How Technology Can be Harmful to Your Health?

There is no denying that we have enjoyed many benefits of technology, like ease and convenience for instance. However, there are negative aspects of technology as well, and some can even impact our health. The effects of technology on our mental, physical and social life can be devastating if not kept in balance.

How Technology Can be Harmful to Your Health?

This article will hopefully shed some light on the negative impacts that technology could have on your health. Just being aware of these dangers may help you avoid the risks.

1. The Addiction to Technology

Technology is easily accessible but highly addictive. You often see people checking their social media accounts and this is very addictive. People are always following the news feed on their pages and seek something new every minute.

People are so addicted that they wake up in the middle of the night to check for any messages, missed calls, and social media updates to see what they might have missed.

2. Technology Leads to Obesity

The use of devices like laptops, video game consoles, and TV, among others, keeps you away from physical activities like outdoor sports. More time is spent sitting and looking at electronic screens and this laziness can lead to obesity.

In addition to this, when watching TV, many people unknowingly eat things that are unhealthy which directly leads to obesity. Having the world in the palm of your hand is not as exciting as it seems if it restricts you from physical activity.

Prolonged inactivity without exercise can cause layers of lipids to build up in your body and cause obesity, thus, leaving you at risk of many diseases. The current trend is to ‘binge-watch’ television shows and movies, oftentimes while sitting for hours on end and munching on junk food.

3. Unsafe Network May Cause Depression

When you become addicted to your mobile devices, you often abandon physical contact with other people, which leads to isolation and eventually, depression. The lack of physical contact with people is one of the major characteristics of social isolation and major causes of depression.

People who have suffered through a data breach and lost valuable data often show signs of depression. This problem leads to anti-depressant medication and the consumption of anti-depressants has drastically increased over the last decade.

So, to avoid such a disaster, use a secure internet service that protects you against online threats. If you are looking to change your internet provider, simply click here and sign up for a service that comes with a complete protection suite to keep you away from prying eyes and data breaches.

4. Bad Sleeping Habits

Our devices indeed keep us from a good night’s sleep, especially when our devices are connected to the internet. Many negative health impacts of technology have a direct connection with sleeping habits. When you are constantly working on the computer, your stress level rises which also prevents you from sleeping peacefully.

Moreover, excessive use of cell phones can also lead to chronic stress. In preteens and teenagers, chronic stress comes from text messages and the attention they seek from their social media accounts. These factors can lead to dangerous anxiety attacks and disrupt sleeping patterns.

5. Headaches and Neck Pains

When you are constantly using devices, generally the head is facing down, which can cause serious headaches and neck pains because of the unconventional position we are putting our body in for hours.

This can also lead to spinal cord problems, which in turn can lead to back issues. Also, the constant staring at the screen can shorten your attention span and can be very harmful to your health, especially the eyes.

6. Weak Eyesight and Hearing Issues

Constantly looking at electronic screens can cause eye irritation, which may result in eyesight problems. Your eyes are sensitive and they have to be clean and moist at all times. When your concentration level is high, your eyes do not blink at a regular rate and this can cause your eyesight to become weak.

When you stare at your computer or mobile screen for hours, it can harm your eyesight. Using your phone in darkness or excessive sunlight can strain your eyes. Poor vision can lead to headaches. For those who listen to music for long periods on their devices, this can lead to bacteria in your ears, which can cause damage and lead to multiple hearing issues.

7. Tendonitis – The Thumb Ache

If you keep running for hours without rest, you are going to hurt your legs. Similarly, if you keep using your thumb to press buttons for texting, calling, swiping, playing games, etc., then your thumb can get sore. Resting may help but eventually, the pain will return if you do not stop using it.

8. Computer Wrist

Unlike tendonitis, having a computer wrist can leave long-term, irreversible damage to your wrist. Firstly, this occurs when you type for prolonged periods. Your wrist may just hurt at first, but eventually, you can lose your ability to grasp things properly. Secondly, this may remain for your entire life so it is better to let your wrists rest when they ache and not test their threshold.

9. The Ringing Sensation

Excessive use of technology can cause the mind to hallucinate and the ears to hear noises, which are not there. Using your phone all the time can cause your mind to play tricks on you. You might be sure that your phone is ringing or your laptop is giving sound notifications and then be surprised to find out that none of it is true.

10. Mental Disorders

Anxiety, Neurosis, Depression, and Self Esteem issues are all states of the mind and body that can occur if you are a technology addict. Yearning to live in the virtual world has become fairly common these days and can alter personalities and even cause permanent behavioral problems.

11. Spondylitis

To use various gadgets, people today are bending their heads and walking, talking, and multitasking more than ever. A constant state of bent posture has caused many to have spondylitis – a crooked back, a hunch back, or backaches. Usually, people do not realize this until it is too late to fix their posture.

Final Words

The worst of them all, an incurable disease that can occur due to the harmful radiation emanating from your devices. Even though the use of technology is only partially linked to cancer, the radiation can indeed cause tumors in the body. Research suggests that talking on your cell phone for long periods increases the probability of having a brain tumor by a whopping 80%.

Technology may make life easier but it has multiple disadvantages. We must consider these issues before technological harm outweighs the advantages.