Blog #12: Relationship with Technology

 Our relationship with technology as a society has many benefits and negatives. We have so much access to so much valuable information, and we can constantly stay tuned in to updates around the world within minutes at our fingertips. However, besides all of these positive aspects, there are many negatives, especially to younger generations with the influence of social media. I myself have experienced many of the negative consequences. 

I want to go into my personal relationship with technology and the role that it plays in my life. Since I was in middle school, I have had access to the internet and social media platforms like Instagram, Snapchat, Youtube, etc. It used to play a small role in my life and I used to not think too much about it, but as I have gotten older, social media has such a bigger role in young people’s lives. I am the oldest of three, and my youngest sister is 17. She had access to social media platforms like Tik Tok at a much younger age than I did. Yes, Tik Tok is a great platform to share ideas, news, and creativity on, but it also is highly addicting and you can quickly get swept up into comparing yourself to others lives and bodies. Tik Tok gives a very false view of reality, and a lot of influencers post content about their daily lives flaunting money or their bodies that make an impression on young women especially, and the younger generations comparing themselves to people on social media has a huge negative impact. When I was in my late years of middle school and early years of high school, I was always awkward and I was not exposed to social media at a younger age, and watching my sister grow up surrounded by social media at such an impressionable age was scary to watch. I remember being 18 and watching my sister turn 14, and her and her friends were already dressing like they were my age. The way they talked, acted, dressed, and posted on social media made it seem like they weren’t minors. I sometimes would see my sister watching older girls on Tik Tok and comparing her body to them. Her wardrobe changed and got more provocative the more she was on social media, and she always needed to be following a “trend”. She was exposed to so much more than I was, and it made her grow up quicker. Of course, as the youngest girl with an older sister, she obviously grew up much faster than I did. I had no one to look up to or learn from, and she did. However, I also believe a huge role in her very quick change and maturation at such a young age had a lot to do with social media, specifically Tik Tok. 

Tik Tok will push out certain videos that fit their algorithm, and when the algorithm consistently pushes out your videos onto the For You page, the likes, comments, and follows start to roll in. When my sister was about 15, she went “viral” on Tik Tok a lot. The comments would praise her about her body and her outfits, and it was validation. The more she posted about her body, the more people would validate her and it made it seem okay to put herself out onto the internet for everybody to see. They were always very simple videos, but anybody could have access to these and say things about her. It makes it seem like you have to dress and look a certain way to be accepted and validated by society, and it has a huge effect on your confidence, habits, and mind. Witnessing my sister go through this at such a young age was hard to watch because I was concerned about what others were saying, and most importantly, how she was treating herself. 

Another aspect of social media that I want to share my experience on is the addiction part. I am fully a victim of this. Tik Tok can easily suck you into what is called “doom scrolling”. “Doom scrolling happens when we get sucked into the dopamine trap of scrolling endless content on the internet. The internet is DESIGNED to hold you hostage with unending, easy pleasure at your fingertips” (https://www.coachingwithbrooke.com/post/escaping-the-adhd-doom-scrolling-vortex#:~:text=DOOM%20SCROLLING%20happens%20when%20we,easy%20pleasure%20at%20your%20fingertips!). When I am bored or have nothing to do, most of the time my first thought is to grab my phone and scroll through Tik Tok. The majority of people I know also do this. 

TikTok is addictive not only because of the videos on it, but also because of its smart system, which is fine tuned to my interests and the type of content I enjoy. With each swipe, the app makes suggestions that are more relevant to me, making a unique mix of short, and engaging videos. TikTok is great at giving a dopamine hit whenever you decide to stay a little longer and continue to scroll, and it definitely has a negative effect on my sleep and productivity. To add to this, I also have a very good following on Tik Tok. I post videos often, and a lot of the time they do well on the For You page and the comments, likes, and follows roll in quickly. This is also another part of my addiction to the app.  The more likes and comments there are on the videos I share, the better I feel about myself. I feel like the need to be noticed becomes a driving force in my use of social media. I am fully aware of how Tik Tok perfectly designed the app to get people hooked on it and they want me to constantly be checking notifications, scrolling, and pushing out videos. Tik Tok gives me a quick dopamine boost, but it also takes a lot of my time and attention. It's hard to tell the difference between real happiness and mindless scrolling, which makes me wonder what the real cost of this dopamine-fueled addiction is. 

My relationship with Tik Tok and social media as a whole, is very unhealthy, and I am sure a lot of people my age can also relate to this. It is scary how it was purposefully designed to keep us sucked into our phones and scrolling mindlessly. It's clear that TikTok has changed the way people have fun and connect online, but it's also clear that it has made people like myself more dependent on their phones. Users become addicted to the short bursts of dopamine that come with watching the short entertaining videos because the platform's algorithm is so well thought out. The seamless integration of personalized content makes it even more appealing, making it hard to leave the app and be your own person and not depend on others opinions. It's becoming clearer that TikTok breaks the lines between pleasure and feeling like you need to use it, which is bad for mental health and makes our phone addictions worse. All in all, technology has its benefits, but as it seeps into younger generations more and more, the negative effects are clearer everyday on mental health.