When living our everyday lives, it is almost impossible to ignore the bings and buzzes of electronic devices. Whether it is used for work or for personal use, social media has become a major part of our lives. In the article “The Myth of Multitasking,” Christine Rosen mentions how electronics seem to be background noise and can be avoided, at first. Yet, this technology will have made its way into people’s daily activities and it can no longer be avoided. Rosen calls this cycle the “electronic din.” Adolescents are now finding that this addiction to technology is to be expected in their everyday life and is seen mostly through social media. The electronic din and use of social media has caused many people to spend hours of their day staring …show more content…
at a screen, which is taking a toll on mental health. It has been shown that the average adult spends 11 hours a day on electronic media.
This significantly more than half the day when only waking hours are counted. One of the biggest uses, especially for those of younger age, is the smart phone. More and more people have been converting to smartphones and, with the use of applications or “apps”, anything can be done on them (Statista). There are apps for dieting, exercising, gaming, music, photography, reading, and an app for anything one could think of can be found in the “app store.” With so many options on how to use smartphones, people cannot find reason to stop using them. Journalist David Bauder wrote that, “People stare at screens while waiting in line for fast food, riding in elevators or walking down the street…People check messages in bed before falling asleep, and reach for the devices upon waking up.” His statement may be perceived as exaggerated, but Bauder writes the reality. Looking around at any event or place, it can be seen that Bauder tells the truth and it could be concluded that the addiction to electronics should be put to a stop, or it may have an unsuspecting effect on mental …show more content…
health. Many studies have been made concerning social media and mental health. Since social media is a huge part of the electronic din, these effects on the brain are something all people should be aware of. Caitlin Probst mentions many studies concerning social media and mental health in her article, “10 Ways Social Media Affects Our Mental Health.” The studies noted by Probst helped support her arguments and gave meaning to simple observations. First that, in moderation, social media can be good for mental health. Social media was created to help connect people and when it is used properly, social media can help “revive and preserve relationships with other people.” Secondly, it can also help shy people express themselves comfortably. These two aspects create a happier person and a positive reinforcement in the area of mental health. Consequently, the abuse of social media can cause more harm to mental health than making it stronger. While there are some positives on social media affecting our mental health, the negatives outweigh the positives.
Continuing from Probst’s article, she mentions a few negative qualities of social media, including: being addictive, making people compare their lives with others, causing restlessness, giving rise to cyberbullying, and inducing peer pressure. While scrolling through social media, users tend to see images of people on adventures or of people spending time with numerous friends. As the users view these images, they cannot help but to compare their own lives to those who appear to be having more fun, and they may think less of their own lives. Another problem that is arising through social media is cyberbullying. A survey was conducted showing that 95% of youths have witnessed cyberbullying (Probst). Not only is the effects of cyberbullying harmful to mental health, but it is very difficult to stop this type of bullying because it often happens behind closed doors; a private message is sent and can only be viewed by the sender and receiver. An online questionnaire created by Helen Gore and Catriona Morrison shows the correlation between depression and internet addiction and they were able to conclude that internet use is causing people to have more depressive tendencies. Depression is a difficult issue to deal with and can leave many feeling alone and vulnerable. As users of media, we should be aware of the unfortunate side-effect of
depression. When considering the abundance of information given about the electronic din and its relationship with mental health, the conclusion points to one thing: that social media is having adverse effects on mental health. The average American is spending over half of their waking day in the electronic din, which is leading to many negative effects on mental health, one of which is depression. Though social media is able to connect us to others and provide a form of communication with others, overuse of media leads to addiction and unhappiness in people’s lives. It is important to be aware of the effects of the electronic din and know when enough is enough.
In the article, “Multitasking Can Make You Lose…Um…Focus,” Alina Tugend centralizes around the negative effects of multitasking. She shows that often with multitasking, people tend to lose focus, lack work quality, have an increase in stress, and in the end she gives a solution to all these problems. Tugend conveys her points by using understandable language, a clear division of subjects, and many reliable sources, making her article cogent.
