Does Technology Make People Feel Alone?

Does Technology Make People Feel Alone?                                               Salman Ahmed.

    The parks are empty because children are busy playing video games at home, Adults are busy working on their laptops or socializing through Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram or tumbler and the elderly are trying to catch up with the pace of this fast life of technology. Is this world really becoming smaller because of technology or are we more distant from each other than ever before?

    Social media and the advancement in telecommunication has turned the world in global village bringing forth the idea of connectivity and sharing. But unfortunately, the loss of human touch to our daily lives has caused much depression, anxiety and loneliness among people. Although we are connected but we don’t know if we are connected to the right resource, social snacking is like junk food, it can fill you hunger temporarily but cannot give you satiation and afterwards leaves you emptier and craving for more.

    Through social media you can make thousands of connections in just one click or swipe, but it tends to bring you towards more social isolation and loneliness. Instead of going out and meeting people it is easier to just send a text or a call. People tend to live more in the virtual world rather than real world and hence loneliness is increasing more and more. A recent article published on Forbes online provides some stats about our social networks: those who reported feeling most alone currently are young people under the age of 35, the most high-volume of all social networkers. Another recent study found that 48% of respondents only had one confidant compared to a similar study done 25 years ago, when people said they had about three people they could really trust. Digitalization has made everything so fast and just a few clicks away that young adults want quick and abrupt results for all their actions, this has developed their mind set to get what they want in a fraction of seconds and when it is not possible they feel rejected and hence withdraw themselves from society and live in isolation.

    Another reason that would support the argument that technology makes us feel more alone is social acceptance and competition in our lives because of the modern media. The posts ,pictures and status that thousands of people post every second on their profiles seems like that they are living a perfect happy life and those who are struggling with some difficulty or hardship in their lives feel left out and experience low self-esteem as they are not able to see that perspective of life which others are experiencing, even though in reality the story behind those pictures might be different and hence affect us negatively psychologically and socially.

    But no relationship is one way if technology is making us lonely then loneliness can also be solved by using technology. We   just must set our priorities straight, we can use this evil genius in so many ways that can benefit us. the fact of the matter is technology has made things so much easier than it was ever before. We can have live chats with people who are thousands of miles away from us and it has open such wide avenues of learning and exploring that one cannot get enough.

    It also helps people with social anxiety to be in their comfort zone and still interact with likeminded people, so they can break the ice and could live a normal life. The diversity that technology has brought in our live is unmeasurable, people from different cultures, backgrounds, ethnicity or language are able to interact without any barriers, which is bringing more creativity, social development and tolerance for differences. It is only possible due to this technological advancement that work force is now global, you can belong to any country, any nationality but you can seek jobs worldwide and live a life of your dreams.