Covid-19 and the Effects of an Increase use of Technology in Young Individuals

With Covid-19 being a constant burden on people’s lives many kids have been forced to stay home resulting in a massive increase of screen time. It’s obvious as to why screen time is at an increase among kids and teens. They are board. Kids need to be occupied whether that be from friends or exciting activities. Many devices of the technology world satisfy both these needs. Game stations like the Xbox and PlayStation allows anybody to interact with many new people and play games that can keep them occupied for months or years to come. The smartphones we have available give kids access to apps such as Instagram, snapchat, and Facebook that allow them to communicate with friends at the drop of a hat. With the virus taking over these kid’s lives these pieces of technology gave them an escape.

Covid-19, the unexpected virus that would cause many people around the world to lose their jobs, get sick, and bunker down in their homes. The news of Covid-19 for kids came when they heard the news that school was going to be shut down for a few weeks. The few weeks would turn into over a year. Schools would have to turn into an online setting leaving students trapped in their own homes. With the lockdowns mental health and depression skyrocketed with these young individuals.

No one could have really prepared for the pandemic especially the young adults. A study was being conducted with these individuals and showed the average screen time pre-pandemic was 3.8 hours per day then doubled with the present day being an average 7.7 hours. What’s also good to point out that this study could have been inaccurate, and the hours could be even bigger. This is because individuals were asked to self-report. There is nothing wrong with these individuals having access to this technology. But the problem is what came with the dramatic increase. Due to the accessibility smart phones and tablets allowed these young adults to fill their social needs without seeing anyone. This affected their ability to be in conversations of the real-world increasing stress and anxiety.

On top of anxiety, depression was also on a rise. The pandemic itself left these young individuals in a strange new environment causing stress to rise. With this strange new environment some young individuals were no longer aloud to meet with there friends in person causing them shift to technology. Soon a lot of these people found out that the technology couldn’t fill their social needs. Many close relationships that needed in person interaction were likely lost. The pandemic alone caused worldwide depression to increase but the lack of social interaction made things worse. We all know depression can get bad, but it can easily get to a point where normal everyday tasks become difficult.

Screen time hasn’t only been shown to affect mental issues but also daily life thing. Another study was conducted, and it was shown that for every additional hour of screen time the chances of binge-eating disorder grew. Also, a higher amount of screen time affected eating times in general. On top of that sleep is also affected. Both eating and sleeping properly are essential to a growing up healthy.

It’s not really anyone fault why the pandemic happened. But due to young individuals being locked up at home their health has took a serious decline both mentally and physically. Due to declines in their health, they have resorted to using technology as an escape. The best course of action is for parents to watch their kids and monitor how much screen time they get and find other things that are more productive to do like letting them hang out with their friends to fill their social needs. If nothing is done these young individuals can have serious long term affects on their health.