How Technology Makes You Anxious

Initially, technology was invented to make our lives simpler and free of stress. Various tools are being integrated into our lives to help us study, work, and perform other everyday activities faster and easier. But, there is a dark side to it too.

Numerous studies have found the adverse effects of technology on our lives. According to specialists, excessive exposure to technology contributes to the growing feeling of anxiety, especially among young people, and here is how.

Constant Distraction

Technology has rooted into our lives so deeply that many of us can’t imagine spending a day without our laptops and smartphones. And the first way we get affected by it is that so much technology causes perpetual distraction. When we are studying, working, or even hanging out with friends, we can’t run away from the endless vibration, flashing, and beeping of various notifications. An average person unlocks their smartphone over 80 times a day to check the notifications, and this causes lots of stress.

In practice, this means that technology makes us unable to focus on literally anything. Students suffer from a lack of concentration and can’t get their assignments done. They use technology to solve this problem. For example, they use it to pay for essays or hire online tutors. But, this doesn’t change the fact that endless distraction makes them feel anxious.

The same happens with adults. As a result, excessive technology use results in poor cognitive skills and, respectively, higher levels of distress.

Worse Work/Life Balance

Whether you are a student or adult, a good balance of your personal life and work or studies is the key to well-being. But, it turns out that technology is really getting in the way of finding this balance.

Because of technology, there is no longer a clear line between where studies or work ends and personal life begins. When students get back from school or college, they keep using technology to negotiate the details of their assignments with essay writers from DoMyEssay, communicate with their professors, and do other school things. For people who are already working, technology also represents the bridge to their work. Even getting back home in the evenings, they keep receiving work emails or calls. And this wrecks the work/life balance completely.

Needless to say, the inability to find balance in life and relax from your studies or work also creates a feeling of stress and anxiety.

Sleep Disturbance

How many of you use your smartphones and other gadgets at bedtime? We bet that the majority of you will give a positive answer. We all have this terrible habit of grabbing our devices to bed. We promise ourselves that we’ll only spend a couple of minutes on it and get stuck in our gadgets for hours. And this is one more way how technology can make more problems and you more anxious.

As you should already know, proper sleep is the key to emotional stability, as well as physical and mental health. It has been proven that using technology before bedtime is over-stimulating our brains. As a result, it gets too hard for it to switch off and get the so-needed rest. Over time, people who use technology before going to bed start finding it harder to fall asleep and wake up in the morning. Eventually, they get issues with sleep disturbance and receive higher stress and anxiety levels.

Since the rise of social media, observing other people’s lives has gotten easier than ever. But unfortunately, this fact also leads to increased anxiety levels among teens and adults. As we all know, the pictures we see on Instagram or Facebook don’t necessarily represent the real lives of the people who share them. Yet, even knowing this, we still keep watching others’ lives and comparing ourselves to them.

Because of this social comparison triggered by technology, many of us start thinking that other people are happier, wealthier, more successful, or generally better than us. Such conclusions inevitably lead to social anxiety and lower self-esteem.

Fear of Missing Out

In a nutshell, the Fear of Missing Out is a common type of social anxiety disorder that arises from a growing feeling that you are constantly missing out on something, including opportunities, events, experiences, etc. Over time, this feeling can get so obsessive that it can really get in the way of normal living. And it can be extremely hard to get out of this trap.

Watching our friends’ posts on social networks, we start thinking like they are having more fun and memorable experiences when we are not around. This is a clear example of the Fear of Missing Out. And here is the problem – this feeling doesn’t appear out of loneliness. Studies show that the more connected we are, the more often we experience this feeling. And it can eventually cause huge damage to our well-being.

The Bottom Line

Living in the age of technology is surely thrilling. The internet and the abundance of smart gadgets make our lives more exciting and simple. But, as you now know, they also make us feel more anxious daily.

Hopefully, after reading this article, you will be able to recognize the destructive effect of technology on your well-being. But don’t let this make you think that technology is bad. Even though it can make you anxious, it can also have many benefits. You just need to use it wisely.

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