Blog #12 Final Blog Post

                                       My Relationship With Technology 

My Relationship With Technology at a Young                                     Age

I started using technology at a very young age and I remember how fast I adapted to it when I first started using it my first ever technology product I revived was a Nintendo DS and I used it all the time when I was bored, I played tons of games and even wrote little diary posts in there as well. I wouldn't say I became addicted to using my DS or I wouldn't say that I depended on it, to me it was just something fun to have when bored nothing else. My parents were kind of strict on technology and what I was exposed to I remember as a kid my parents never let me watch SpongeBob because of what was being talked about and my parents didn't let me have a phone until I was in 8th grade. Back then I wasn't all that happy with just getting a phone at age 14 but now im so happy they did that because the effect on kids with phones is insane and how much they depend on their phones and act like they can't live without them.  Having a phone at 14 was weird at first because everyone had already had one but I truly never seemed to become addicted to my phone it was still something I used to play games when I was bored. The main purpose of my phone in 8th grade was to text or call my parents when I needed them and I was okay with that. 

My Relationship With Technology in High School

In High School, this is when I became addicted to my phone and depended on it for everything and it really had a toll on my mental health. High School was pretty rough for me going to an art school and just having lots of pressure on me to become a perfect student and do amazing things I used my phone to help me kind of distract myself from all of this pressure but it just caused me to do horrible in school. I used to be on my phone all the time probably 9-14 hours a day I was on my phone, which is horrible when trying to do well in school there was no time for homework or anything if I was always on my phone. The things I would do on my phone were use Snapchat all of the time communicate with friends and people from school all the time 24/7 and there was this thing called Snapchat streaks which is when you snap a person a picture every day a number appears by there name and it was of how many days you and that person communicate and I was terrified of losing streaks so I was always on Snapchat. Another thing I did on my phone a lot was Instagram and Youtube. I loved posting pictures on Instagram it was just something I loved doing editing pictures and looking at other people's pictures was like a waste of time to do when bored, I didn't really depend on Instagram as much as I did Snapchat because it wasn't that "fun" of a social media app back in the day. Youtube I used all of the time when eating and going to bed I always watched something on YouTube and the videos were mainly makeup, vlogs, or try-on hauls but it was something I was interested in watching so just never stopped watching. I wouldn't say Youtube is a bad social media it's more entertaining than an actual social media app. Social media had a huge impact on teenagers in High School that was the only thing teens did was social media and depended on that to make friends and to talk to people which is scary when we could just talk to people in person. I, unfortunately, got sucked into social media and developed social anxiety because I didn't know how to talk t people in person from using social media and my phone constantly. 

                                        My Relationship With Technology Now

My relationship with technology is way different than it was when I was in High School now as a college student I don't depend on it to make friends and to seek out attention. I use technology to inform me what's going on, to see what my friends are up to, and to post what I feel like I want to post without feeling like I have to because my generation posts things all the time. I also think that technology has a good and bad side and I feel like after watching the animation Mad World I truly think technology is a bad thing and I feel like more people need to be informed on why technology is bad for people in all types of ways. The way people use their phones all day every day is so unhealthy and so bad for your mental health. People should not have to depend on their phones and post pictures to prove to people they are perfect. But overall I feel like social media is the worst of all and is horrible for people's confidence and mental health when looking at posts of other people comparing themselves and just everything overall about social media is just drama and unnecessary drama that people do not need in their lives. Ways I have tried to limit myself on social media is setting up screentime where I can not go on my social media apps and just have a break from the social media world and just breathe and honestly, it really helps im barely on my phone anymore because I feel like I do not need to be on my phone to see things I do not want to see or deal with so I constantly try to limit myself on social media.