Digital Disease: The Internet Driven Malaise Of The 21st Century. Our lifestyles have changed drastically since the advent of the internet, smartphones, and digital disease. While it has eased life and communication, it has created barriers and risks. Adults and children are spending more time online than ever before.
There’s no doubt that the internet has opened up a world of opportunities – educational and social – but it has also instilled a widening gap. This gap will not be filled anytime soon as the age of technology has just started to take off. Algorithms, machine learning, cloud computing, artificial intelligence, augmented reality, and virtual reality are helping mankind but consuming daily lives and affecting minds.
People are spending more time on the internet – social media and online communities. Failing to implement restrictions on internet usage or mobile phones is causing irreparable damage to mental health. Children at the mere age of seven are suffering from anxiety.
They are not able to communicate or express their emotions normally. Excessive use of the internet, and mobile devices leads to obsessing about online activity when offline. It causes restlessness and mood swings.
What is Digital Disease?
Unconscious and unrestricted usage of the internet, and social media has led to digital disease. Experts say digital diseases, a new type of addiction, can be witnessed at all ages as per the individual’s internet usage habits. This is quite common in young users. Digital diseases are attributed to virtualism, which easily attracted people of all age groups and made work effortless.
A study stated that if an individual suffers from loss of sense of time, anti-social behavior, isolation from the community, and more emotional awareness when they become distant from online platforms when they are amid virtualism.
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Digital diseases cause sleeplessness as the individual is always alert checking messages or statuses on social media. This is called nomophobia. And there is cyberchondric wherein the individual believes they are suffering from a serious disease, leading to anxiety. They become anxious and depressed searching or suffering through health information online.
Lastly, there is FOMO – Fear Of Missing Out. When not online, the individual feels they are missing out on all that is going on in the virtual world. They fear not staying up to date or informed about the latest developments on their social media feed.
Excess of Everything Are Bad For Health
If we eat too much junk food, our health starts to suffer – we gain weight, feel lazy, and sickly. The same is true with digital gadgets like smartphones, and tablets powered by the internet. It takes a toll on our health.
Excess usage of the internet makes us anti-social, we find it difficult to communicate with people in the real world, while it’s easy through messages, likes, or loves in the virtual world. It’s advisable to set restrictions, and limits to internet and smartphone usage. Enjoy the surroundings and the people. Go for a walk. Have normal conversations with fellow human beings.
