Technology. Everywhere. We use it everywhere. At funerals, at weddings, during mental breakdowns, people may think that we use it in order to communicate with others, but I believe that it is much deeper than that. I think that we use it in order to communicate with ourselves. In order to gain a much deeper understanding of our actions and expressions in order to present ourselves in the best possible way. We use technology to manipulate others into believing a made-up version, a touched up version of who we really are. A facade that we curate ourselves in order to showcase a better version, a cleaner version, an even more accepted version. 

I believe that this sort of change that we impose upon ourselves digitally is incredibly degrading, not only to our own self esteem but as well as our outlook on the world. We view the world as something that it is not. We view other people as something that they are not. We do this through technology, through scrolling on Facebook and instagram for hours looking at celebrities and famous people who facetune and photoshop themselves into something they are really not. Sometimes it can be houses, views, or even statements. Everything individually edited or touched up in order to present itself as something that it is not. It's all fake, you can never truly know what is real in the digital world. 

The digital world in and of itself is not real, it's an experience, it's an imaginative place that we go to in order to feel more accepted. We look to technology when we feel that no one is listening to us. By making a tweet or posting on Instagram you can get thousands of likes and hundreds of comments. All commenting on you. The immediate attention that we get from social media is much different from anything we get in real life. That immediate attention, that immediate audience of people focused on us, and only us creates an egotistical paradox that contradicts with the normal human psyche. 

For instance, the natural normal human brain was not developed to be receptive of these technological comments. They may feel real, but that is only because you've manipulated yourself to believing that they are real. They are fake statements, made by individuals that probably didn't even smile at that picture you posted, they probably only commented because you're a mutual and they felt obligated to make that sort of remark. These fake compliments that we receive on the daily are so harmful to our brain since we are essentially convincing ourselves, almost assuring ourselves that we are loved, that we are appreciated when in fact we directly aren't. But that sort of realization doesn't come easy for us, especially when we've spent a majority of our lifetime so dependent on this imaginative place. 

Now the claims and allegations I'm making towards technological impact on the human psyche are incredibly coercive and aggressive, however as being a member of Generation Z, being a member of a generation that has grown up on technology, I can relate to first-hand experience of it degrading my mental health in such a way that no generation before is ever experienced. In past Generations, heartbreak, breaking up with a friend, violence, hate crimes they are all examples and instances of something that was done in person, face-to-face. However in today's day and age all of these can be done online. And the simple but scary fact that they can be done online means that they can also be fake. What I mean by this is that a person under a fake name, under a fake profile picture can make these negative degrading comments that put you in a mental space that is not healthy for anyone to experience. And the harsh fact, the harsh reality that kids as young as seven years old are facing death threats and suicidal thoughts and instances of depression, really goes to show how our society has been so coiled up in this digital paradox that we cannot seem to get out of. 

The increasing and growing dependence that we have with our phones with our laptops with our technological devices grows every single day. We've grown such a great affinity that it has developed into such a great dependence that oftentimes we don't notice the lack of in-person connections that we used to face. This lack of in-person connection fosters a deep underlying ego that we are able to be well off with a small computer rather than a human being. And this ego that is being fostered within us deprives us of this natural human nature that we should be experiencing. In short, technology is slowly depriving us of these natural human occurrences. We are slowly being robbed of the things that human nature was founded on. We are slowly being deprived of the principles of the connections of the interactions that make us human. 

I believe that if this dependence and ego does not get resolved soon, that the future can look extremely unsettling. From what I can tell, if this growing dependency increases without any sort of regulation and self-awareness, the future is going to be run by robots. And I don't mean robots in the sense of our devices. I mean robots as in us. By being so reliant on these technological devices and ridding ourselves of human interactions we cause ourselves to be less human in nature. Not physically, but emotionally and mentally we can start to form characteristics of our technological devices. Now this claim may sound absurd and far-fetched but if you really think about it we have already started experiencing symptoms of these robot-like interactions. When we go out in public we usually don't go out and make the first interaction. We wait in a corner on our device till we are talked to or approached. Similar to how a robot waits still a command is evoked. Additionally, like robots we have also found ourselves to be more insecure. What I mean by this is that robots don't have the mind to make their own decisions. Similarly through harsh technological and societal standards, we force ourselves into the eye of society. Into the expectation that we should be wearing the same clothes that Kim Kardashian wore on her Instagram post last week. By seeing so many different people on your phone all at once you tend to compare yourself to others. You tend to compare why they got more likes than you, and those sorts of comparisons are what make you more insecure. And by making yourself more insecure you are unable to make choices for yourself. You don't choose the outfit that you like the most, you may say you do but in fact you chose the outfit that is the most accepted by society. Similar to how a robot doesn't make choices for itself but rather choices imposed on it by its master. 

This sort of analogy just goes to show that the future is going to be “run” by our devices. We may still physically be in charge, however it is greatly apparent that our devices have more influence on us than we do ourselves. We are simply going to be “robots” to it's every command. Because the harsh reality is that, our devices are the ones that influence our every action, our  every expression, and our every decision. We just choose to ignore this reality since it will cause us to feel repentance over using our devices. But we do not want that. We do not care if it harms us. It is an addiction that we have grown too accustomed to. Too accustomed to the point that using our devices is more necessary to us, than our mental health.