Pros and Cons of Digital Dependence

If there is one thing that can be said with certainty, it is that in today’s world we very much depend on our digital devices – mainly mobile phones, tablets, and computers. 

Before, we used to make jokes and challenges about how long we can withstand touching our phones, mocking the person who gave up first, calling him an addict. 

Fast forward to today where we truly cannot function throughout the day without having contact with some kind of digital device. And, in most cases, it occupies most of our time.

When you think about it, technology has really contributed a lot to improving the quality of our life by making it:

1. Faster
2. Better
3. Easier

While all that is true, the question arises whether the good outweighs the bad. We are all quick when it comes to glorifying and praising digitalization but we seldom stop and ask ourselves how many negative side effects actually occur during use. 

Generally, as human beings, we will always strive to make our lives easier and better. But, we must not allow ourselves to be distorted and lose some of the most basic human values. 

Social Media

If you ask people if social media is one of the best things that happened to us in 21-century the majority of people without even thinking about it will answer yes. 

While it is true that social media is very influential in society it certainly contains both positive and a lot of negative effects. 

Three main advantages of social media are: 

1. Connections
2. Business 
3. New jobs 

Thanks to social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Viber, Instagram, WhatsApp, no matter if we are on the other side of the world we can stay connected with our families and friends. And, that ability for everyday contact makes it seem as if nothing has changed.

The next thing that has changed is that businesses have tremendously evolved. It is significantly less expensive and easier to attract customers when you are operating on an online platform. 

Due to potentially huge reach on social media, if the business is well marketed and promoted the chances of success are incomparably higher than otherwise. 

Finally, with connections and business on social media platforms, new job opportunities are arising and evolving. 

Downsides of Social Media 

While all the good sides of social networks are to be commended, we must also consider few negative aspects of it such as:

1. Unrealistic expectations
2. Cyberbullying
3. Addiction

First, unrealistic expectations are probably the biggest and worst problem of social media. While most are aware that what we see online is not realistic, there are mental and emotional issues, especially with children when seeing such imaging during their formative years.

Teenagers are on social media 24/7 and they look up to some idol of theirs that portrays an image of perfect love-life, family, body, skin, face, and everything else, which can make any person envious and jealous, and creates low self-esteem especially in adolescence. 

Honestly,  all of the self-doubt, depression, and negative body image can be circumvented if people would stop being fake online. But, with all kinds of influencers and YouTubers that make a living out of their inauthenticity, we seem to be far away from solving this problem. 

Secondly, cyberbullying is a big problem in today’s society. Before, bullying was only possible only in face-to-face interactions and could be prevented by simple supervision.

Today, because of the existence of social platforms, molestation such as insults, threats, humiliation can be carried out over the internet with the least amount of effort and the consequences can even lead to the victim’s suicide. 

Finally, the amount of time people spend on social media is absurd. So just as there are addicts to alcohol, cigarettes, and drugs, there are also a huge number of phone addicts. 

Entertainment

Thanks to technology, there has been a great expansion and diversity in the entertainment industry. Not so long ago, there were no movies but to have fun you had to go to the theater for plays that could only be watched live. 

Now, the number of people who go to theaters is relatively small because we have televisions, smartphones, projectors, websites, and apps that allow us to watch all kinds of movies and shows from the comfort of our own homes. 

Another type of entertainment that had to be done exclusively by physical presence was playing games and gambling. 

Now there are various sites that you can go to like kladenje-hr.com or bet-stavky.com where you can gamble online whenever and wherever you want to. Thankfully, while widely accessible, they are also heavily regulated, which is not the case with social media.

Everything is so digitized that now there is nothing that can’t be done or found on the internet. 

Learning Apps 

Recently, a question arises: what will the future of education be? Especially with the lockdowns in place, it became obvious that much of the schooling will be done on the internet.

We can already notice that students in schools are bringing fewer notebooks and pencils and more tablets and laptops. Now, during the pandemic, it became very clear that it was quite possible to teach and learn online.

Although it is unlikely that the school system will shift to online education any time soon, the chances are much higher that, in the near future, books and notebooks will be completely replaced by tablets and laptops. 

Meanwhile, there are tons of applications for learning all kinds of stuff. If you’re interested in math, science, or learning some new languages there are numerous courses, applications, and websites that you can download, subscribe or visit which will help you expand your knowledge.