By
Lim Sok Fern (47395)
Technology has immersed into our lives. Today, much of our communication is online such as leisure and entertainments are provided by the Internet. Mental relaxing activities through online video games and, digital devices have become an essential part of our connectivity with the world. With all these changes in our lifestyle, there are increasing concerns about what technology has done to us.
Firstly,
digital addiction is affecting our personal relationships. As mentioned by
Adler (2013), people claimed that technologies are interfering with family
life. A child complained that her parents did not make eyes contact with her
until they finish the last email while a dad stated his father was more likely
to play with his iPhones or laptops rather than watch Sunday sports with him
(Adler, 2013). Through these cases, we can see that digital technologies are
much more addictive than other technologies. It is a true disorder that
influencing our personal relationships.
Secondly,
it could result in anti-social behavior when online is dominating every part of
our life. In a study conducted by Thenu and Keerthi (2013), long televisions
hours caused people becoming anti-social. Furthermore, the digital addiction
also will lead to depression, anxiety disorders, and social disorders. People
get pleasure from their online identity in the virtual world. Hence, they are
more likely to experience the feeling of loneliness and depression when they have to
face the real world. People will tend to lost their interest in activities that
held their attention and refuse to participate in activities that were enjoyed
previously.
Also, digital addiction makes us vulnerable. We are exposing a huge number
of personal information to unknown people and contents as the online time is
getting longer. As mentioned by Lal (2016), we are more vulnerable to
cyber-attacks when there are more our connected devices to the Internet.
Therefore, people shall be aware of their online consumption.
Last but not least, it harms our health and overall well-being. When we are spending our time with phones and computers, we are more sedentary and it may cause us to gain weight unconsciously. Not only that, it is affecting our sleep cycles (Cook, 2016). We can see the increasing addiction to digital technologies from many aspects in our lives. Checking phones every half an hour and playing our tablets till late night are the two symptoms of digital addiction (Thorpe, 2015).
As
we are spending a lot of time with the media for variety needs and purposes, we
have to know how to create the limits for ourselves. It is crucial to be
active in our real world instead of the virtual world. To unplug ourselves from
digital addiction, we shall start to practice digital detox in our life.
References
Adler, I. (2013). How our digital devices are affecting our personal relationships. Retrieved from http://legacy.wbur.org/2013/01/17/digital-lives-i
Cook,
J. R. (2016). Digital technology can be
harmful to your health. Retrieved from http://newsroom.ucla.edu/stories/digital-technolgy-can-harm-your-health
Lal,
R. R. (2016). Are Internet enabled
devices making us more vulnerable to cyber-attacks? Retrieved from https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/internet-enabled-devices-making-us-more-vulnerable-rodrick-rajive-lal
Thenu,
C. T., & Keerthi, S. (2013). Prevalence of digital addiction and use of
digital devices by students. EXCEL
International Journal of Multidisciplinary Management Studies, 3(7),
118-128.
