is one such

method of communication that allows youth to grow to know the other player in depth and to

even meet them in real life (Kang). Comparing social media with other types of communication

reveals the superiority of other types of technology in fostering new connections and new

relationships. Other uses of technology, such as direct messaging and gaming, allows friends to

encounter new people through technology and grow and gain a new relationship. Teens use

Video Chat to Hang Out by Christopher Mims reveals one such superior technology. Video

chats can occur with online friends met in online gaming or other avenues. These video chats

provide the ability for these new friends to essentially be at each other's houses as if they were in

close physical proximity. Already teenagers are taking advantage of this new technological tool

to nurture relationships. A study led by Matthias Mehl titled Eavesdropping on Science has
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shown that individuals who maintain more deep personal relationships and engage in more

meaningful conversations are more likely to live a happier life. Witnessing the benefits of having

many friends urges society to enact a change. Implementing a moderate use of social media

instead of an unhindered addiction to social media, will allow youth to focus on developing more

relationships either through technology or face to face interactions. Instituting that change can

allow for the overall happiness of humanity to increase.

Instituting changes to individuals use of technology will allow for a multitude of

beneficial effects. Changing will allow individuals to have an increased attention span according

to Stuart Wolpert in his article. An increase in an attention span will allow individuals to focus

on pressing problems and work together to overcome them. A longer attention span is imperative

for the entire human race to address a major crisis instead of distractedly forgetting the problem.

Providing the changes of a moderate use of technology and a reduction in social media provides

humanity with the time and attention span to address important problems and will continue to

allow individuals to benefit from the aid of technology. Individuals can communicate with

friends and family from thousands of miles away, and they will be able to have the information

of the world at the tips of their fingers, but they wont be bogged down by the detriments of

social media. Changing how humanity uses technology will change the future of humanity.

Reducing the distractions will allow humanity to progress at an extremely rapid rate.

Distractions are the enemy of steady progress and adapting the use of technology to be more

moderate will drastically reduce the amounts of distractions slowing down progress. Technology

can produce more authentic relationships and provide better health for all of humanity by

reducing the amount of distractions.

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Technology has provided a lot of benefits to humanity, which is why we cant consider

the idea of completely removing distracting technology from our lives. Eliminating technology

would prevent the loss of emotional understanding, but it would more importantly prevent the

instant communication which has become essential for many relationships. Instead, maintaining

a moderate amount of use of social media and technology and cultivating a healthy amount of

deep personal relationships will prevent many of the detriments of technology. Moderation of

technology and especially social media allows for the best of both the technological and physical

worlds. Individuals can stay in contact with old friends and family across vast distances, and they

can also meet new friends on other types of technology without losing control of their emotions.

The alleviation of the burden of social media allows for humanity to become more

interconnected through instantaneous communication and it will allow for the overall increase of

happiness and joy.

Technology is the biggest change of the 21st century. It has changed the entire method of

how humanity functions. Work is automated by machines: cars, planes, and trains allow for rapid

travel across the globe. These developments helped connect the world, but the internet has a far

more dramatic effect on the interconnection of the world. It makes communication instant, no

matter the distance. The internet makes memories available as photos and journals on devices

and websites. Many of the differences that technology has created are overwhelmingly

beneficial. Technology has allowed for long distance relationships to become a reality, sustaining

millions of relationships despite travel times. Recently technology has erupted into an abundance

that is involved in every part of life. This abundance has allowed for technology to become a

continual distraction. Allowing technology to be a distraction has led to more problems for
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humanity. Technology led to a reduction of emotional understanding which leads to less

teamwork and partnership. Technology, and paramountly social media, has created a far more

adverse effect: it has taken control of emotions. Social media can be used to manipulate the

emotions of its users to either feel positive or to feel depression. Granting technology control

over users emotions is an incredible worrying prospect. Not only does social media lead to users

losing their ability to control their emotions, but social media also leads to an addiction to the

internet which compounds the initial problems of social media. This loss of control and addiction

is the result of unfettered use of social media, and it demonstrates why humanity needs to change

its use. The frightening prospects of social media may cause some to ponder whether any

technology is worth that danger. However, technology can be extremely beneficial when

avoiding the pitfalls of addiction and social media manipulation. When individuals use

technology to communicate, they are taking advantage of the benefits of technology. Technology

allows individuals to make friends through the internet and to maintain old friends. Online

gaming provides routes for youth to meet new friends and recent technological advancements

allow youth to be in constant communication. In fact, video chatting provides the avenue to

experience playing or hanging out at friends houses as though the online friends are in close

physical proximity. More friends created by communication through technology is a recipe to

combat depression and the negative effects depression causes.

In conclusion, the dangers of an addiction to the manipulation of social media are

abundantly clear: depression and a loss of personal control. In order to sidestep the pitfall of

addiction to social media, individuals must choose to lessen the amount of time they use social

media. When individuals make this change and redirect their attention to other types of
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technology that allows for the fostering of new relationships, the individuals will be happier.

Technology that allows for instant communication between online friends will promote more

relationships and more meaningful conversation which leads to joy for those in that relationship.

Therefore, in order to provide more joy to humanity, individuals must use less social media and

focus on nurturing strong personal relationships.

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Works Cited

Goldsmith, Kenneth. "Left to our Own Devices." Los Angeles Times, 14 Aug 2016, pp. A.19.

SIRS Issues Researcher, http://sks.sirs.com.

Houston, Jackie. "The Dangers of the Endless Scroll: Social Media Use as a Mental Health

Indicator." University Wire, 04 Oct, 2016, SIRS Issues Researcher, https://sks.sirs.com.

Kang, Cecilia. "More Teens Meeting Online Friends." Washington Post, 07 Aug, 2015, pp. A.3,

SIRS Issues Researcher, https://sks.sirs.com.

Mehl, Matthias R. et al. Eavesdropping on Happiness: Well-Being Is Related to Having Less

Small Talk and More Substantive Conversations. Psychological science 21.4 (2010):

539541. PMC. Web. 27 Apr. 2017.

Miller, Daniel, et al. Does Social Media Make People Happier? How the World Changed

Social Media, 1st ed., vol. 1, UCL Press, London, 2016, pp. 193204,

www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1g69z35.2

Roberts, Genevieve. "Does Tech make Us Stupid?" The Independent, 16 Jul 2015, pp. 32. SIRS

Issues Researcher, http://sks.sirs.com.

Wolpert, Stuart. "Five Days at Outdoor Education Camp without Screens Improves Preteen

Skills with Nonverbal Emotion Cues." Computers in Human Behavior 39 (2014): 148.

Elsevier.