When you think of ‘technology’, what immediately comes to mind is ease. Right? .. Not entirely! Technology was made and improved upon to make life and daily interaction easier for us all. Ironically, that’s not the case. Asides things like food filled with calories and sedentary lifestyle, technology has played a huge role in diminishing some values that ordinarily were put in place to preserve and prolong life of the average man. The average American can’t go a day without their devices and here is why : the brain is divided into mainly two parts. The prefrontal cortex and the amygdala. The amygdala is responsible for emotions, gratitude and let’s just say addictions. The cortex on the other hand is responsible for decision making, weighing consequences of action and analytical reasoning.
The average American has a more developed amygdala compared to their prefrontal cortex. Before you blame yourself, let’s see why the amygdala is enlarged in the larger percentage of Americans. You were born to love cereals, sweetened foods and kool aid, cartoons and video games, phones and laptops. These contribute to the craving of satisfaction or ‘fun’ as you may call it. As opposed to a childhood where nature is embraced, devices are given some distance, now and then or even absent. The adverse effect of a ‘fun’ upbringing is an enlarged amygdala that craves attention, satisfaction and positive emotions like what you feel when you get ‘one million \followers on Instagram’ and ‘about eight thousand likes per post’. On the surface level this is fun and satisfying, but in-depth you’re developing an unhealthy attachment to the emotion of acceptance.
Social animal and hence must interact I assume, but it’s ironic that when we have a gathering we are all glued to our devices. In restaurants , parties and even meetings. This unhealthy addiction to technology is actually tearing social life apart. Alexa, who has been getting two million likes per post, is likely to feel bad and delete her post of today if it only has a few hundred likes. Detoxification of one’s mind in a technological world might be challenging but feasible. Planning gatherings and keeping devices aside actually yields more interaction and in-depth communication between attendants. Long walk in the woods would refresh you and leave you in awe. I mean, look at nature! She’s beautiful. With the development in the tech world, one would think that cancer is only treated with ‘machines and devices’ but a therapy Golden retriever and some natural breeze with some natural plants have been proven to work too. Take some days off of Twitter and walk in a park, do some exercise and yoga regularly. Set targets for your day and you watch yourself slowly digitally detoxing.
