Mental Health and Technology: Bridging the Gap

Technology is truly an addictive forum. On average, teenagers spend hours upon hours scrolling through social media such as Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, Facebook, X (formerly known as Twitter ) and much more. It is important that we address the addictive nature of modern technology as it leads to countless mental health dilemmas.

For example, some social media platforms create unrealistic, beauty standards leading to eating disorders, anxiety, cyberbullying, depression, and stress (all of which are extremely detrimental to our collective mental health).

Is it possible to bridge the gap between mental health and technology? I believe it is. When people use technology to spread awareness about mental health, the larger population becomes well-educated about mental health disorders and can even learn ways to cope with them. There is often a stigma placed around mental health, causing people not to talk about it, but technology can be a great way to amplify mental health causes. When things are left in the shadows, it is hard to impact positive change. So let’s use our voices online and spread factual information about mental health in order to leave our world better than we found it.

As detrimental as technology can be, it also creates so many opportunities. Whether that be joining a yoga/meditation class online or reading a wellness book from a digital library. We have so many more resources at our disposal through the usage of technology. Instead of using it to tear others down, let’s lift others up and create online support systems to collectively improve mental health worldwide.

I feel as long as we use technology as a tool to advance awareness regarding mental health, it is indeed possible to bridge the gap between technology and mental health in today’s world. It is a fact that technology is not going away, so let’s use it to our advantage.

-Kamari Carter