Communications were remarkably effected by modern day technology due to the Industrial Revolution. The introduction of the first cellular mobile phone in 1984, weighing in at two pounds and offering the user a half-hour of talk time for every recharge, revolutionized the way we as people communicate forever. On holiday this summer, dozing half-awake in the small hours, I spotted a small red light flashing in the middle of the ceiling. In my confusion I thought that somebody must have sent me an email - but it was lodged somehow in the light fitting. This is the BlackBerry effect: imagining that emails are arriving for you all the time, and mistaking smoke detectors for personal technology. (Stern, S. 2011.) While the introduction of cellular phones to society may be described as "liberating" by some, this new technology does encourage the development of a form of laziness at home and in the workplace. Why bother getting out of bed when you have access to almost everything you need, right in the palm of your hand?.
So is technology addiction fact or fiction? An article written by Cavaliere, F. promotes the theory that Internet addiction, once considered a hypothetical disorder made up as a satirical hoax has now taken shape in the form of a very real issue. The article refers to a number of experts who have delved into the obsessive Internet usage of society today. A number of mental health professionals call attention to a growing number of obsessive Internet users they refer to as onlineaholics. Some experts cited point to a broader problem, technology addiction - obsessive usage of other technologies. If lifestyle can positively affect us at the genetic level, then unhealthy lifestyles should be able to have the opposite effect. Feeling the need to be constantly connected and feeling anxious and depressed when away from electronic tethers seem to be parts of just such an unhealthy lifestyle.
