ADVERSE IMPACT OF

TECHNOLOGY ON HEALTH AND

LIFE-STYLE

IIMT COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING

GREATER NOIDA

Student Details:-
POONAM KUMARI ALOK SHUKLA
Roll No-1621631028 Roll No-1621631002
EC-3rd year EC-3rd year
 INTRODUCTION
In the present era the introduction of modern technological gadgets has
captured the attention of global population. The dependency of people on these
technological gadgets and services provided by these has reached at such level
that, without these, they can’t think a step forward in the direction of their
growth. The degree of dependency is leading to addiction of the tech-devices and
services. Youth is the most vulnerable group among the population to be
addicted to technology. The study was designed to examine the use of tech-
devices by youth i.e. the time spent with the gadgets, the purposes behind use,
and its impacts on mental health and life style. Using structured questionnaire,
unstructured interviews and observation by the researcher, primary data were
collected from 150 respondents of NIT, Rourkela. Findings of the study showed
that most of the young respondents spend a large amount of their time with
their tech-gadgets and services provided by them. The purposes of use in most
cases are pleasure driven rather than necessity driven. Again, it reveals that
addiction to tech-devices has many negative impacts on the aspects relating to
mental health of the respondents and has become a causal factor in the change
of life style of young participants. The results are interpreted based on the
current theories and implications for future are pointed out
 ADDICTION TO TECHNOLOGICAL
GADGETS AND SERVICES

Recently, every other day information technology or IT invents lucrative gadgets

are attracting the attention of the present generation. As a vulnerable group, the
youth becomes the largest consumer of such devices and services, which in turn
makes them addicted to them at some point of time.

Most of the teens today spend too much of their time with their faces buried in
technological gadgets. According to Kimberly Young (1998), addiction to
technology is a habitual compulsion to engage in using technology instead of
using it to address life’s problems. They use technology as a coping mechanism to
avoid conflict. Long term compulsions can lead to psychological problems such as
insomnia, irritability and depression such as drug addiction, food addiction etc.
 POSITIVE IMPACTS OF TECHNOLOGY
• It increased the AWARNESS of people about the happenings all around the
globe.
• Technology has Mechanized Agriculture.
• Technology has improved Transportation.
• Technology has improved Communication.
• Technology has improved Education and Learning Process.
 NEGATIVE IMPACTS OF TECHNOLOGY
• Technology can put Privacy and Safety at Risk.
• More use of Technology with less Physical Activity Leads to Obesity.
• Technology changes the way children Feel and can affect a child’s ability to
empathize.
• More use of Technology can leads to lack of social Bonds among individuals.
• Reduced attention span
 LIFE STYLE

Another aspect on which the technology addiction has an effect is the life style
of an individual. As in case of addiction to technological gadgets time and
choices are the concerned factors, the lifestyle is necessarily affected by the
same. Life style is nothing but the way of life of an individual or a group of
individuals or the society as a whole.

Somebody’s attitudes, values, world views etc are reflected by his/ her life style.
So life style means making some sense of the self and creating some cultural
symbols which will reflect the identity of a person. All the aspects of life style
may not be voluntary in nature because one is associated with the society and
that surrounding plays an important role in shaping the choices of an
individual’s life style.
FOR THE LOVE OF SMARTPHONES
 IS TECHNOLOGY REALLY EFFECTING OUR
HEALTH?
Emotional Mental Physical
Health Health Health
• the degree to which you •Mental health includes our • is the ability to
feel emotionally secure emotional, psychological, maintain a healthy
and relaxed in everyday and social well-being. It quality of life that
affects how we think, feel,
life. (Doris, 2008) and act. It also helps
allows us to get through
determine how we handle our daily activities
stress, relate to others, and without undue fatigue
make choices. (USHHS, or physical stress. The
2016) ability to recognize that
our behaviors have a
significant impact on
our wellness and
adopting healthful
habits while avoiding
destructive habits.
(University of
California-Riverside,
2014)
 HOW TECHNOLOGY AFFECTS SLEEP CONT’D
According to a National Sleep Foundation
Study…

