Is Digital Media Bad For Us?

Ah, the question of the century- is our reliance on technology (especially the internet) bad for us? This is one of those answers that creates a paradox- if it is good for us, we won't really know (since we don't know what it would be like if we didn't have it), and if it is bad for us, we won't know until too late (for instance- if it starts to think too much, becoming the Terminator saga). But we can make fairly educated guesses.

For instance, the access to knowledge is great, since we love to learn, we can finally try to learn as much as we possibly can through the use of digital media- especially with sites such as Wikipedia (which is now a good resource, no longer a joke). And it is instant- we can get it right away, a great advancement. But instant gratification can cause a lot of problems. We lose our ability to focus on one thing, contemplate it, etc. to find it out. We also get too used to instant gratification. I personally feel like digital media (in conjunction with our culture of instant gratification) is actually the reason for why many more people abuse drugs these days. Yes, people have always done them, but not to the amount that people do now. We don't feel our best, so we take a drug and feel better right away. Not just illegal ones, medical ones as well (yes, there should be use of medical drugs to make you better, but a lot of drugs are prescribed for something that is easily treatable through time and/or willpower). But I digress

There is a philosophy going around that a scattered attention span is more natural. These people believe that when we invented writing and print, we changed our way of experiencing things, slowing down to contemplate. This philosophy states that we should have scattered thoughts- to always keep ourselves on our toes and look out for predators and notice all the food that we can. When we stopped having to be afraid of predators and started growing crops and cultivating livestock, we developed a sedentary lifestyle and could grow a longer attention span. These people basically believe that digital media is good for us by bringing us back to an earlier form of evolution.

Certainly there is a problem with the danger of becoming addicted to computers. If you spend all your time on one, your body will degrade and you will be unhealthy, dying much before you should. But if one can use digital media but still keep in good shape, they can do well with themselves.

In my personal belief, digital media means good, but can be abused greatly. I believe that we should be able to read, contemplate, play music, etc. without getting distracted. Digital media can be distracting, and can train your brain to become distracted very easily (just think of all the kids these days with ADD and ADHD- most people believe these are caused by television, video games, internet, etc.). If one can learn to find a balance, they would benefit greatly from digital media. Just like in Buddhism- balance is key, everything in moderation.