My Relationship with Technology

I have grown up with technology for basically my entire life. The first iPhone came out when I was 5 years old. I have been using social media since the 5th grade. I got my first iPhone on my 11th birthday. Technology has played a huge role throughout my life from playing games on my parents' iPhones when I was a kid to constantly using social media on my iPhone and laptop today. 

The Futurama, the most famous display at the 1964 World's Fair in New York, predicted right - technology has saved our world. Without technology, I truly don't know how I would live my life. I use technology for so many different purposes that I wouldn't know how to live without it. From communicating to googling to social media to entertainment, technology has fulfilled my life in so many ways. 

My relationship with technology is definitely a love-hate relationship. I love that I get the opportunity to express myself online and post whatever I want on social media. I love that I can google anything I don't know and find the answers to nearly any question. I love that I can communicate with my friends and family in multiple ways from calling to texting to FaceTiming to chatting on social media. 

Even though there are multiple reasons why I love technology, there are also multiple reasons why I hate technology. I hate how competitive social media gets from how many likes people get on their posts to how "attractive" people look online to how amazing people make their life out to be. I hate how cyberbullying exists and how mean people can be to others online for no reason. I hate how technology has caused our society to be so addicted to it, as shown in the "Mad World Remix of Moby" video. The video is an animation that shows people looking down at their phones and not paying attention to the real world around them. The animation portrays us as a society today because we are all constantly using technology and not paying attention to real life. 

Sometimes I find myself using my phone for hours, mindlessly scrolling through social media during my free time. It makes me realize how addicted I have become to technology. I always try to keep myself busy with school, work, hobbies, family, and friends, so I'm not using technology 24/7. All the mindless scrolling I have done has made me realize how dark of a place social media can be. 

I am a perfectionist when it comes to posting on social media, especially Instagram. Instagram is extremely relevant for people my age and the social media app where everyone posts pictures of themselves when they look their best. Because everyone makes themselves look good for Instagram, I feel pressured to look good for Instagram. 

I enjoy posting photos I love of myself and my friends on Instagram, but sometimes I negatively compare myself to others on the app. When I find myself doing this, I remind myself that social media is just a highlight reel of a person's life. People only post pictures they want others to see and there is so much more going on in their life than they show on social media. Nobody's life is perfect, even though it may seem that way through social media. 

I have a lot of mixed feelings about social media. I love social media because I enjoy taking photos, editing photos, posting photos, interacting with people's photos, and communicating with my friends online. At the same time, I don't like social media because it can lead to negative thoughts, bad mental health, and the feeling of always having to be "perfect" online. 

My relationship with technology is a love-hate relationship, but the relationship involves more love than hate. Technology has improved our world for the better in so many ways. Technology has allowed me to communicate online with the people in my life, learn new information through research, keep myself entertained, and express my true self to the world. As much as I complain about technology, I don't know what I would do without it. Technology has taught me so much about life and helped me discover who I am as a person. Even though my relationship with technology isn't perfect, I am so grateful that I have the opportunity to learn, grow, and communicate with technology everyday.