![\"Image](\"https:\/\/s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com\/originals\/a5\/32\/ce\/a532cef7317c22b9bce270cde903446f.jpg\")
![\"Image](\"https:\/\/i.redd.it\/hu5jie08zolz.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I fall into the same trap every time. \u00a0I look at my phone. \u00a0The dark screen calls to me with a sense of urgency. \u00a0My muscles tense as I reach for the home button. \u00a0I click the home button and then, with a flash, nothing. \u00a0I have no messages and no notifications. \u00a0For a moment, I am relieved. \u00a0But how can I have no messages? \u00a0I last checked my phone\u2026 a mere ten minutes ago. \u00a0I open Instagram and a stream of photos flash before me. \u00a0I see my roommate\u2019s puppy rolling in the snow. \u00a0I smile to myself. \u00a0I wish I could be there, petting her soft, round belly. \u00a0In the next photo, two of my high school friends are celebrating their anniversary at a concert. \u00a0Then I see a friend placed third in her Brazilian jiu-jitsu competition. \u00a0I scroll through many photos of couples, selfies, and vacations. \u00a0Everyone is smiling and carefree.<\/p>\n
Then, out of nowhere, DEPRESSION<\/strong> reads across my screen. \u00a0At first, the stark contrast shocks me. \u00a0Then I look closer. \u00a0The advertisement is for a research study on adults with depression. \u00a0I find it ironic that the best place to advertise for a depression study is on Instagram, the app of constant smiles. \u00a0Yet, over-use of technology is one of the main causes of depression. \u00a0Research from the University of Gothenburg found that heavy cell phone and late-night computer use correlate with a variety of health problems, including sleep disorders, stress, and depression (Heavy Technology Use Linked to Fatigue, Stress and Depression in Young Adults). What is the cause of society\u2019s obsession with technology when it is detrimental to our health?<\/p>\n Maybe our addiction to technology stems from the fact that our technology feeds us only the information we want to hear.\u00a0 Online search algorithms used by companies such as Google and Facebook, for instance, allow people to hide from world problems and to be presented only with news feeds similar to those they have previously viewed.\u00a0 The internet may seem like a giant search box that presents the same information to everyone, but each person\u2019s internet is actually unique.\u00a0 Emily Taylor, chief executive of Oxford Information Labs and editor of the Journal of Cyber Policy claims that \u201cwe now exist in these curated environments where we never see anything outside of our own bubble\u2026 and we don\u2019t realize how curated they are.\u201d\u00a0 Internet algorithms allow us to feel safe and believe that we have the whole picture.\u00a0 The comfort of hearing our own opinions repeated back to us is one of the reasons why the internet is so addictive and dangerous in the Anthropocene. \u00a0For example, if someone who does not believe that individual sustainable choices can counteract global warming searches the news, that person will be presented with views that match their own, further reinforcing their belief that nothing can be done.\u00a0 People can hide from the scientific truth.\u00a0 Internet search algorithms prevent us from working together to solve global warming because they promote radical individual viewpoints, as can be seen in the last U.S. presidential election, rather than true awareness and consensus.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Websites:<\/p>\n https:\/\/www.huffingtonpost.com\/david-volpi-md-pc-facs\/technology-depression_b_1723625.html<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/technology\/2017\/may\/22\/social-media-election-facebook-filter-bubbles<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I fall into the same trap every time. \u00a0I look at my phone. \u00a0The dark screen calls to me with a sense of urgency. \u00a0My muscles tense as I reach for the home button. \u00a0I click the home button and then, with a flash, nothing. \u00a0I have no messages and no notifications. \u00a0For a moment, I am relieved. \u00a0But… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[58,61],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-573","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-contemplative-practices","category-week-7-contemplative-practices"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/honr392a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/573","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/honr392a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/honr392a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/honr392a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/honr392a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=573"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/honr392a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/573\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":574,"href":"http:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/honr392a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/573\/revisions\/574"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/honr392a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=573"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/honr392a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=573"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/honr392a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=573"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}