Today we live in a society where everything is seconds away from us. With the advances and affordability of quality technology, you would be hard pressed to find someone without a smartphone, laptop, or tablet, possibly all at the same time. Because of the accessibility we find that, in our tech-savvy culture, multitasking has not just become an art form of sorts, but rather an expectation. In the article “Multitasking Can Make You Lose…Um…Focus,” Alina Tugend sets out to explore the idea that although multitasking appears to show productivity, it could be doing the opposite. Throughout her article, Tugend uses studies done by neurologists and psychologists to show how in a world that sees multitasking as an expectation it has actually made us less efficient. She proposes, through studies, that although you might be working on multiple tasks it is as if you’re playing tennis with multiple balls (Tugend, 725).
Many would remark that multitasking is a skill that can be trained like all others. However, a lot of neuroscience has went into proving that multitasking is a myth altogether. The article “The Myth of Multitasking” is written by Nancy K. Napier for Psychology today is here to debunk the myth of the brain’s capability to multitask. The article states that the brain is incapable of doing two things at once. Instead, the way that we fool ourselves into thinking that we can multitask is how quickly our brain switches from one task to another. Our brains can’t perform tasks simultaneously as our focus is a narrow beam. So, to compensate for this, our brain switches between these two tasks very quickly, almost as if we are doing them at the same
The world is shrinking and the networks are growing at an unprecedented rate. This is possible because of our technological advances in recent decades – especially computer and networking technologies. The Internet changed the way we connect and communicate with others; it made dissipating information as easy as clicking a button. The advent of social media coupled with the powerful mobile networks and devices have enabled us to be connected twenty four seven. But this always-on connectedness is not without its downsides, it has come to a point it’s being counterproductive. Two essays, Sherry Turkle’s “The Flight from Conversation” and Claudia Wallis’s “The Multitasking Generation” in the text “Reading Critically, Writing Well”, shed light on how these technological advancements are affecting us wholesomely - the way we communicate, the way we perceive our identities and the way we live our lives.
In the essay “The Myth of Multitasking,” Christine Rosen searches for the truth behind multitasking. In her essay, the structure allows readers to understand how important multitasking is in the modern day. Then the essay she talks about the negatives about a high-multitasking lifestyle. Rosen mentions various of doctors, specialists, and psychologists to support her claim that multitasking isn’t as good as people think but it can be detrimental. Rosen mentions multitasking is dangerous, but also for people's overall well-being. The essay starts with a quote in one of Lord Chesterfield’s letters to his son. Chesterfield offered the following advice: “There is time enough for everything in the course of the day, if you do but one thing at once,
People increased the time they spent on media multitasking with the rise of new technology that people could use. Since 2005, technology has advanced greatly, especially in a way that allows for convenience and easy access to media. In a recent report by David Bauder, a Nielson company study found that ”[t]he typical American adult is using media for a full hour a day more than just last year, with smartphones accounting for most of the increase” (1). Alongside the growth and ubiquity of technology, people have extended the use of media in their lives. For many people, media is a given as a part of everyday living. Furthermore, in Bauder’s report on the Nielson company study, there is an “indication that there's a lot of multi-tasking going on” because people have increased phone and tablet usage while still using other media in similar amounts (1). Phones and tablets have the benefit of being mobile, smaller, and
Social networks, like Facebook or You Tube can keep someone updated with world events and even local events. It has become part of everyday life in which people can’t live without. But what lies beneath is the evil of how addictive technology can be. The above chart demonstrates that almost 60% of students use electronics more than two hours a day. This shows us that technology can be addictive. Jonathan Mandell’s article Are gadgets, and the Internet, actually addictive, recalls a time in April 2007 when BlackBerry users could not send or receive emails for 11 hours because of a glitch in the system. Many people reported this as a natural disaster (Mandell, 2007). People are relying on technology so much, that it is becoming a major problem in our society when it becomes temporary unavailable. Being able to plan your whole day on your smart phone and lock your front door to your house at the same time contributes to society laziness and dependency on technology. On the chart picture below I surveyed fellow ECPI Students on the question does technology make us lazy and or smatter and this was the results. From this pie chart it’s clearly shown that more than half of the students at ECPI agree that technology is making people lazy. Also the ratio of yes to no is about 6:1, certainly showing that the wrong effects of technology are starting to show up in our society. Choices people make about using their
Multitasking is to be deliberated as having many effects on a person when distractions, or delays become more frequent and self-control can help or make it worse on accomplishing tasks. Having sounds or certain resources may steer one away or towards their tasks, could also be an effect. When one is trying to multitask, they need to be aware of auditory patterns, self-control, and any delays that may arise when completing multiple tasks at once.
