The Hidden Costs of Technology

Before COVID, the average American spent 12 hours and 21 minutes per day on screens and media. That’s about three-quarters of our waking lives. However, screens are manmade. What are the hidden costs of spending the vast majority of our lives doing something Mother Nature didn’t intend us to do?

I’ve spent the last four years reading over 100 books and dissecting more than 2,000 articles and studies to answer the former question. Here is a list of the aspects of our lives that I believe are being impacted by our technology use:

• Trust

• Political polarization

• Stress

• Sensory processing disorder

• ADHD

• Self-esteem

• Sleep

• Autism

• Hair loss

• Depression

• Anxiety

• Ability to deal with stress

• Empathy

• Resilience

• Bullying

• Social support

• Helicopter parenting

• Consumerism

• Well-being

• Income inequality

• Fear of missing out (FOMO)

• Distractions

• Being present

• Loneliness

• Work quality

• Critical thinking

• Overwhelm

• Friendships

• Choice of where to live

• Motivation

• Knowledge learned in school

• Generosity

• Narcissism

• Focus on external goals, not internal ones

• Time pressure

• Mental health

• Erectile dysfunction

• Birth rates

• Age of first marriage

• Testosterone levels

• Human connection

• Fatigue

• Apathy

• Crohn’s Disease

• Ulcerative Colitis

• Parental attachment

• Autoimmune disorders (MS, Lupus, etc.)

• Heart disease

• High blood pressure

• Obesity

• Negative emotions

• Inflammation

• Self-control

• Creativity

• Cooperation

• Sexuality

• Eyesight

• Pelvic floor tension

• GERD

• Fear

• Productivity

• Flow state

• Acne

• Memory

• PTSD

• Independence from parents

• Love

• Joy

• Addiction

• Insecurity

• Decision making

• Brain development

• Vitamin D levels

• Osteoporosis

I’m sure the first question you’re asking is: how can this be true? It is difficult to prove with 100% certainty, but let me show you.

Many times when we use technology, it activates our sympathetic nervous system. Activating this fight-or-flight (FOF) response keeps us alive when we perceive a threat. It is the body’s stress reaction. Two of the main chemicals that are released are adrenaline and cortisol. These are powerful hormones that can affect nearly every tissue in our body. In excessive amounts and over long periods of time, they can precipitate changes to our body and mind that result in the above list of impacts on society. They can also propel us into a highly negative emotional state.

Your FOF response may be activated, and you don’t even realize it most of the time. Some of the common signs are dry mouth, muscle tightness (especially in the low back and neck), sweating, faster heart rate, greater need to eat carbohydrates, fatigue, frequent urination, headaches, gastrointestinal distress, overalertness, impulsivity, anxiety, irritability, or a tendency to overreact. If you frequently experience one or more of these symptoms, it may be due to your technology use.

How can we be sure our FOF response is constantly activated by technology use? Let’s look at how we spend our time on technology each day.

Americans consume an average 70 minutes of news content per day. The vast majority of this time is on screens. The business model of news companies is to show you negative and threatening information because it gets more views. More eyeballs mean more advertising revenue, which equates to more profit. There is a saying in the news industry, “If it bleeds, it leads.” Our mental health is being exploited so news companies make more money.

Do you think watching all this negative content affects you? Data shows that watching just three minutes of negative news in the morning makes you 27% more likely to rate your entire day as unhappy up to eight hours later compared to a control group. Even a small amount of negative media can subconsciously affect you.

In the United States, we surf social media for 2 hours and 13 minutes daily. You’re probably spending far more than that if you are under 25. I wrote a separate blog post that details the eight reasons why social media is the cigarette of the 21st century. There is a plethora of data detailing why excessive social media use is bad for your mental health. Even if you only scroll and don’t post, there are still negative repercussions for your mental well-being.

How about technology use at our jobs? The average white-collar worker sends and receives 126 emails per day. If it takes us just two minutes per email, that equates to over four hours per day of time. Research shows checking email increases stress and lowers our well-being. It also activates our FOF response. The average employee checks their email and other messaging inboxes once every six minutes when they are at work. It’s no wonder we feel constantly stressed out and anxious all the time.

We spend almost four hours per day in front of the TV. Even if half our news is consumed on the television, that still leaves about three hours per day spent in front of those giant screens. Think about the nature of the majority of the TV content you watch. Does it put you in a positive, uplifting emotional state or a negative one? Crime shows, action movies, documentaries, reality TV, and horror movies will likely activate your FOF stress response. We love watching these shows because they give us an adrenaline rush and captivate our attention. But they come with the hidden cost of added stress and anxiety over time.

There are other types of technology use that can activate your FOF stress system that I haven’t yet mentioned. They include video games, trading stocks and crypto, Slack, Microsoft Teams, and checking texts. All of these have the capacity to add to your daily stress and negativity.

Between the news, social media, TV, and email, we spend over 10 hours per day in front of screens which put us in a highly negative and stressed-out emotional state. It’s no wonder we have less resilience, worse self-esteem, more insecurity, fewer friends, and more loneliness than ever before. We don’t connect well with other humans when we’re internally unhappy.

Do you check your email before going to bed? I used to all the time. Let’s say you visit your inbox at 10 pm, and you see an email from your boss that makes you very upset. You’re not likely to respond and show your boss you check your email late at night. Your FOF stress response kicks in, making you alert and wired because you perceived your boss’ email as a subconscious threat.

What happens now? Any chance you had of falling asleep quickly vanishes. You likely go to sleep later than you wanted, and your sleep quality will probably be much worse. Terrible sleep means almost everything in your body and mind will be affected the next day. Was checking your email at 10 pm worth ruining the following 24 hours?

Any technology that can activate your FOF nervous system can negatively impact your sleep quality and quantity. Since we just covered how this includes most technology use, limiting nearly all screen time before bed is critical. This includes TV. Unfortunately, about 60% of the US falls asleep with the TV on at night.

How much tech use would allow us to be in a positive mood? We can estimate that using the Gottman Ratio. This is a psychological measurement of the ratio of positive to negative interactions that are present in a relationship.

The gold standard for a thriving relationship is a 5:1 ratio of positive to negative interactions. For every negative interaction you have with someone, you need to have five positive ones to maintain a healthy relationship. Due to our excessive technology use, I estimate that the average person probably has a 1:1 ratio at best with their digital correspondents. This is five times worse than it should be for thriving relationships. The resulting degradation of families, communities, and relationships is why we have an all-time low level of trust and the most political polarization in the history of our country.

The way we can achieve a better Gottman Ratio and bolster well-being is to increase the number of positive interactions with people. The main way to do this is to spend time with other people face-to-face. Research shows that the sense of closeness between two people drops by 80% if they haven’t seen each other in five months in person. Online interactions don’t count. How much of the world’s social fabric was destroyed by COVID because we couldn’t see each other in the flesh? It’s time to give more tight hugs and share belly laughs with our friends and family outside of Zoom calls and text messages.

Another way we can improve our Gottman Ratio is to reduce the number of negative interactions we have with other people. How is this related to technology? Because humans have a negativity bias as a survival mechanism, we interpret digital communication more negatively than in-person interactions. The implication is that if we can reduce the amount of digital correspondence we spend with people and instead spend more time meeting in person, we can improve our relationships. Consuming less news, social media, and using email less will also help put us in a more positive emotional state.

By practicing more technology mindfulness and being deliberate and intentional with our technology use, we can experience greater well-being, joy, and enhanced connectedness. By putting Humans First, we lead a more fulfilling life.