Does technology make people feel isolated?

Technology should improve your life, not become your life - Billy Cox Innovations and advanced technologies are now changing the world and the everyday lives of people. Many things that were not present in the past are already existing. Now, we have it at every moment of our lives. We use it to exchange information and communication. Can you imagine only a click, you can already connect to people whom you love or need to talk to not only by just sending messages but also you can see their faces thru the screen of your mobile phones, laptops, or personal computers? In the old days, writing letters were a form of expressing yourself and thoughts to people you want to have a conversation. It is not only to people whom you want to talk with but also to conduct meetings that usually took place in the office. There are several applications for video conferencing that are available and can cater up to hundreds of participants. Nowadays, pandemic strikes the whole world everything has turned 360 degrees upsidedown. Face-to-face communication is limited, cannot go to the office, and cannot work on time because of limited transportation. Technology saves us from here. You are applying for a job, and there is less need for a personal interview because most companies offer a work-from-home setup. There are many online job portals as well, and you can apply freely as many as you want until you landed on a job. You can have home-based work with no worries due to a stable and good internet connection plus a reliable laptop. You are unstoppable, and thanks to computers, telecommunications, and mobile development, it got it all for you. In addition, we use it to prepare our food with the help of a stove, microwave oven, electric hand mixer, and other kitchen appliances. It makes the preparation quicker and also the food becomes instant like in only three minutes you have sumptuous, Ramen and only ten minutes you have a delicious lunch. Thank you for the instant seasonings. Also, I remember my mom used to tell me her story way back in the old days that they used to wash their clothes in the river and talk to someone beside her happily. It is nostalgic to remember and imagine the good bygone times. In third world countries like ours, people rarely used washing machines and were not highly developed during those times. But now, washing machines are mostly automatic, and even the laundry soaps and fabric softeners have lots of variations. I can imagine maybe someday it will have its own hands and feet to hang and fold the clothes by itself. I cannot tell it is impossible because everything looks possible in the field of machinery and mechanics. It is fearsome that it might let people become too lazy to do things on their own. Another factor is, it helps us to go to the place we wanted to visit with a short span of preparation. You can book a ticket way more conveniently online. Airplanes are there to give us comfortable and quick travel time. Cruise ships are there for leisure and expensive travel experience. Cars are there to give us an everyday ride, and it is evolving exceptionally. These modes of transportation are nothing without the help of automation. The genius people behind all of these inventions were highly appreciated and applauded. But what does Technology mean to you? The original definition in the dictionary is a branch of knowledge that deals with the creation and use of technical means and their interrelation with life, society, and the environment, drawing upon such objects as industrial arts, engineering, applied science, and pure science. But, for you, what is technology? For me, it is a combination of science and the intelligence of humankind. It appears the world is new in the sense that everything becomes more advanced, innovative, dynamic, instant, and developed. However, is it true that it is relevant in our daily life? Does this affect your way of living? Do you feel envious of your friends and other people posting to their social media accounts? Do you fear that nothing good is happening to your life as if you are not excelling? I can insert here the hashtag your smile is brighter than my future, or you are only sixteen years old, and yet you are already a superstar but, here I am lying in my bed eating popcorn. Do you feel that you are kind of isolated and you can talk to no one? Sadly, technology makes us feel alone and secluded from others. Why so? Because we are making our life more dependent on social media connections rather than having real-life attachments. We are happy to receive one new friend request even we do not have mutual friends. They are mere online friends only. We cannot see, and we do not know each and everyone on our Facebook friends list. Some get along with each other and found new friends, but it will not last long. You can ignore talking to the person right away. The easy you got to know each other, the easy you forgot the person too. Online messaging is only a matter of time talking and spending your whole day with someone, but there is still no connection. According to World Health Organization, there are more than 264 million people of all ages globally suffered from depression and close to 800, 000 people die due to suicide every year. Suicide is the second leading cause of death in 15-29 years old. Depression results from a complex interaction of social, psychological, and biological factors and technology is one of the reasons for it. It is harmful to your mental health and also deleterious to your physical health. It is like a study conducted in the UK that showed people who spent a lot of time online exhibit negative traits such as narcissism in life. It is like when someone you followed on Instagram or Tiktok or your friends on Facebook constantly posting about how good their life is, the achievements they have, and the material things they own, and here you are believed that you are useless and nothing because you do not have those things and accomplishments. It can lead you to feel insecure, to have low self-esteem, and to feel jealous. People think that their lives are boring and meaningless until it drives them to depression and you feel apart from the world. With the advancement of technology, we have substituted the primal need for a social connection for a robotic social connection. Even if you received thousands of likes and heart reactions to your photos and videos and have heart-warming comments, you cannot deprive the fact that there is an ache within you called loneliness. You replied to their remarks, but does it change a thing? You are happy that you collected lots of love, but something is lacking that you cannot describe. All of the comments are about your appearances, but it is better if someone told you, Hey! You did a job well done. Hey! You made my day extra special today. In addition, some people make a hashtag that they are blessed, but the truth is they are not. They just wanted the world to see that they are okay and that hurts so much. Technology comes within the expectation of society. It makes us feel pressured, feel exhausted, and feel empty. You tend to lie about how you feel because that is not what the world wants to see and feel. You feel alone because you think and assume that you are not enough and appreciated. You hide all the scars with the answer, I am fine. I also want to leave a quote from Sherry Turkle stated we expect more from technology and less from each other. We create technology to provide the illusion of companionship without the demands of friendship. It is like you replace emotional connections with digital ones, and you lose the sensation of being present and the feeling of being alive. Technology should improve your life. Everything is instant. Everything you need and want to know is on the internet. A click to google and thousands of answers are in there. All you have to do is to read and choose your resources carefully. Technology should not dictate how we should live our life. It should not affect us for wrong reasons because there are also reasons we should be thankful that it got advanced and developed. If you feel isolated and the world is falling around you, do not worry too much. If you think the worst part is realizing how lonely you are, and there is no one to tell how you are feeling do not feel burdened because you still have a family you can talk to personally. You still have a friend that you can rely on and feel his/her presence. You are not alone in this world. You are not fighting alone. I think you need to breathe in and exhale all the anxieties, insecurities, worries, and concerns. You have to recuperate and gather your strengths and stand up. Remember, do not fit into a society that will cause you pain but rather fit into a community that will lift you and supports you. You should try to build genuine connections because this will help you socialize well. If you have a child, do not let your kid be exposed to too much screen time. You teach him the proper way to socialize and talk to people because he might inherit the feeling of loneliness. It is common to think that your child is not fully capable of thinking about his surroundings because he is too young, but unfortunately, he has no one to talk with because you are all busy with your cellular phones. What will you feel if you are the kid? Depressing and confusing, right? Let's avoid it as early as possible. Isolation should not be accompanied by technology. It should not become your life. You must use it for a better and good reason.