Thorpe, J. R. (2015). Fighting your addiction to technology? These 4 factors might be messing
with your digital detox. Retrieved from https://www.bustle.com/articles/76764-fighting-your-addiction-to-technology-these-4-factors-might-be-messing-with-your-digital-detox
Nice, thank you Lim Sok Fern for the nice opinion about digital addiction. Yes, saya bersetuju dengan kenyataan pertama yang mana internet menyebabkan hubungan kekeluargaan menjadi renggang. Jika dilihat pada zaman sekarang, masing-masing mempunyai gajet tersendiri; telefon bimbit, tab, laptop dan berbagai-bagai lagi. Memandangkan zaman sekarang merupakan zaman teknologi, semua orang amat bergantung kepada teknologi sehingga mengabaikan tanggungjawab dalam kekeluargaan. Ada anak-anak yang terasa dengan sikap ibu bapa yang selalu melayan gajet untuk membuat kerja, sehingga membiarkan anak-anak hidup terbiar tanpa kasih sayang. Ada juga yang sanggup membunuh diri kerana kurang mendapat perhatian. Isu ini tidak seharusnya berlaku dalam isu keluarga kerana kita sebenarnya yang mengawal internet. Kita berhak untuk menentukan bila kita perlu menggunakan internet dan sebagainya. Jadi, ketagihan terhadap internet perlulah dikawal sebaik-baik kerana kita perlu menghargai orang yang berada di sekeliling kita, supaya tidak menyesal kemudian hari. Chill :)
ReplyDeleteDear Noraini, thank you for your feedback and opinions. I agreed with you, the consequence of the digital addiction is more than expected. Due to the digital addiction, we easily ignore people and things that surround us. Therefore, we must control ourselves when consuming the Internet in order to maintain a balance and healthy lifestyle. :)
DeleteOkay Lim Sok Fern.. Together we control ourselves yeaa.... :-)
DeleteThank you Noraini. Alright, all the best to all of us! :D
DeleteAll the best :)
DeleteDear Sok Fern, thank you for writing about this topic. Indeed, I feel that it is directly speaking to me hehe. I remembered when I was teaching in a kindergarten before I entered UNIMAS, the kids were so attached to digital devices and so used to the concept of taking selfies and watching cartoons through the phones. One of them actually told me that his eyesight became worst because of playing too much Ipad, and he was only 5 years old then !!!
ReplyDeleteRemember what Miss TJ talked about child grooming? That's really the scary part and I am rather concerned about the younger generation. Imagine getting bombarded with lots of information all the time. I really think we need to guard our online security.
Though Internet has its good, we should not underestimate its bad to us as an individual and society.
Dear Joyce, thank you for your feedback. It is really need to be concerned when heard a children confronted that their eyesight was affected because of playing too much digital devices. Also, this happened to my niece, she wear spectacle since her 6 years old and this is caused by the same reason too!
DeleteYes, there are overloaded information on the Internet. We really need to educate the future generation about the proper consumption of the Internet.
I agreed with you. Internet is useful for all of us, at the same time, it brings negative consequences to all of us as well.
I suggest that people should be more mindful about how they are allowing tech to invade their life. They should cordon it off. I like the idea, for instance, of not answering email after working hour/6pm.
ReplyDeleteIn general, I'd say find more time to be in natural environments, to sit face to face with someone in a long conversation without any technology in the room. There should be times of the day where it looks like the 1950s or where you are sitting in a room and you can't tell what era you are in. You shouldn't always be looking at screens.
Dear Patrick, thank you for your reply and opinions. "A room without technology" is a great idea! How good if we able tom implement it in our life. Furthermore, the room also can be filled with books and some games such as chess. I believe that it will be an interesting and fun interaction in our life.
DeleteThank you, Son Fern.
ReplyDeleteThe addiction of digital bring horrible impacts in our social life. We should addict to gadget and neglect the people around u. I enjoy that there are friend which we are not always contact when we are busy. However, I am appreciated that we can talk face-to-face as usual when we date out after long time. We chit chat without the disturbing of gadget. This makes the friendship more valuable. So, be treasure the people around us but not gadget.
Correction: should not addict to gadget
DeleteDear Jessie, thank you for your feedback. Yes, same goes to you. Time without digital devices are precious today. We are invaded by various advanced technologies and it is interfering our daily interaction with our family and friends. So, I always avoid to touch or play with my digital devices when I am spending my times with my family and friends and I think that it is a form of respect as well.
DeleteThank you Sok Fern for your opinion about the impacts of Internet addiction. To me, I think it is not easy for all of us to really throw away such addiction because it really provides us with so many benefits. However, you are true also in giving the disadvantages of Internet addiction. I think now when I am going out with friends or families, I will tend to focus more on the devices more than the gathering itself. What makes it worse is that I even need to depend on the gadget to bond my relationship with others such as taking selfies, chatting the latest social news from the Internet as compared to a real time chatting with them. Last time, when I do not have such gadget, our gathering is really meaningful as we will really have a personal conversation with involves ourselves. I really miss it and I wish that I can slowly get rid of that and live in a real reality and have a great time with people I concern and I love.