Have you ever drove down the road while trying to text some or while trying to put mascara on? Many students and workers have some form of a distraction when they perform tasks. This is just one example of multitasking. Most people think that they can do other tasks while doing their work at the same time but researchers disagree. Multitasking is used when someone jumps from one task to another while trying to pay attention at a certain challenging problem. When people multitask they activate a certain part of their brain. This part of the brain is called the prefrontal cortex and this is located in the frontal lobe. Before, a person can understand how the brain processes multitasking they must understand the anatomy of the brain and what parts of the brain are being used during multitasking.
Multitasking has a long research history (e.g., McQueen, 1917) with many arguments concerning the benefits or lack thereof. While authors (e.g.Britton & Tesser, 1991) may describe multitasking as a potential time management strategy, others (e.g. Pashler, 1994) find results of studies to suggest there are limitations to a person’s ability to dual task. Although we find studies that display results that indicate multitasking is a hindrance, other studies struggle to show multitasking to pose a positive or negative.
Multitasking may seem convenient but deceptively costly. Multitasking has been scientifically proven to damage your brain and everyday function. Multitasking is digging people in a hole that they are not aware of. Although, many people believe they are multitasking when they are truly not. People need to quit multitasking because the brain is trained to focus on one thing at a time. It’s impossible to put your full effort into something if you are multitasking.
Social media is so popular that according to a recent article published by forbes.com, “72% of American adults are currently using social media sites; that figure has gone up 800% in just 8 years”(Olenski). Social networking was originally created to simply reconnect people with old high school pals, but in recent years it has evolved into a completely different operation. When social media first originated it was also intended for adult usage, which has in recent years expanded into the usage of all ages. Social media can create a negative affect on lives because it has been proven to be a dangerous addiction, for it takes away interpersonal relationships that are essential in life, and it has been proven to prevent people from being productive in life.
Multitasking negatively affects learning. MORE. Foerde, Knowlton, and Poldrack (2006) observed the effects of distraction on learning.
The article ‘Technology: Myth of Multitasking’ emphasized the false perceptions about multitasking and explained the logic behind them. As indicated in the article, people desire the ability to multitask so as to become more productive and efficient. However, the author proposes that multitasking does not really exist except on two conditions. First, if one of the action or tasks is well learned hence not requiring tremendous focus or thought such as walking, eating, etc. second, if both tasks make use of different parts of the brain then they do not overlap in processing. For example, as indicated in the article, studying and listening to classical music are actions processed by different parts of the brain, therefore, they can be done simultaneously.
In the twenty -first century, teenagers live in a life of social networking and life’s online. It’s hard to believe how much the world has changed over the decades, especially in technology. Technology helps people to contact relatives and friends from long distance more easily and conveniently. People can now talk to each other from everywhere in the world simply through chat and video calls. By time, internet connections have spread throughout households and social networking such as Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, and Instagram has increased gradually. However, the internet and several modern technologies have wasted many times and has hurt the society. Social media plays such a big role in people’s lives that some people couldn’t even imagine