I’ve been reading a lot of studies and articles lately that talk about the negative health effects of technology. Cell phones seem to be the recipient of most of the wrath being doled out in these reports primarily because of the dangers of texting and driving but also because of the tendency to become addicted to the behaviors that drive us to using technology in this way. Other devices such as computers and tablets also fall into the category of technology that is creating unhealthy behaviors. There are a lot of reasons why technology is ripe for blame in creating unhealthy behavior. It has opened the door to a myriad of possibilities and has created an avenue of excitement for everyone who uses it. The excitement factor is usually the element that creates the health problems associated with our use of technology.
There has been discussion over the last few years about our attraction and subsequent addiction to adrenaline and excitement. It can be argued that the media and companies recognize this addiction and gear products to creating and then satisfying this adrenaline/excitement addiction. This is a problem that is tied closely together with stress and the fight or flight response. There is a tendency in people around the world to be susceptible to actually getting stuck in the fight or flight mode for extended periods of time…sometimes even years. One of the many results of this phenomenon is the overproduction and subsequent attachment to adrenaline. Since adrenaline produces excitement, we end up looking for other ways to sustain the excitement when our supply of adrenaline wanes. Technology is ripe for stimulating and sustaining the adrenaline effect.
The important thing to remember is that stress and fight or flight is dependent solely on our relationship to events in our lives, not the events. That being understood brings us to the realization that technology has nothing to do with creating stress. We need to develop a new healthy relationship with technology that will allow us to use it constructively. I know of no better approach to accomplish this than the practice of a mindfulness-based stress reduction program. Mindfulness practice allows us to create healthy new behaviors and relationships. This has been documented in over 3000 studies and continues to be the gold standard in reducing stress and creating new healthy perspectives in our lives.