ReplyDeleteDear Esther, thank you for your feedback and your sharing about your experiences. I agreed with you, I am missing the time without digital devices as well. Due to lack of technology, we have to interact with each other, talk with each other and play with each other. However, the advanced technology does not make us become closer, instead, it separates us. In my friends' gathering, digital gadgets is like sticking on everyone's hand. On that period, plenty of messages and phone calls were interrupted the conversation between my friends and I. In order to overcome this, I think that maybe we can play a game "Who Touch Phone Who Pay Bills" during our gathering to make sure that everyone is concentrate on the interaction and enjoying the interactive process. By the way, it is just my personal suggestion. Haha.
DeleteHi Sok Fern. Saya bersetuju dengan pendapat anda. Internet sememangnya memberi kesan terhadap kehidupan harian kita. Terutama hubungan kekeluargaan. Ahli keluarga kurang berinteraksi antara satu sama lain disebabkan internet. Hal tersebut jelas menunjukkan bahawa internet mampu memberi kesan negative dalam hubungan . Oleh itu, seperti kenyataan anda kita perlu bijak membahagikan masa dan menghadkan penggunaan internet agar kehidupan harian kita kembali sihat dan ceria.
ReplyDeleteDear Jasmine, thank you for your feedback and opinions. Yes,I agreed with you. The Internet is affecting our family relationships as many people prefer to surf the Internet rather than spend more time to interact with their family. At the same time, I also think that it brings benefits for us. As I am the one who have to leave my hometown and continue study at Sarawak, I rely on the Internet to keep contact with my family through various platforms such as Skype and Facebook. Therefore,we really need to control and discipline ourselves when consuming the Internet.
DeleteDear Sok Fern,
ReplyDeleteIndeed, most if us already addicted with digital device and spend a lot of time with it. We cannot leave those device and will feel uncomfortable without it. We gradually become dependent and less confident toward themselves. The addiction is serious phenomena nowadays, as mentioned in your article, we shall start to practice digital detox in our life so that our life can be more meaningful other than just surfing the internet without any purpose.
Dear Jia Chi, thank you for your feedback and opinion. I agreed with you about people are getting unaware of their Internet addiction. As stated by you, the practice of digital detox able to make our life more meaningful. Hence, I would like to extend your point about this, we may practice digital detox through several ways such as yoga, exercise, jogging and other activities that can keep us far way from the Internet.
DeleteHai Sok Fer,
ReplyDeleteTerima kasih untuk perkongsian artikel mengenai "ketagihan terhadap internet". saya akui memang era ini kita banyak terdedah dan ia membawa kesan yang boleh mempengaruhi hubungan dalam konteks kekeluargaan. kesan kewujudan digital seperti internet ini sebenarnya ia terpulang kepada kita sebagai pengguna bijak bagaimana mengawal daripada terus terpengaruh kepada medium ini. jadikan ia sebagai medium yang berpotensi untuk mencorak IT bukan sekadar suatu bentuk kemudahan teknologi. Realitinya kita menganggap medium ini meruntuhkan institusi kekeluargaan tetapi lihat dari skop yang lebih global. kita adalah sebagai pengguna yang perlu mencorak bentuk hubungan tersebut bukan sekadar menyalahkan "teknologi" kerana ia dicipta oleh kita sendiri dan kita jugalah yang "setting" ia ke arah yang lebih bermanfaat.sekian.terima kasih.
Dear Ruzimah, thank you for your reply and feedback. I agreed with you about we shall set the limit and boundaries when we are using the Internet. Be a wise Internet user and stop control by the Internet. :)
Delete