Obeidi 1

Layal Obeidi

Miss Chloe Hudson

English

25 May 2015

Virtual Lonesome Disorder

Only you can help stop virtual lonesome disorder. Millions of people suffer from VLD(Virtual lonesome disorder). Which is a disorder that isolates peoplewho addicted to the Internet. Unfortunately in our modernized world today; technological devices have become an essential part of our lives and have made global communication possible. As it connects us to people around the world, it fills up the gap between us and our loved ones who are far away from usButTechnology has not increased the quality of communication as many people are quick to believe; rather, it has caused it to decline.Technology makes us feel lonely, it destroys relationships, and it’s addictive. People created technological devices such as cellphones, computers, laptops, iPads, and many more so that we could stay connected. Based on what is happening now, “People have become more uncomfortable talking to someone face-to-face, according to Melnick 2011” (Cambridge News). Instead of talking to someone face to face, we use indirect communication as “Technology excludes the use of body language, tone of voice and eye contact “(Klein, Lauren). The use of technology, social networking, and social media sites makes us believe that we are more loved and identified by world, but actually it makes us feel lonelier because we do not have real face-to-face conversations with the outside world. Thus, people ignore their feeling of being lonely and use online interactions. However, this may result in many disadvantages such as depression and loneliness.

For example, one of the reasons that it makes us feel lonelier is that it “creates a bubble that keeps you isolated from real human contact and real human interaction” (Forbes. Forbes Magazine). Therefore, it reduces the quality of communication. Whenever people ignore their feelings of loneliness it becomes more painful and they turn to social networking to end the pain. There is something valuable about talking with someone in person. Social networking sites are slowly destroying the importance and meaningfulness of conversations that we have with people “according to a survey by Badoo 39% of people spend more time socializing online then face to face and those who use the internet frequently spend over 100 minutes less time with family and friends”(GONCHAR, MICHAEL); thus, making us feel more detached and isolated in today’s society. Instead of spending time with someone, we prefer calling and texting them instead because we think it is more convenient, efficient, and only needs little effort.People prefer to talk online and send messages because they can control how long it takes for them to respond, leaving out the awkwardness of the sudden silence people make during face-to-face conversation” (Klein, Lauren). However, there are those that are quick to believe that technology does not cause negative effects. Certainly, technology makes it easier to communicate with each other, but we have taken this for granted. Because it is so easy to communicate with one another, we don't take the time to realize how important every second we spend together is. The fact remains, it is causing us to spread ourselves too thin as well as slowly ruining the quality of social interaction that we all need as human beings.

The disadvantage of depending on technological devices all the time is the fact that “online relationships do not build very stable, real, or strong relationships”(Does Technology Make You Lonely).We get a different view of people if we only meet them online instead of meeting them personally. For instance, if we meet people online, we become comfortable communicating to them in that manner.When we finally get to meet them in person we often become uncomfortable and a bit disappointed. We are so used to talking to people through online chatting and texting that it is impossible to be the same person you are online while talking to them eye to eye. “Our online friends don’t give us the feelings as friends we have seen and know personally”(Forbes. Forbes Magazine). This is why friendships made through the Internet are weak and easily breakable. We as humans need face-to-face contact to truly understand and bond with someone; without it, we feel lonely, knowing they are not truly the person we think they are. Therefore technology isolates us from human contact and eventually, we will become lonely. The result of loneliness is being gullible and putting too much trust in someone, or being isolated and feeling trust towards no one. This proves that technology is a huge disadvantage for social matters and making friends.

Technology is extremely addictive in this generation, especially for young adults. Since young adults are so susceptible to things that can be addictive, it’s obvious that online relationships can harm their social skills in life. “They will begin to ignore everything around them including the following: family members, friends, responsibilities, and basic needs in everyday life” (Klein, Lauren). Their relationships with friends and family can become a disaster due to technology overrunning their world. It keeps us away from the people around us.” This addiction can develop in the young adult causing more consequences. They can lose even more of the relationships they have. This can make them even lonelier than ever. “According to Klein 2014, people spend about 100-200 minutes per day using the Internet and 30-90 minutes per day using social networks.” (Cambridge News). Teens tend to lose self-control. When it comes to technology, they aren’t able to limit their time with it. Left unchecked, the extended time using technology may cause them to become lonely and start to have less confidence. They would face lots of problems in life, which would be hard for them to solve “Balancing our time will make us feel more productive and alive, compared to people who use devices all day long, who are totally escaping the real world.” (Mobretz, Lauren) They may not have even realized the harm that technology has placed upon their daily lives. Teens may think that they are less lonely with the company of their new online friends. Yet, in the end, the only ones left for them are the people in real life.

In Summary,despite the common belief that technology has caused a huge increase in the quality of communication, this phenomenon brought a lot negative habits to our everyday life such as the addiction to the social networks, which resulted in the decline of the quality of communication. We should learn to balance our time so that we could spend it in a more meaningful way. We have to spend the time with our loved ones and try to stop pleasing a virtual audience. Sometimes we just need to look up from our computer screens and phones to realize that the only reason why we feel so lonely and isolated is because we shut ourselves out of the real world.People ignore the fact that we have to interactwith the real world and real life problems because we are humans and humans need to interact. The more we ignore our feelings of loneliness the more we are likely to face problems in future.

Works Cited

Cambridge News, “Is Social Media Making Us More Lonely?"

17 Aug. 2014. Web. 31 May 2015.

Forbes. Forbes Magazine, “Text or Talk: Is Technology Making You Lonely?"

n.d. Web. 29 May 2015.

Gonchar, Michael. "Does Technology Make Us More Alone?" The Learning Network Does Technology Make Us More Alone Comments. N.p., 04 Sept. 2013. Web. 30 May 2015.

Klein, Lauren. "Does Technology Cut Us Off from Other People?" Does Technology Cut Us Off from Other People? 12 Mar. 2013. Web. 31 May 2015.

Mobretz, Lauren. "Is Technology Making Us Lonely?" The DashBurst Blog.

28 Aug. 2013. Web. 31 May 2015.

N.p,"Does Technology Make You Lonely?" Does Technology Make You Lonely?

n.d. Web. 29 May 2015.