The rapid advancement of technology has resulted in several accounts of its use in clinical paranoia and delusional thinking. The general community has an excessive level of dread of contemporary technology and cyber-crime, which can impact intentions to utilise cyber-technology. Concerns regarding privacy were discovered to arise from tendencies of distrust, paranoia, and social criticism. By cyber-paranoia, we can relate false anxieties about risks posed by information technology, in which individuals believe they are vulnerable to being ‘attacked,’ persecuted, or victimised in some way.
Do you ever feel worried about someone hacking your computer’s webcam? Or perhaps you being watched by a foreign or domestic government agency? Having someone secretly photograph you in the changing room? Let’s face it: there are a lot of things that make many of us nervous these days.
It may appear surprising that having your photograph snapped in public—and we’re not talking about something as obscene as upskirt photos—could cause such psychological discomfort and worry.
We tend to use the labels paranoid and sad interchangeably. To be clear, paranoia is a clinical (pathological) disease characterised by excessive, unwarranted suspicion of others and being convinced in their malice. So, if you receive an offer from a complete stranger somewhere in the world who wants to share with you a million dollars they recently inherited, you are not paranoid. There is a distinction between being “suspicious” and being “paranoid,” just as there is a distinction between being “just paranoid” and having “paranoid delusions.” Delusions are ideas that we believe are exceedingly implausible or bizarre. However, the border between fact and hallucination may be quite thin.
Stress and anxiety other than paranoia in the Digital age:
We practically have the internet in our pockets at all times, and it appears that we can get the solution to nearly any query with the push of a button. But, while technology developments in usefulness and availability are fantastic, they come at a cost other than paranoia too!
We are becoming overly reliant, if not hooked, on our phones. Consider how you feel when you find you’ve forgotten your phone or left it someplace. Uneasy, right? When separated from their phones, some people go through serious tension and worry, and they may even display withdrawal-like symptoms, similar to those found in persons who have an addiction. High levels of interaction with cellphones and multimedia technologies may be physically altering the structure and function of our brains.
Here are few troubling patterns visible which messes with our mental health that eventually shapes our fear:
1: Constant Distraction
Because of the constant blaring, vibrating, and flashing of alerts, we are constantly distracted and compelled to pause what we are doing to check our phones. Indeed, smartphone users unlock their phones 85 times each day on average, and use them for around five hours per day. This means we are unable to focus our attention and properly integrate information into our memory, causing us to feel increasingly ‘goldfish-like,’ which may be rather disturbing in and of itself. This is supported by research, which is beginning to indicate links between excessive smartphone and internet usage and poor cognitive skills including attention, memory, and learning.
2: Sleep Disorders
Many of us use our phones before going to bed. You get into bed planning to sleep, but you simply want to check your phone for anything trivial, and an hour later, you’re watching a completely odd movie. Looking at our phones when we should be sleeping overstimulates our brains, making it difficult to wind down and shut off, and exposes us to blue light from the screen. According to research, blue screen exposure can diminish melatonin synthesis, which disrupts our circadian cycle and makes it difficult to fall and remain asleep. Unfortunately, lack of sleep is associated with decreased resilience and increased levels of worry and stress.
Work-Life balance
Previously, there was frequently a distinct demarcation between work and home life… This region is currently mostly grey. Most of us have our business emails on our phones, which means we are always available and contactable. This makes it extremely difficult for us to really disconnect from work and unwind.
FOMO,
or Fear Of Missing Out, is a type of social anxiety caused by the fear of missing out on something, whether it’s an event, a work or social opportunity, a communication, or a potential connection, or simply something cool and ethereal that you’d like to see or be a part of. So we want to stay in touch… “just in case.” Simply ask your friends and family whether they’ve ever contemplated quitting social media. They, like us, have presumably… However, the majority of people are unlikely to do so because of FOMO.
Social Contrast
We can’t help but compare ourselves to others, and social comparison theory says that we do so to assess how we think and feel about ourselves. Because it is strewn with information that may readily be utilised as indicators of apparent social success (e.g. friends, likes, shares, follows, and so on), social media actively encourages social comparison. These measurements are problematic in and of themselves, since if we don’t receive enough likes on a comment or photo we uploaded, or if someone has more likes or friends than us, we may feel inferior.
Conclusion
Delusions, paranoia, stress, anxiety and even depression particularly caused by internet presence are becoming more common by the day. Hence, while technology can be very useful, we should be cautious of its use, ask questions and maintain a good balance in order to keep our mental health in check.
