2023 Author: Jake Johnson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-05-24 23:11
The association between excessive use of technology and anxiety is already well known. The speed and parallelism of the world presented to us by technological artifacts, collaborate with anxiogenic development. This can manifest itself in many different ways; usually through physical symptoms: palpitations, racing, shortness of breath, muscle tensions.
But also anxiety is often expressed through behaviors and sensations: the need not to detach from the devices, abstraction from the surrounding world, the feeling of missing information constantly, the competition and comparison with the models that are shown on the networks, the feeling that being on the networks is essential, the chained and endless searches, among many others.
This “not being able to stop” that technology generates, undoubtedly a kind of compulsion, an addiction, is complex. Especially in the current circumstance where technology has become the means to exclusively link us socially.
Technology allows us to access practically all existing information, and this is just a click away. So, symbolizes speed and infinity or totality.
These concepts are terribly scary for the human being. It's “everything” and"Already". There's nothing more overwhelming than the ability to access everything instantly. Psychologically we feel that we can't keep up with this, which is true, and as a result, it leaves us in a state of deep anxiety and tension.
Regulating access to and use of technology on a day-to-day basis is central to avoiding vicious circles of anxiety and excessive or compulsive behavior. This, both in the case of adults as well as children or adolescents,where the problem has recently worsened considerably.
As we have mentioned in previous articles, it is essential to alternate the use of technological devices with leisure and dispersion activities that do not contain any device or screen. For this, games must be encouraged, creative activities (writing, painting, dancing, music), outdoor activities (for those who currently have access), readings, family talks, cooking, plants and a garden, among others.
It is necessary to connect with sensations, to return to simple activities that return us to a more proper rhythm, that allow us to sustain processes and get away for a moment from “everything now”, because this imperative brings psychologically complex consequences.
Technology gives us extremely valuable tools if we know how to regulate them correctly. We can connect with others from a distance, easily find the information we need, and make our work known to the world. If this usage isbecomes excessive, everything that could be achieved is spoiled. The result is absolutely the opposite: isolation, slavery, emptiness. Nothing that we try to achieve initially comes to fruition if we remain tied to technological laws.
Therefore, it is essential to be attentive to the time we invest in the use of technology and know how to register if there are incipient feelings of anxiety or certain compulsiveness that give us the guideline that we need a break.
The tools we have to regulate this type of everyday issues, more so if we do it in a therapeutic context that allows us to investigate the background of that anxiety, will allow us to have greater freedom and a greater degree of mental he alth.
