INTRODUCTION:
Mental health refers to our cognitive, behavioural, and emotional well-being. It is all about how we feel, think, and react. The term “mental health” is used to illustrate that there is no mental disorder.The modern epoch is all about digital technology because, unconsciously, we depend on technology for our every move. Since we have a lot of blessings from technology, but it also has many disadvantages. Few of them can cause mental illness. In the past, people used to walk 15000 steps on a regular basis, but now, due to modern technology, people think that a 20-minute walk is an exercise. This leads to obesity and other diseases. Physical mobility and sports were at the top of the priority list for the children, but now children play video games, which indirectly affect their brain functioning. Technology also contributes to the improvement of cognitive skills, but on the other hand, it plays a key role in mental illness in general. People stick to their phones. They aren’t up for meaningful social interaction. This can also cause isolation.
Negative effects:
Obesity: Obesity is linked to many other issues and has the power to make health conditions worse. Due to high inactivity because of gaming, which makes people potato-cooking, this results in obesity. Now, children, instead of walking, roaming, and doing other sports, indulge in many video games. This sedentary activity leads to obesity, which gives birth to other co-morbidities. Obesity in children wasn’t high in the past years, but now when a child is born, he is allowed to stick with his smart phone, and even while eating, parents give their phone to their child so they can’t cause any trouble, but these temporary fixes lead to much permanent damage.
Optical issues: Using phones or computers for long hours, even most of the time, can cause many eye issues. Some can be worse and lead to blindness. The rays of mobiles and computers are damaging for our eyes and brains and result in many other disorders. Eyes are very special to us because we can’t enjoy the beauty of nature if we stick them with artificial stuff and ruin them forever.
Poor posture: Bad posture makes you ugly. This not only affects your appearance but can also cause back pain and other muscular issues. Tilting your head for the use of a phone makes your shoulder posture dead and ugly. These posture problems arose at a very young age, whereas if not treated, they would have landed in the operation in order to be fixed. Instead of having phones for a long time, we need to cut screen time to make ourselves smart and intelligent.
Sleep disorder: Phones are addictive because they cause the brain to release happy hormones. The rush of hormones makes us stick to the phone, and we sacrifice our sleep by not scheduling our sleep time. This makes our brain drain because our brain also needs rest.
It doesn’t get due to high screen time.
Mental illness caused by technology:
The idea of technology is to be more connected but result in more isolation. We are connected via media but disconnected from nature, which is a hindrance to our health journey. This technology makes people aggressive because having high screen time makes the brain cranky.
Depression and anxiety: Increased digitalization is associated with anxiety and depression. People share their happy moments where the person is having a bad day and compares himself with others, which ruins his mental peace, and prolonging this feeling can make him depressed. Why am I the one who is facing the bad days? These feelings contribute to people suffering from anxiety and depression.
Panic Disorder: The notion of work-life balance is very crucial to demonstrating that people have their personal lives as well. Due to technology, people feel they are supposed to work even when they are with their families, which affects their mental health. An anxiety illness known as panic disorder causes frequent, unexpected panic or dread episodes.
Phobias: An excessive and unreasonable fear response is known as a phobia. Children are more likely to acquire phobias if they have a close family who suffers from an anxiety illness.
Major depression: High screen time is as addictive as drugs andalcohol, which results in many mental illnesses, one of which is depression.
Isolation: High screen time reduces life and nature connections among people, which increases the risk of loneliness and isolation. This isolation makes people weary because people are social animals who are not born to live in isolated conditions.
Keeping your body healthy is an expression of gratitude to the whole cosmos- the trees, the clouds, everything.
Conclusion:
Technology has a huge impact on humans. It also makes life easy, but using it without limitations will cause physical and mental issues in the long run. Mental issues are considered normal or part of growth, whereas if they can be treated in the early days, it won’t hurt human life. This increased prevalence of issues due to technology is a public concern these days as it affects the cognitive capability of humans. If anyone is uncertain about the technology, they must have a screen timer and feel the positivity in their lives.
