It’s not wrong to feel lonely once in a while, but if you feel this emotion continuously, then you must not ignore it. We live in a modern technology era where we are connected to the world more than we ever were. But, ask yourself, do you have real connections or are you just connected without any connections? The latter can be terrifying, and when technology is involved, then it’s better to do something about it than just let things happen. Loneliness on the surface might not seem a serious issue to some people, but it is always more than that. There are consequences that are not just mental, but physical as well. Let’s look at how loneliness caused by technology can be harmful.
How loneliness caused by technology can be a problem?
Before learning more about the role of technology in making us feel lonely, let’s first discuss what issues we are facing. These problems can affect your physical, mental, as well as social health. We will be looking at each issue to understand it better.
Physical health issue
If you are someone who uses technology to reach out to people and is unable to build connections, then you are more likely to feel lonely. We need personal connections in our lives and when we lack them, we feel that we are more isolated than we actually are. If this issue is not taken care of, then people are more likely to experience sleep deprivation. Unwanted thoughts occupy their mind, and lack of sleep makes it difficult for them to live normally. All these causes stress to the body, negatively impacting physical health. In addition to this, it can also lead to weight gain or poor heart condition. And, all of them are terrible.
Mental health issue
Now we are more exposed to the world than we ever were. We have social media where anyone can post anything they want. These platforms make you think that those people out there are living their best life. Which makes you question things about yourself and your environment. This causes low self-esteem, and it makes you feel more lonely. If this continues, then it can lead to anxiety and depression. It will impact your decision-making ability and force you to make poor decisions. Unhealthy use of social media can increase your stress level, negatively impacting your mental health.
Social health issue
Physical and mental health issue directly impacts the individuals who suffer from loneliness caused by technology, but social health impacts the people these individuals interact with. More people are switching to online modes to interact with society. There’s nothing wrong with interacting on digital platforms, but when these interactions become meaningless, then it raises concern. It negatively impacts their happiness level, which in turn has effects on their sense of belongings and concern for others in society.
How technology makes you feel lonely?
Have you heard about the loneliness paradox? So, it goes this way, when you connect with more people, you also start to feel more isolated. This holds true for technology. Ask yourself, does making more virtual connections makes you feel less lonely in any way? Or, are you caught in a trap where you are feeling more lonely by making many meaningless connections? Now let’s look at some ways technology is making you feel this way.
Unrealistic expectations
With technology, many unrealistic expectations are put on us. How often have you heard people saying that if you have more connections, you will become successful? Very often, similarly, there are many such expectations that make the loneliness experience much worse. No doubt, even before modern technology people felt lonely, but their expectations were much different from it than ours. Now there are so-called perfect posts available on social media that make you compare your life to them and feel less happy in general.
Fake Personality
Technology has allowed people to create fake personalities and interact with others. This leads to interactions that aren’t real. People here create a social mask and show people what they want them to see. There are filters that completely change the way people look. And, people use these features to highlight their fake personalities. In this process, it makes them feel more lonely as they slowly start to struggle to deal with reality. It can eventually make them feel like a stranger to their own self.
What you can do about it?
What’s better than making the most out of every situation? Why exclude loneliness, when you can turn it into something positive. When you feel lonely, you can redirect your time and efforts towards becoming self-aware. But again, only in healthy doses, loneliness can help you become self-aware. If you feel lonely often, and you think the technology might be the reason, then you should work on it. Even if you do not contribute to social media and still keep watching other’s posts, you will still end up feeling more lonely.
The most obvious thing that you can do to deal with this problem is controlling the time you spend on technology. If you think you are wasting your time looking at other’s posts, then keep your device aside and think about what you are getting out of it. Take time off social media and invest time interacting with people in real life. There’s no denying that we can connect with others much better in real life than we can ever do on social media.
Conclusion
Using technology mindlessly can make you feel lonely and this can weaken your immune system. In recent years, our addiction to technology has skyrocketed. People are more involved in what’s happening in other’s life than their own. Here’s where we face problems like a constant feeling of loneliness and decreased self-esteem. If we learn to manage our addiction to our devices, we can see better outcomes. Try it for yourself, decrease your dependence on your device, and you will start to feel less lonely and can improve your life.