POE Question 2

As great as the advancements in technology are for us as people, there are some downsides. With awareness rising for mental health issues and the psychological impact they have; we are noticing an increase in the number of mental health problems that have a direct relation to the use of technology.

Perpetual Distraction: –  this is an issue that many people have due to our constant attachment to our phones (OpenLearn, 2019), like Pavlov’s dog hearing the bell when we hear a beep or ding, we are looking for our phone. We are willing to forgo concentrating on the current task to see what other people are doing.

Disruption of the Work/Life balance: – before mobile phones were able to access the internet people could disassociate from work when at home (OpenLearn, 2019). But now with smartphones being online and people having their work e-mail’s on their phone it becomes harder to disengage from work.

Fear of Missing Out (F.O.M.O): –  since we are always connected to social media, we can see what our friends are doing via their posts. If you did not know that a group of your friends were doing an activity but later find out from their posts, you feel left out (OpenLearn, 2019). Because we do not want to feel like our friends are not including us, we as social creatures look for any signs of being left out and try to be included.

Cyberchondria: – this term is similar to hypochondria, a condition where the affected person is excessively and unjustly worried that they have a serious illness. Cyberchondria refers to a person’s anxiety about their mental or physical health due to researching their symptoms online and finding the worst possible causes (GoodTherapy, 2017). An example is if you are having chronic headaches, a Google search may say this is a symptom of brain cancer.

Bibliography:

Good Therapy. 2017. Cyberchondria. [Online]. Available at: https://www.goodtherapy.org/blog/psychpedia/cyberchondria [Accessed 30 July 2020].

Open Learn. 2019. Stress and anxiety in the digital age: The dark side of technology. [Online]. Available at: https://www.open.edu/openlearn/health-sports-psychology/mental-health/managing-stress-and-anxiety-the-digital-age-the-dark-side-technology [Accessed 30 July 2020]