Technology is the holder of communication, information, and media. Technology has changed the way we interact with people on a day-to-day basis.

Interactions are at our fingertips, so we should never be found alone; however, studies show within the same period that technology has impacted our lives and people have grown even more isolated. It can’t possibly be a coincidence that technology’s uprising coincides with humans’ downfall. Relationships become too common, making them less valuable. Relying on technology and media for the internet gives quick endorphins that only cure boredom for a few minutes; like our relationships, our endorphins become short-winded.

Technology is the sole reason that our generation’s relationships (romantic and platonic) have grown to be so toxic. Tainting our relationships, media makes these fast relationships that decay normality. Technology being easily accessible devalues our in-person relationships as reaching for our phones becomes a toxic habit. Technology, of course,  can’t account for our generation’s withdrawal, but it definitely has aided it.

Loneliness has to be one of the most universal human conditions, existing before technology and amplified following it. Nothing is worse than that heart-shattering weight of forced solitude. Multiple studies have found that media consumption leads to depression, anxiety, and isolation as they follow everyone else’s carefully curated lives.

In the media, everything is set up to look better than what you have. Media is purely capitalist and profits off our downfall. Big names were editing pictures to force a comparison. The screen becomes more than another life to marvel at; it is a fast track to self-scrutiny.  There’s a constant feeling of abandonment while anxiety becomes more apparent to oneself. Being socially constructed and social creatures of the earth, we rely on being included and whole. With social media addiction, you’re forced to feel left behind and unsuccessful. These points of being left out and left behind cause us to feel resentful of these friends, thus, again, infecting the already sinking bonds.

Technology compulsion quickly becomes an obsessive disorder, especially after the pandemic. During that time, when seeing our loved ones was threatening to our health, it felt amazing to stay in touch with friends and family and watch the world revolve still as we felt stuck. People, however, are still hesitant to re-emerge into the ‘real’ world. Even as health is restored and studies show that in-person interactions do so much better for our day-to-day enjoyment, society clings to hibernation and blue screens. Media has become an unethical alleviation for social anxiety and a quick reliever for loneliness. Technology replacing in-person relationships results in this loneliness that is never satisfied. It reduces the enjoyment of our face-to-face conversations. When everything loses value, what are we to turn to?

Addison McClure is a freshman at Red Bluff High School and enrolled in a journalism class and says he in the process of publishing a novel.