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, TikT ok, 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 T o 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