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Reflection: From the small group meetings, I received feedback about my thesis and I have found

out that needed to put more of my voice in the paper. I wrote about many researchers and their

findings, but I did not explain well enough about the results. I decided to add my personal

experiences and give more detail on what the results and other findings meant. While the draft

only consisted of some research and no quotes from well credited psychologists, I added their

research and quotes from their works.

Jose’ Rodriguez

Mrs. Thomas

UWRT 1103-005

4-18-18

Has Technology Increased Stress in Young Adults?

Are you feeling tired? Depressed? Or just completely stressed out? I know I have,

especially ever since starting college. Then you might be one of millions of young adults who

suffer from the overuse of technology without even knowing. As technology begins to become

more and more required in the daily lives of young adults, has stress become an issue for these

users? This inquiry question was intriguing for me to research because there have been cases

where young adults fail to acknowledge that they have stress issues caused by the intense use of

technology. I have personally felt as technology becomes more relevant to everyone, the

dependency to have access to technology is becoming higher. Research conducted from well-

known psychologists will help determine the probable causes and effects that modern technology

has imposed in young adults from the ages of 18 to 30.

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Technology has brought impressive benefits to both individuals and businesses. It has

created entire industries and enabled us to work in new ways. Yet it’s becoming harder to ignore

the downsides. Researchers have been investigating this growing concern since an increased

number of young adults that have reported sleep disorders. Many living with high stress are

faced with potential physical and emotional-health challenges if they are not able to get the

support they need to manage their stress well. Consistently high stress could become a chronic

condition, which can result in serious health problems including anxiety, insomnia, muscle pain,

high blood pressure and a weakened immune system. Research also shows that stress can even

contribute to the development of major illnesses, such as heart disease, depression and obesity.

The University of Gothenburg, Sweden has found that both men and women suffered about the

same amount of sleep disorders and depressive symptoms. Those who heavily used their phones

were reported to suffer from mental issues over the course of their lives. Mark Jackson, author of

The Age of Stress: Science and the Search for Stability, has recently been researching and writing

on the history of allergic diseases, such as asthma, hay fever and eczema, in the modern world,

and on the history of stress. In his book, Jackson claimed “...if you subject a man to stress, a
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certain stress will be found, varying with the stability of his nervous system, at which the man

will become insane.”(p.42) Jackson has researched the effects that WWII has imposed onto

soldiers coming home and had found that those who had experienced PTSD was due to the new

technological advances in weaponry.

Researchers have seen an association between young adults who use technology and

symptoms such as sleep disorders, increased stress, and mental issues. No clear explanation

could be given to why this is true.

Reasons to why this may be true is because young adults rely on their phones to reach out

to their friends instead of meeting in person to talk to each other. As technology begins to

change, so does our society. Another explanation would be the light that comes off computer or

phone screens cause our eyes to become worn out. Frequently using a computer without breaks

increases the risk of stress, sleeping problems and depressive symptoms in men and women. This

is a growing and serious public health hazard that should be acknowledged and addressed by

both the medical community and technology industry. It’s been shown that the light from TV and

computer screens affects melatonin production and melanopsin stimulation and throws off our

circadian rhythms. This interrupt or prevents deep, restorative sleep, causing an increase in stress

and depressive symptoms. Nirit Soffer-Dudek is a psychologist from the Ben-Gurion University

of the Negev in Beersheba, Israel. Soffer-Dudek is currently a lecturer and head of the

consciousness and psychopathology laboratory. Shahar is the professor of Clinical-Health and

Developmental-Health Psychology at the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Beersheba,

Israel. In their article, “Daily Stress Interacts with Trait Dissociation to Predict Sleep-Related

Experiences in Young Adults.” Soffer-Dudek states that “Stress impacts both sleep (e.g.,
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insomnia, fatigue) and dreaming. It affects sleep quality and patterns and is associated with

nightmares.”

But, why are they using technology at times they should be getting some rest? As Amy

Green M.A., a doctoral student in Counselling Psychology at the University of Calgary,

describes it “although evidence suggests that cell phone use before bedtime is detrimental to

sleep quality and, in turn, overall health and wellbeing, sleeping with their phones is the norm

rather than the exception for my teen clients.”

A convenient way to reduce your blue light exposure is to use a blue light filter.

Companies have been introducing Blue Light Filters on many devices that most people have

access to, such as a tablet, computer, or a smartphone. The fact that blue light penetrates all the

way to the retina is important, because studies have shown that too much exposure to blue light

can damage light-sensitive cells in the retina, which can lead to permanent vision loss.

Although more research is needed to determine how much natural and man-made blue light is

"too much blue light" for the retina, many eye care providers are concerned that the added blue

light exposure from computer screens, smartphones and other digital devices might increase a

person's risk of vision loss.

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We now live in a generation where technology controls our emotions and mental health.

