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Technology has gained in popularity over the last decade and has secured a fairly central place in our life. While the advantages of using it are obvious and praised more often than the Second Coming, the downsides are not mentioned as often. People have used to stay up late for any number of reasons. This is not something new. Before the internet era, watching television until the late hours of the night was responsible for a good portion of grumpy employees and students in the morning. Things have changed with the introduction of the internet and its subsequent rise to the top of technological marvels. The internet has made us addicted to it. It should come with a warning label saying: “Possible side effects of prolonged use can be, but are not limited to, addiction, a retreat from social life, health issues, a recurring lack of sleep, distorted views of reality, cheering on stupid people and making them famous etc.
Some people can’t sleep without watching a movie. This is a modern issue affecting a fair number of people and the fact that we have so many gadgets at our disposal(phones,tablets, laptops, VR headsets, TV’s, projectors) makes it easy to fall prey to this addiction. After the habit roots itself into the psyche, a night with no internet can quickly turn into a sleepless night and people experiencing these symphtoms may turn to sleep medication or drugs, creating more problems for themselves. When individuals engage in activities that they like, time seems to go by faster. They lose track of the hours that go by and, to their surprise, it is almost morning by the time they decide to glance at a clock. Here’s a fun but sad fact: since the introduction of digital clocks, more and more young people can’t read the time on an analog clock, which has lead some schools to remove said clocks from their establishments. Back to the insomniacs, over time, they distance themselves from reality more and more, until the fictional worlds that have gripped their interest become more important than the one they live in. There are many names for these nocturnal creatures, the most common beying shut-ins or NEET’s.
When you stay up late night after night, you will eventually be tired during the day. Performing normal actions such as going to work, hanging out with friends or working out become irritating and the tired individual will, at some point, decide to gradually refrain from said actions more and more, until they become isolated. If everything else except the movies or the games is more or less irritating because of the constant lack of energy, then the person will just isolate him or herself more, thereby deepening the problem and creating a self perpetuating, defective system of values.
Playing games or watching movies and videos until the late hours of the night messes up our natural circadian rhythm. For some of us, even if we are dead tired, watching a movie when we feel this way repels the feeling of being tired and allows us to keep watching or playing for an unhealthy amount of time, effectively ignoring the body’s signs that it needs rest. This practice is unhealthy when performed over extended periods of time, and combined with poor earing habits, it can lead to obesity and other health related issues.
Technology addicts have poor eating habits. When you fall out of your regular rythm, the stomach is one of the first organs to signal the departure from normality. Eating healthy meals at regular intervals is very important and ensures that proper nutrients constantly reach all of the organs, muscles, bones and so on. The person who gets the urge to eat something at 2AM is less likely to cook and more lokely to turn to fast food, take-out, or packaged foods like chips, sweets or frozen meals. Needless to say, this habit has a devastating effect on the body in the long run. Combine this with a lack of exercise that is prevalent in the internet addict community and you have a recipe for the unhealthy lifestyle that plagues our modern society. On the other end of the spectrum we have the social media addicts that have to be in shape to look good in pictures. They are different than the others in the health department but share the same inability to control the time they spend with their eyes glued to a screen. You can see them banging their heads against glass doors or falling in fountains because they can’t look away from their phone long enough to perform simple tasks such as walking properly.
Access to technology has undoubtedly changed our lives for the better but there are downsides to it, just like with everything in life. We have the knowledge of an entire planet at our fingertips but most of the time, we choose to use this for mere entertainemt purposes that keep us up at night. Social media is a general descriptive term, not a given and it is a poor substitute for real relationships. You can still be extremly isolated while having 600 online friends. Online relationships can’t hold a candle to the real thing. We as a species,need genuine human contact to grow as human beings and individuals, and no amount of binary code can replace that. Also, the practice of late night binge-watching movies, shows or playing games can lead to massive changes in an individual, most of which are negative for the person itself and society as a whole.

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