95% of 18-29 year olds 50% of individuals will

sleep with their phone check their phone
right next to their bed immediately if they
wake in the night
Source: Stampler (2014)
 TECHNOLOGY & PHYSICAL HEALTH:
EATING HABITS
 Most buying decisions about
what to have for dinner happen
2 hours before mealtime.
 Most Millennials learn to cook
from YouTube – not from their
mother.
 At least 2 out of 3 daily meals
are now eaten alone; while
online.
 Most households who do eat
together often eat different
meals according to taste
preferences.
Source: Barber (2013)
 EMOTIONAL/MENTAL HEALTH:
SOCIAL MEDIA & MENTAL/EMOTIONAL HEALTH
 ~ 42% of online adults use multiple social networking sites
 On average, Americans spend 7.6 hours a month using social
media
 Facebook:
 63% of American users log on daily
 40% of Americans log on multiple times per day
 Berge Facebook Addiction Scale (BFAS)
 Researchers found that people who are more anxious and
socially insecure are more likely to use social networking
sites.

Source: Whiteman (2015)

 EMOTIONAL/MENTAL HEALTH:
SOCIAL MEDIA & MENTAL/EMOTIONAL HEALTH
 Negative Impacts of Social Media
 53% of participants said social media sites changed
their behaviors
 51% of participants of the same study that a
negative change was made
 2/3 of participants reported difficulty relaxing and
sleeping after they used the sites
 55% of participants reported feeling “worried or
uncomfortable” when they weren’t able to log onto
their social media accounts

Source: Whiteman (2015)

 IMPACT OF TECHNOLOGY ON HEALTH
AND LIFE-STYLE
Now we understand that use of any technology has an effect on the mental
health and the life style directly or indirectly and the effect may be positive or
negative. When the use takes the form of addiction then the impact may be
negative upon both. The following statements also show the same. Prof. Phil
Reed (2013), Professor of Psychology in Swansea University’s College of
Human and Health Sciences claims the net addiction as the cause of the
depression, social isolation, and disrupted sleep of the present generation. He
also argues that the same has many other negative impacts on their health.
Psychologist Dr Kimberly Young began to study the topic of technology
addiction as long ago as 1995 and wrote about it in a book called “Caught in
the Net” in 1998. She compares online addiction to drugs or alcohol
because internet provides the addicted people with the same kind of high
leading the dependency on it to feel normal. A study conducted in the year
2013 by Swansea and Milan
University shows that when the addict come offline, they get negative mood
swings, increased levels of depression and impulsivity. Countries like US,
China, Australia, Singapore, Japan, and South Korea have sounded the
warnings that internet addiction represents a significant health threat
(Boothroyd, 2014).
 TECHNOLOGY & PHYSICAL HEALTH:
A SLEEP DEPRIVED NATION

 Sleeping less than 7 hours is linked to an increased

risk of:
 Diabetes
 Stroke
 High Blood Pressure
 Heart Disease
 Obesity
 Poor Mental Health
 Early Death

Source: Center for Disease Control and Prevention (2016)

 HOW TECHNOLOGY AFFECTS SLEEP
According to a National Sleep Foundation
Study…

95% of individuals 15% pf 19-64 year olds get

surveyed reported using less than 6 hours of sleep
electronics in the hour on weeknights
before they went to sleep

Source: Stampler (2014)

PHYSICAL HEALTH PROBLEMS
Uses of Earphone Discomfort
 BY THE NUMBERS:
HEALTH AND TECHNOLOGY IN THE U.S.

1 in
19% 3 59%

# cell phone owners

% of smartphone % of adults who have
that have used
owners that have looked online for info on
their phones to look
downloaded a health a range of health topics
for health
app in the last year
information
7 in
35% 10

% of adults who have gone # of adults that track a

online to figure out a medical health indicator for
condition they or someone else themselves or a loved
might have one
Source: Fox
TECHNOLOGY & PHYSICAL HEALTH
 CONCLUSION

The present study is a promising study in the sense that we are living
in a world of knowledge and technology. Changes in the scientific
world are very fast. Keeping ones speed along with the change is
definitely a challenging task. Hence, one must learn how to exercise
control and to know what is important and what is not important at a
specified time. Knowledge management, time management and
setting the priorities of life should guide our behaviour in using the
technological gadgets and services. Last but not the least, use of any
product should be necessity driven rather than luxury driven, so that
we can derive maximum pleasure and
happiness.