The Negative Effects of Technology on Health and Propose Solutions

With the development of technology, new science and technologies are changing the way of people's living styles. New technologies affect people in every aspect of life where it positively improves people's quality of life and contributes to boosting happiness. For instance,technology brings transportation various ways for people to travel; technicalization of production increases labor efficiency and builds an industry of modern agriculture; the information technology achieves the convenience for people to communicate around the world, and the knowledge can spread easily;Internet becomes one of public spaces where people can communicate, and online shopping pushes the development of global economy. These things have greatly facilitated the quality of people's lives. Nevertheless, technology is a double-edged sword, improper use of technology will have negative effects on many aspects. Especially the impact on people's health. In this article, I would like to discuss the negative effects of technology on the health of people.

The technology increases the risk of hearing damage. Nowadays, the headphones canalways be found on the ears of people on the bus, walkers, joggers etc. Wearing earphones can help people to isolate from outside noise, while headphones at high volume can reach more than 105 decibels that it is louder than a power tool,and listening to music with earphones for more than five minutes per day at high volume puts people at an increased risk(Hamilton, 2016). The noise generated by technology surrounds us all the time, we hear the noise of the construction site next door when we are studying; we hear the traffic in the streets;we hear a variety of voices in public places; we get silence only at sleep time.Thanks to technology that we can enjoy music alone with the help of earphones, while exposing to noise for long time makes our ears tired easily. In my opinion, we could temporallyget away from the technology,opening the window to hear the voice of raining, the bird singing and the peace from the nature. Technology accelerates the development of society and takes over our daily life, however we cannot let the technologyseal our ears to the voice of nature.

Not only hearing problem, but many diseases are also mainly caused by the sitting posture. People spend most time on the computer, mobile phone or TV. People keep the same posture for long time. Not exclusively do inactivity causes poor posture, neck strain, and back issues, but it also leads a range of emotional and physical symptoms associated with the condition (Kim et al, 2016). Repeated over long periods of time, this sort of behavior can lead to chronic pain and discomfort that is not easily reversed. The bad behavior also leads people to obesity. 

Young people play the video game and use the smartphones all the time at home or school (Sumbrahmanyam et al, 2000). This will not only lead to their physical weakness, also make them have a strong dependence on the mobile phone, and they are not willing to put down their mobile phones to do something that is good for the body. If they lose their mobile phone, they will have depression and anxiety (Wong et al, 2018).Office workers stay in front of the laptop at work time, and they rely on takeaway food and online shopping that they can get everything online. They have less time to do any exercise outside. These behaviors break the balance of the body and the destruction will lead to sickness. In general, new technology brings convenience, but we cannot ignore a healthy lifestyle. Sometimes we can do something without technology such as running, swimming and walking around. We should find the balance between the technologically-modern life and leisure time and maintain a healthy lifestyle habit.

In conclusion, the development of technology has indeed affected people's health but we have no reason to stop the development of new technology. We are in a society where technology is rapidly evolving and innovating, and it is constantly changing our lives.There is no turning back at this point. The key to progress is to find the right balance so that our society can enjoy more positive benefits and reduce negative impacts.

Reference 

• Hamilton, M. (2016).Frequet smart phone use linked to poor fitness. Retrieved from
• https://www.today.com/health/frequent-smart-phone-use-linked-poor-fitness-6C10642276
• Sumbrahmanyam, K.,Robert E.K.,Greenfield P.M.,&Gross.E.F. (2000). The
• impact of home computer use on children’s activities and development.The Future of Child.10(2). 123-144.
• Howard-jones, PA. (2011).The impact of digital technology on human well-being.
• Nominet Trust. 98.
• Kim, E.S., Kubzansky, Laura D.,Soo, J., Boehm, J.K. (2016). Maintaining Healthy
• Behavior: A Prospective Study of Psychological Well-Being and Physical Activity. Annals of Behavioral Medicine.
• Negahban, A. (2012). Factors affecting individual’s intention topurchase
• smartphones from technology adoption and technology dependence perspectives. AMCIS 2012 Proceedings. 5. Retrieved from https://aisel.aisnet.org/amcis2012/proceedings/AdoptionDiffusionIT/5
• Wong, M. (2018, Jan 01).Mobile phones linked to anxiety and severe depression in teens. Chicago Tribune, P.1   

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