Modern technology has gained such a presence in our lives that it’s easy to become addicted to

social media and smartphone use to the point it starts impacting our relaxation and sleep. In turn,

this causes even more stress to build up through the day, resulting in a cycle of stress

accumulation. Public image could be another reason to why technology is increasing stress in

young adults. I mentioned before that society adapts to new technology and apps, such as

Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat, that makes them feel good. Everyone must take an awesome

selfie that will get many likes, or they post pictures from the party that they had gone to.

Technology and social media have climbed to enormous proportions, with Facebook and

Instagram receiving more than 2 billion combined monthly users. A video from the American

Academy of Pediatrics interviewed teens about stress and potential causes of stress. A teen

exclaimed “I feel like sometimes adults don't understand how important our social life is.

Sometimes if you bring home a bad grade, they're like, what's up with this?” The teen was

talking about how parents sometimes think that all teens should think about is school but, teens

like to have a balance of school and social life.

Another great source that I used was from Ryan Carlson, author of the article Examining

Intimate Partner Violence, Stress and Technology Use Among Young Adults, Ryan Carlson is a

licensed mental health counselor with training in several couples counseling education and has

experience working in private practice and community mental health. Carlson stated that stress

could be from the use of technology, “However, the increase in college student IPV could be

provoked by stress associated with the demands of academics.” As college students need to

access computers or other sources for their classes or their final research papers, they tend to

become stressed out when a deadline is approaching.

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Research from the American Psychological Association also shows that the percentage of

American adults using social media increased from 7 percent to 65 percent between 2005 and

2015.

Among young adults ages 18 to 29, where the number is even higher, 9 in 10 reported

using social media in 2015, compared to 12 percent in 2005. Young adults use their phones at

times when they need help and google answer right away. Some say that they would be lost

without their phone in school because they don’t want to ask their teacher for assistance and

prefer quick access right away. I too have been part of this because I don’t like to ask for help, so

I tend to go to the internet to see if I could find something on what I need help on.

If technology is part of the problem, could it be part of the solution too? Experiencing

stressful events cannot always be avoided but we all have the power to change our lives at any

moment and understanding stress triggers is the beginning. There are lots of apps to help practice
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mindfulness and meditation, like Headspace, Buddhify and Mental Workout. There many other

alternatives that one could look at to become relieved such as exercising, taking a nap, turning

OFF whatever you are using, etc.

Headspace is a digital service that provides guided meditation sessions and mindfulness

training. Its content can be accessed online, or via their mobile apps. Headspace has over 6

million people using the app since April 2016. Buddhify is a mindfulness app that lets you

choose among meditations tailored to how much time you have and what you’re doing. The

meditations on the app range from two minutes to a half hour. You can also choose a meditation

based on what you need in any moment, whether that’s motivation or relaxation. The important

thing is to take a break from the quick pace of social media updates, mobile phone

communications and simply just slow down a bit. Anything that allows you time to take your

mind away from the stress of life and clear your head will work wonders in the long term.

Experiencing stressful events cannot always be avoided but we all have the power to change our

lives at any moment and understanding stress triggers is the beginning.

After looking back at my research, I have concluded that there are many factors that

could cause stress in young adults. I have analyzed the outcomes of studies performed by very

well credited psychologists and they too have not found a solid piece of evidence that could

explain why either. Technology can be both positive and negative but, technology should not

take over our lives but, we cannot ignore the downsides from it. We have moved from using

books to using computers or other means of technology to perform research. We spend most of

our days in front of a screen either from our computers or our phones but, this is because we

adapt to advancements to technology. How will the next generation of young adults react to these

changes?
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Work Cited:

Jackson, Mark. The Age of Stress: Science and the Search for Stability. Oxford University Press,

2013.

“Youth Speak of The Forces That Create Stress in Their Lives: American Academy of

Pediatrics—Reaching Teens.” Films Media Group, 2014,

fod.infobase.com/PortalPlaylists.aspx?wID=149262&xtid=114546. Accessed 19 Mar.

2018.

Carlson, Ryan et al. “Examining Intimate Partner Violence, Stress and Technology Use Among

Young Adults.” The Professional Counselor 5.3 (2015): 365–378.

Hagberg Mats et al. “Perceived Connections Between Information and Communication

Technology Use and Mental Symptoms Among Young Adults - a Qualitative Study.”

BMC Public Health 10.1 (2010): 66.

Thomée, Sara. “Mobile Phone Use and Stress, Sleep Disturbances, and Symptoms of Depression

Among Young Adults--a Prospective Cohort Study.” Bmc Public Health 11.66 (2011): n.

Pag.

Li, Haijiang et al. “Examining Brain Structures Associated with Perceived Stress in a Large

Sample of Young Adults via Voxel-Based Morphometry.” NeuroImage 92 (2014): 1–7.

Soffer-Dudek, Nirit, and Shahar, Golan. “Daily Stress Interacts with Trait Dissociation to Predict

Sleep-Related Experiences in Young Adults.” Journal of abnormal psychology 120.3

(2011): 719.