Technology provides us with faster and more practical solutions. Anyone who refuses to use it is limited to a world of possibilities. That is why every day that passes we are more and more involved in the technological world, no matter how old you are or what your occupation is.

At the beginning, its use was purely for pleasure and based on accessibility, but today, we simply have no other choice. Technology has come to make many things easier for us.

For example, in these pandemic times, thanks to it we have been able to access services that were previously considered only face-to-face, such as education, health and finances, among other. However, it has also affected other aspects of our lives.

Attention capacity and information retention

The daily use of electronic devices and making Google our best friend has made it increasingly difficult for us to concentrate. When surfing the net, we do a kind of superficial scan on all the information that is presented to us because we know that it is too much.

This helps us to quickly recognize what we are looking for. Although it sounds like a wonderful quality, the negative effect is that this scan becomes a habit that the brain begins to recreate over and over again in everything we do, to the point that it becomes almost unconscious.

That is why it is more difficult for us to open a book and maintain our attention for long periods. Have you seen the posts on Facebook and Instagram? The shorter the better. The audience doesn't want to read it because they've gotten used to that.

Affective bonds

Our interpersonal relationships have changed considerably in recent years, but even more since digital communication started to be popular. Text messages have made it much easier for us to get information to the sender with impressive speed, but what about the message quality? As much as we want digital communication, it cannot overshadow communication in real time and face to face contact.

The more time we spend communicating digitally, we start to lose real social skills, those we only acquire by talking to someone in person. This is actually the best treatment for a social anxiety disorder. The problem with digital communication is that it distances us from our reality and from the interpersonal contacts that we can have with the people who are in our day to day.

Low self-esteem

I think that whoever created social networks wanted people to be able to connect with more people in less time, which sounds great. However, he forgot that human beings are unpredictable and a positive tool can transform it into a double-edged sword. As we connect with more people, we compare ourselves all the time.

Actually, we compare ourselves with idealized lives that are far from reality. Unfortunately, it is difficult for the brain to differentiate between real and fake things. Therefore, by seeing an Instagram beautiful profile you may think that her life is amazing and yours is boring. By comparing yourself, you may feel completely empty. Our own perception is key to our development, which is why low self-esteem limits us, in addition to being one of the main symptoms of many mental disorders that affect health (view technology).

Depression and anxiety

As I mentioned before, the use of social networks can cause low self-esteem, which leads to disorders such as depression and anxiety. Many studies speak of the close relationship between the use of social networks and depression in adolescents, who are experiencing and increment in suicide rates. It´s important to take into consideration that today's adolescents are the first generation that grew up 100% with technology and they are the age group that mostly uses social networks, being the most vulnerable to its negative effects.

Technology does not cause these points; it´s the way we use it. Technology is an amazing tool as long as it's used like that…as a tool. This means that spaces and hours of use should be given to enhance its effectiveness and the rest of the time we dedicate to ourselves and to connect with our reality.

Take up that book on the subject that interests you so much, talk to your family whenever you have them close, identify everything that you like about yourself and that makes you unique, and if you need help to treat a mental disorder, ask for it.