From Presence to Pixels: How Technology Is Rewriting Reality
“I’ve seen mental fortitude crumble, anxiety take over, and emotional outbursts unfold all over a brick of glass.”
I see the bright lights that dazzle from the tablet in the stroller.
I see what look like zombies walking across the street with eyes glued to their phones.
I hear the silence so cold, so dead, from people that would rather be in the dystopia of their phones than the zootopia that is reality.
I see the youth looking with dead faces at their screens, their books closed beside them.
I see the adults overwhelmed by a society they are not used to, raising youth they find hard to connect with.
I see parents who conform to their children's yearning for a screen rather than implementing the discipline that's needed for growth.
The rise of technology in this modern time is causing division in the way we think, speak, act, and even present ourselves in public. This exponential growth of tech use has shifted the very emotional foundation upon which we build our society. Our environmental awareness is turning to rubble, and people walk past one another on the sidewalk as if they are ghosts, their AI glasses tarnishing the world through an inhuman lens. Digital fatigue has ushered in an era of destruction where even the simplest, kindest communication has become a distant memory, where in-person hangouts have become a waste of energy, and where our lives have become more fantasy than reality. But this isn’t a rose-colored fantasy. It is a wilting one.
We are voidless beings anchored with digitized chains wrapped around our reality. This new generation is preyed upon by the ideas of technological success and progression. Our egoistic society has replaced the future of our youth with investments in modern advancements, chasing innovation while we neglect the very same people set to inherit our future.
Because of this, we disable the success of the young and obscure their vision of the world just to flourish from the malnourishment of adolescence.
A study from the American Psychological Association states that, “The more children engaged with electronic screens, the more likely they were to develop socioemotional problems.” We are knowingly letting the youth get attached to technology with an understanding of the catastrophic consequences it is having on them. In fact, we are producing new advancements rapidly and even improving them out of the sheer fact that the average adolescent will buy it and most definitely be attached. In our thirst for profit, we make the youth drink from the river of Lethe—that ancient river that puts people to sleep and makes them forget their cares.
Some of these consequences include, “Both internalizing problems, such as anxiety and depression, and externalizing problems, such as aggression and hyperactivity. Conversely, children experiencing socioemotional problems were found to be more likely to turn to screens as a coping mechanism.” (APA).
This new digitized society is causing it to actually be harder to raise our youth. With so many contradicting ideas, parents have to wonder if their voice outweighs the thousands of voices displayed on the internet. We are now in a society where knowledge can be found everywhere, but whether that knowledge is good or bad is always up for debate.
As the research above said, we use technology as a coping mechanism. As a young child, you were given the pacifier to soothe, comfort, and support you in a world you may not feel comfortable in just yet. Now technology is the pacifier identified and accepted by everyone. It doesn't settle you into this reality; it makes you comfortable, but in a way that keeps you slightly detached from it, encouraging avoidance rather than understanding and replacing real engagement with temporary relief.
Now, to be frank with you, there are as many benefits to using technology as there are its detrimental side effects. Over the years, the internet has brought people of all ages, genders, and races together and made our society more connected than ever. But that doesn’t dismiss the fact that more harm than good is given to a society bombarded by the rising tides of technology.
A study on attention spans found that, “In 2004, the average person focused their attention on a single screen for about two and a half minutes. By 2016, that length of time had dropped to 47 seconds, a reduction of roughly 69%.”
Technology has already done its harm and carved our graves. We are not a society growing, but a population withering from what some call “an advancement in science.” The sad truth is the damage has been dealt, and some scars don't fade. In reality, this is a scar we keep opening, letting it never fully heal, a scar that grows wider every day. What technology has done is permanent, and no matter how much we think change is gonna happen, the attention span of the youth ain’t gonna change from 47 to 50.
Yes, I still see the bright lights glowing from the stroller. I notice the tapping feet and bitten fingernails of someone separated from their phone.
I’ve seen mental fortitude crumble, anxiety take over, and emotional outbursts unfold all over a brick of glass.
Technology and AI may be growing but can the same be said for us humans individually. We know our left from our right and we don’t imagine it to be different. But in the near future will we be able to tell AI from reality? It’s not that AI is becoming too realistic, maybe what used to be a fantasy is now our reality.