Topic: Digital Minimalism
Argument: Although we live in a more digital world than ever before, minimizing our technology
use will be more effective in keeping up productivity and positivity in our digital society
It would be an understatement to say that the relationship between the individual and
their technology has gotten more close-knit than ever before. According to research done by the
career experts at Zippia, Americans spend more than a fourth of their day (over 7 hours) looking
at a screen, and this amount of time will only increase with each passing generation. It seems
now it is virtually impossible to live your life without a phone, without a digital card or even a
social media account. It's all become interconnected; some may say that this has led humanity
into an era of digital convenience and prosperity, but I must argue that this path we have taken
has its pitfalls. For every advancement and opportunity it brings, as a collective we have given
up certain positive qualities (and perhaps adopted negative ones) in return. I argue that
although we live in a more digital world than ever before, minimizing our use of technology will
be more effective in increasing our productivity and positivity in our digital society.
Technology is defined as the application of scientific knowledge for practical purposes. In
other words, it is a tool meant to make our lives easier. However, an overreliance on technology
has made this relationship more akin to automation than assistance. Being a student in 2023
makes this distinction evident. The use of search engines, artificial intelligence, and online class
formats has made leaps and bounds for my and many’s academic studies when used in
combination with traditional education, but I and other students have suffered the symptoms of
overuse of technology in our education; Imagine how many times we’ve “just googled it” rather
than learnt for ourselves, online classes post-covid have become synonymous with
self-teaching and “teacherless” courses. Although artificial intelligence is relatively new,
ChatGPT, an ai software known for its ability to scribe entire essays at the click of a button, is
marked as the fastest growing consumer application in history with over 1.5 billion visitors per
month since its launch according to Notta, a scientific blog site dedicated to news in artificial
intelligence. What started as just tools used by students to supplement knowledge and give
opportunities to more ways of learning has now made weaker students. We have become worse
writers, better cheaters, and less likely to learn in our classrooms because they are now
non-existent. The solution? Minimize its use: reintroduce technology-assisted and not
technology-based education so we can create full-fledged scholars rather than half-baked ones.
Going back to society at large, the increased use of technology has made for a better
quality of life. Online services for food, health, sociability, finances and many other aspects of
our life exist to help us lead better lives.Technology has connected people and made them
closer than ever before. Email, text messaging, video calls, all great advances in communication
that have increased our productivity tenfold. But as I said previously, this path has its pitfalls.
Technostress is the negative psychological effect people experience when the use of technology
becomes too much to handle on a daily basis and feelings of anxiety and mental fatigue begin
to set in. A study submitted by Kingsley Okonoda showed that out of 144 participants over half
said they experienced technostress, so technostress isn’t an isolated phenomenon.
Technostress also affects people differently and comes in different forms; there’s
techno-overload, techno-complexity, even techno-invasion. All are kinds of stress that are
caused by the overuse of technology. Technology is supposed to make us more productive by
assisting us in our work, not add to our problems by lowering our mental health and causing us
unwanted stress. And guess what a common solution to technostress is? Limiting the use of
technology and increasing the amount of time you spend without technology.
Technology presents a number of challenges that can affect a positive society believe it
or not. Cyberbullying, privacy concerns, digital addiction, social isolation, the list goes on. For
the increased security technology can bring, we give up privacy somewhere else. Technology
may be responsible for our economic growth, but it's also responsible for people’s loss of
livelihood. These are real issues that our society must face and address as a result of the use of
technology. And after everything I’ve said my argument isn’t to cut off the use of technology, but
decrease it. It must be revealed to more people that the unregulated use of technology harms
more than it helps, but through self-management we can tame technology once again and tap
back into the tools that were made for our betterment. It can’t be said how far this digital
revolution will take us so we must be proactive rather than reactive, and limit the amount of time
we spend on technology. It may seem counterintuitive but in order to be a positive productive
people we must lower our use of technology and remember that technology is only a tool to
assist our lives, not automate it.