For every hour you spend watching television or using your electronics, 22 minutes of your life is taken away from you (CBS News). Imagine what you could have done with that 22 minutes instead. Every hour you spend behind these contraptions is 22 minutes you wish you could have had with your loved ones, your friends your colleagues, or at your death bed. This is how much technology has developed. It  enables us to do anything at the simplest press of a button; to make a peanut butter sandwich, to warm up some food, or to even interact with the ones we love. With technology, it is much easier to multitask, but has humankind come to a point where they cannot clean the house or communicate in basic common courtesy? We hide behind these contraptions that build up a wall around us so it would be easier for us to communicate with one another without feeling their presence. We use electronic devices in our basic daily routine, to study, to surf the internet, or to work, etc. Many usages come with the benefits of technology. Undoubtedly, technology has given us a big leap in evolution and has greatly affected how our society is shaped to this day. However, being too dependent on technology has been proven to have negatives effects on human body functions. A few negative consequences are shortened attention spans, long-term damage on the human body, and trouble for babies.

With all the media stimuli, it explains how kids nowadays are unable to focus on long-term tasks without switching around or fidgeting. “individuals who multitask emails, phone calls, and social-networking sites have more trouble paying attention and focusing on important information." - The New York Times. These social media websites and apps on our phones are also distracting us from everyday communication. Instead of looking straight ahead while walking on the sidewalk, we direct our focus towards the small screens in our hands and  headphones in our ears, blocking the outdoor. The science behind how human attention span has fallen to such lengths is because of the action of switching from one task to another. Most of us multitask every day - we talk on the phone while walking, listen to music while writing, and text while talking (Forbes). You clearly notice how most of the examples involve the usage of technology and how it forces us into multitasking without even noticing. This is how technology is affecting future generations in a negative way - it is disabling kids from focusing, it is reducing the hours a normal kid would spend outside, and most importantly, it is building up a wall between us and our loved ones, retracting us inside our own little shell and taking away our opportunities to create memorable moments with our friends. With this, it is more than enough to prove the negative effects of  being too dependent on technology.

Most of us, including you while reading this article is probably sitting down. Whenever we are using our laptops, phones, our electronics, we tend to sit down because we like to focus on the thing being showcased on a screen. However, when we sit down for too long, it starts damaging your body in the long term because of the lack of much physical activity (The Washington Post). Our body’s original purpose was built for regular movement to regulate the normal circulation around our veins and vessels and to keep our muscles active. However, the average office worker spends about 10 hours sitting down, including all those hours working in front of the computer screens, looking through their emails and making phone calls. Back in the day, people did not have the ability to send a message to a device and expect a response in less than an hour. They would have to walk towards where the person whom they were in need of a response from and expect an answer face to face. Nowadays, with these devices, they are restraining the person from doing the work and relying on technology to do even the simplest things - to walk across the office and contact the person they need seems to be an impossible task. Sitting down for too long can do a lot of bad things to the body (Fitness Mercola). It can cause very harmful organ damage for the heart. Blood flows slower and your body burns less fat, making a perfectly inhabitable environment for fatty acids to clog your heart, increasing the chance of getting heart problems. In a world where people rely on technology too much to do even the simplest tasks, it is hard to step away and go out into nature and enjoy the fresh air. Here’s an easy way to fix all of this. Stand up. Walk around. Get that 22 minutes you wish for at your death bed. Don't regret for all those times you spent scrolling through your feed and make a change - make it now.

About 20 million children under the age of fourteen have cell phones. Around that age is the gap when children are in their prime growing age. Being exposed to technologies at such an early age creates dangerous consequences since the bone marrow of a child's head absorbs 10 times more radiation than an adult. However, in a world where technology is a necessity, it is hard for kids to stay away from these negative effects. Babies can absorb information really quickly like a sponge, and when they are so being exposed to bright screens, they lack the necessity of normal face to face time with live individuals. At a young age, they need to learn how to tell the difference between mommy and me by doing things like holding, touching, smelling, seeing, and hearing live people, not instead diverting their gaze and attention towards small bright screens that release 10 times the radiation into their brain and likely doubling the chance for them to get brain cancer (Healthy Child). Imagine your kids sitting in their rooms, staring at their bright screens that seem to be the only light source, and whenever you took it away from them, they would act as if they are frustrated and would whine until you gave it back to them. Normally in most US families, the parents would give an iPad or an iPhone to their kids when they are occupied with other business. Only 30% of US parents come to psychologists and ask whether their children should be using technology at an early age or not (Technology Now). Nowadays, I can go to my grandma’s house and easily see my 2-year-old cousin being occupied with these little bright screens in his tiny, fragile hands. Technology is undoubtedly a great thing that has given us humans the ability to uncover many mysteries and puzzles, its capability is almost unlimited because we can find information many people back in the day would have to pay lots of money for. However, are its values worth of our next generation’s well-being and future?

It is undeniable that technology has brought many great things to ou`r world. For example, it has enabled us to spread knowledge from Europe to Southeast Asia with the invention of the Printing Press. Normally, writing a book before the Printing Press was invented would take years. Even more so, it has enabled families half the world away the ability to interact with each other and hear each other’s voices through the convenience of a small device. Nonetheless, while it’s obvious they are important, when they are causing harm to all the balance we were taught from  SSIS’s Balance in Life (physically, mentally and socially), it might be a time to step away from the machines and step into the real world.

Technology, without question, is a great tool that has advanced humankind into an entirely new era.

However, it is trying to separate our real connections into virtual ones; making a beautiful woman wanting to turn into someone she’s not; and giving the world a perfect voice edited through the working of a machine. This list can go on a great deal more and that is just unsatisfying to hear. Not every day does everyone  think about what texting in the car might do to their lives - until it does, then it is already too late. My purpose of writing this essay was to persuade as many people as I can to open their eyes and realize that technology is not everything. Don’t let it control you - be the one controlling it.