Technology Impact on Society: the Impact on Self-Identity and Social Skills

Introduction

Technology usage in the world is becoming more advanced with its rapid evolution. Professor Sherry Turkle wrote an article called “Growing Up Tethered,” explaining how technology impacts our mental and physical health. People feel the need to stay in contact with their social media connections, or they may face an abyss of panic and terror. Having a cell phone for the past eight years has not only affected my self-confidence and my social skills, but it has stripped me away from my naive nature and forced me to mature at a faster rate.

Self-Esteem and Self-Identity

In the past eight years, I seem to be acting more like what society around me wants me to be. Technology has affected not only my self-confidence but also my self-esteem. Turkle explains, “… a personality is fragile that it needs constant support” (583). Bullies are not only in schools. They also carry themselves over to social media. I remember one time I posted a selfie, and I was getting constant comments based on my flaws. I began to allow others to dictate how I was supposed to feel about myself. I thrived for constant perfection, and if I didn’t get that support, it would cause me to feel depressed. I would feel trapped in my own thoughts and sometimes would get pangs of anxiety where I felt like nobody liked me and I would never be able to achieve my goals.

Next, having social skills is a vital part of being able to meet day-to-day challenges. Being able to cope with the increasing pace and change of life, children need life skills such as the ability to deal with stress and frustration. Turkle states, “Social media ask us to represent ourselves in simplified ways. And then, faced with an audience, we feel pressure to conform to these simplifications” (590). I’ve always been an outgoing person, but since having my cell phone, my social skills have drastically dropped. Having a cell phone has changed the way I communicate with others, but not for the better. I tend to only talk to others through online chatting because it’s easier for me to pretend like someone I’m not.

With the extensive amount of social media sites available, we have unlimited access to the world. We don’t have to make a trip to the library and read a book about a certain topic or ask our parents for advice; it’s all at our fingertips. Not only positive sites but things that are not appropriate. This enables us to mature a lot faster due to everything being readily available. I feel I have no choice but to somehow be influenced by what I see online. However, what I choose to do with this information is completely up to me. I can use this as a positive or negative influence in my life.

Conclusion

There are many positives and negatives throughout life. It has been that way for generations. Years ago, we had to actually make more of an effort to find the information we were looking for, and the resources were not readily available. In today’s society, we have everything almost instantly. In addition to a world of information, we also have editing options that can make us look how society decides we should look.

References

1. “The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains” by Nicholas Carr

2. “Reclaiming Conversation: The Power of Talk in a Digital Age” by Sherry Turkle

3. “The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power” by Shoshana Zuboff

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