What is destroying us

I am a 2000's baby, and I have found that technology is negatively affecting our society and the generations to come.

The idea of communicating through a platform that is easy for customers to use without having to move from your bed may seem suitable for most but, I find people are losing the touch of actual reality. Phones are making our generation with few able to communicate with the outside world. Classrooms are becoming digitized and skills for real-life are not being used. My generation is becoming socially awkward, and people rarely communicate in social events without using a phone. People use phones as an escape when they are in awkward situations or an excuse to not talk to someone. More teenagers are spending time on their phones rather than going outside and the ideal family dynamic of the household is being destroyed from a small screen.

Phones are a walking hazard because most times, people are just on their phones without watching where they are walking. This is a worry because people can easily be hit while crossing the street or falling into some type of hole. Their eyes are more focused on the screen at their hands.

Technology, in general, is creating a more digital world that furthers issues with children possessing tablets and other technologies at young ages. Technology is becoming easily tossed away, with children focusing on the newest and biggest type of technology available.

The world is already fast-paced, technology is isolating people and creating a problem within jobs. Most grocery stores are now having self-checkout machines that are creating extra money within businesses by not having to pay for another cashier while leaving people with no job. This is starting to be an issue, with a huge increase of homelessness and addiction starting to grow from this fast business plan.

The world has become more dangerous with the use of media, the number of issues caused by people using their social media platforms. People have significant opportunities to speak through their screen, therefore cyber-bullying is becoming an increasing issue among teens with rising rates of suicide.

The amount of germs that are caused by touching our phones daily has shown that cell phones carry around 10 times more bacteria than a toilet seat, and people use them while they go to the washroom. It's a daily use that people are becoming more addicted to add to the fact that people are on their cellphones daily. Obesity has been on the rise due to the increase in screen time, with the invention of phones, iPad and other technologies.

Issues within my own experiences from media, but specifically social media. I have been struggling with an eating disorder for years and what I see daily on billboards, social media posts and just anywhere that influences the "perfect" image. The comparison of people is becoming more prominent and looking like the standards of Photoshop is something that is not healthy. I find racism is more open with having social media platforms available. Individuals can say whatever they feel through a screen.

Issues surrounding safety and how many hackers have been known for causing issues around photos and being threatened.

The demand for constant new technology in the first world countries has caused serious issues with slave work in third world countries. Children as young as eight years old are working for less than a dollar a day just so they can help support their family. There are extensive problems over human rights while using slave work in 2020, why hasn't this changed? There are enough documentaries about the abuse surrounding these companies who serve Apple, Android, the big companies of the technology generation.

Martin Heidegger has written an astounding essay around world war two and explains in his writing piece that the issue with reduction of natural world resources is caused by production and consumption of technology. His belief that rivers are being transformed into hydro-electric dams; forests are used as timber for our homes; the wind is harnessed to charge our smartphones; humans are described as resources to be used by public ministries and private corporations.

A short while ago, the media has become an issue surrounding the Covid-19 pandemic, more people have been misinformed rather than informed. Information came out faster with media surrounding this disaster but has caused issues surrounding people getting into fights at grocery stores over toilet paper, which is videotaped by media users. Instead of breaking off fights, people are just focusing on showing problems on media rather than helping make changes. The show called Blackmirror on Netflix on one of the episodes, called White Bear. A woman wakes up with amnesia, in a house where television screens show an unknown symbol. Turning the screens off, she finds photos of herself and a man, along with one young girl which she takes with her. She leaves the house and pleads for help, but people ignore her while recording her on their phones. Walls open of this "play" to reveal that everything was staged.

The woman is strapped to a chair and informed that her name is Victoria and that the girl in the photograph is who she and her fiancé had abducted and murdered. After the pair were arrested, her fiancé committed suicide, while Victoria was sentenced to undergo daily psychological punishment at White Bear Justice Park. Victoria is driven back to the compound past and passes through an outraged crowd and returned to where she awoke. As she is shown footage of the little girl, Baxter places electrodes on her head, simultaneously torturing her and wiping her memory of the day's events. This episode shows what society does, it captures everything on their phones .

As a society we need to focus on creating a better real world, rather than a digital world.