Pulling out your phone to record a memorable event with your friends might seem important, but it’s actually wasting your time of being able to live in the moment. The use of technology and social media has caused people to choose their phone over someone who is right next to them. Although going on your phone gives some people an escape from reality, it is causing people to be more lonely.

Technology makes you more lonely because you rely on the connections that you have online, rather than the ones in the outside world. With the pandemic going on, technology has been a huge benefit in everyone’s lives, but there are still many downfalls. There has been a study that proves loneliness can raise the risk of a heart attack by 40%. Imagine if technology was the underlying reason for someone’s death, along with the social anxiety and depression it can cause. According to The Independent, it has been proven that technology “may be the next biggest public health issue on par with obesity and substance abuse.”

Phones and social media can make people more comfortable and less anxious, since it has been seen to be easier to form relationships with other people on the internet. Although that is helpful for some, it still causes the lack of social skills in the real world, which could affect your future in many ways. For example, getting into a college and eventually getting a job. 

Eleven hours is the average amount of screen time spent on all varieties of devices, which is almost half of an entire day. The majority of the time you are alone when you spend time on your phone, computer, or laptop, getting no face to face social interaction at all. There are many new and improved apps/games that let people interact with each other, however they are still alone in their own house. If people continue to spend the majority of their time looking at a screen, they will get farther away from reality.