#Technology and Anxiety

[techbgs]

The Impact of Technology on Mental Health

Technology has transformed the way we live, work, and interact, offering unparalleled convenience and connectivity. However, its pervasive presence also raises concerns about its effects on mental health. This blog explores both the positive and negative impacts of technology on mental well-being.

Negative Impacts of Technology on Mental Health

Social Media and Self-Esteem Excessive use of social media has been linked to issues such as low self-esteem, body image concerns, and feelings of inadequacy. Platforms like Instagram and TikTok often promote idealized lifestyles and unrealistic beauty standards, leading users to compare themselves unfavourably to others.

Cyberbullying and Online Harassment The anonymity of online platforms has facilitated cyberbullying, which can result in anxiety, depression, and emotional distress for victims. This is particularly concerning for younger users who are more vulnerable to such attacks.

Addiction and Overuse The addictive nature of technology can disrupt daily routines, reduce productivity, and negatively impact sleep patterns. Blue light emitted by screens interferes with melatonin production, leading to sleep disorders that exacerbate stress and anxiety.

Mental Health Disorders Studies have shown a correlation between heavy technology use and mental health disorders such as anxiety and depression. Constant connectivity fosters an expectation of instant gratification and perpetual availability, which can be mentally exhausting.

Positive Impacts of Technology on Mental Health

Increased Awareness Technology has played a significant role in raising awareness about mental health issues. Social media platforms have become spaces for sharing experiences and reducing stigma surrounding mental illness.

Access to Mental Health Resources Mobile apps and online platforms provide tools for managing mental health, such as cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) programs, meditation guides, and crisis helplines like the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline7. These resources make mental health support more accessible and cost-effective.

Support Networks Online communities offer individuals a sense of belonging by connecting them with others facing similar challenges. These virtual support groups can be particularly beneficial for those who feel isolated or lack access to in-person therapy.

Innovations in Treatment Advances in digital therapy include apps that use artificial intelligence to monitor behavioural patterns and detect early signs of mental distress. Such technologies enable timely interventions before crises escalate.

Striking a Balance

While technology offers numerous benefits for mental health awareness and treatment, its overuse can lead to significant challenges. Here are some tips for maintaining a healthy relationship with technology:

Set boundaries for screen time to avoid overexposure.

Practice digital detoxes by taking regular breaks from devices.

Use apps mindfully, focusing on those that promote well-being.

Prioritize face-to-face interactions to maintain strong social connections.

Conclusion

Technology is a double-edged sword when it comes to mental health. While it provides innovative tools for support and awareness, excessive or unregulated use can harm well-being. By fostering mindful usage habits, we can harness the benefits of technology while mitigating its risks.

[hope-for-the-planet]

From the article:

When rain pounds earth that contains the right mix of minerals, carbon dioxide in the air dissolves into the water and reacts to form new compounds that imprison carbon dioxide. With enough time, this natural process of literally petrifying the air will cleanse the atmosphere of the carbon dioxide pollution humanity has emitted from burning fossil fuels and other activities. The problem, though, is this natural cycle takes millennia. Kanan’s idea is to take a process that normally operates on geologic time — and speed it up. To do so, his team mixed together limestone with a crushed silicate mineral that contains magnesium — such as olivine, an olive-tinted mineral that can be found around the world. When heated to furiously high temperatures in a kiln, calcium in the limestone and magnesium in the silicate jiggle and switch sides, like participants in a square dance. The result of the chemical reaction is two compounds — magnesium oxide and calcium silicate — that both readily react with air and water to trap carbon dioxide in a matter of weeks. After accounting for emissions from heating the kilns and capturing carbon dioxide from burning limestone, each ton of material can remove one ton of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, the researchers estimate. “We didn’t expect that it would work as well as it does,” said Yuxuan Chen, lead author of the study who worked in Kanan’s lab while getting his PhD, said in a statement.

[cripplecharacters]

Hello! I have a fantasy Dnd campaign (Homebrewed) and I am writing a warrior character with Selective Mutism due to Autism/Social anxiety. I am writing that when he is not capable of speech he uses his Familiar, (who is also his support animal), to act as a communication method by projecting certain thoughts via telepathy. I am trying to not make it a cure-all by having this form of communication "clipped" since isolating and sending only specific thoughts requires great concentration. He also writes as a form of communication but in situations where writing equipment is limited he uses this.

Is there any way I can further avoid the "Magic cures-all trope"

Hi asker,

I personally like this, it seems like a cool idea. It's like a temporary AAC – I would liken it to someone who loses speech sometimes and uses a text to speech on their phone. It's not perfect, it takes more effort than an immediate magical cure-all, and it is an accessibility aid for your character.

It makes sense that the communication is clipped, too – the animal isn't used to 'speaking' and the character is more used to speaking or writing than to communicating in this way, but it works for him in the situation.

I think you're doing a good job of it! Hope this helps,

mod sparrow

[blindchandelure]

I’m jealous of the people who are having fun on the LS Discord, while also simultaneously feeling completely unwilling to participate.

[thefugitivesaint]

Boris Artzybasheff (1899-1965), ''Esquire'', Vol. 37, #4, April 1952 Source

[tinkingfrog]

Yeah there are hundreds of conditions that are caused by or exacerbated by obesity. People who think otherwise are willfully ignorant. Susan the crosscountry track runner is not going to visit the ER as often as Jane the 370 blogger, and Susan is going to be healthier for longer. Jane is going to be in a nursing home at fifty.

Yes this is common sense but shh, the "fatphobia" screaming police will start screeching at you.

[headmate-ideas]

could we have a headmate whos objectum (attracted to Nintendo consoles), a cat, associated with the color pink, and named mochi (feel free to add other names, that's just what they've been going by so far)

[Brought to you by: Mods Venn and Vyvian!]

🎮 HEADMATE TEMPLATE 🐈

✦ Name(s): Mochi, Arden, Tech, Xiva ✦ Pronouns: they/them, it/its, she/her, xi/xir/xirs/xirself, ix/ixs/ixself, sie/hir/hirs/hirself, 🎮/🎮s/🎮self ✦ Species: cat anthro ✦ Age: 23 ✦ Role(s): chef, artist, hobbyist, caretaker, syspet, socializer, anxiety holder, objectumroleic, relationship manager (optional) ✦ Labels: maverique, aroace lesbian, queerplatonic, objectum ✦ Xenos: comfort, art, the color pink ✦ Likes: food, cartoons, technology ✦ Dislikes: annoying people ✦ Music taste: bitpop, video game soundtracks, vaporwave ✦ Aesthetic(s): gamercore, cutecore, outrun ✦ Objectum attraction(s): Nintendo consoles, computers, 2000s cell phones ✦ Kins: mochi snacks, clouds, pebbles ✦ Emoji proxy: 🎮🐈 ✦ Details:

Mochi is an anthropomorphic pink cat who loves food and cooking, as well as arts and crafts. They like emotionally taking care of other members of its system, and it enjoys acting as an emotional support animal. Mochi wants to be social but has anxiety and isn't always sure how to recover from social blunders. She can therefore function as a socializer if accompanied by a social protector. It is objectum for Nintendo consoles and, if applicable, helps the system manage their objectum relationships.

[These can be edited and changed as needed, and headmates will almost definitely not turn out EXACTLY as described.]

[totaldramafan-lauri]

Make Use Of Me (chapter 1, preview)

2025 EDIT: PLEASE STOP LIKING THIS OLD PREVIEW!! This doc has NO reason to be read anymore! I posted this over a year ago to gauge interest in my fic, and now, well.....THE WHOLE FIC IS COMPLETE! The whole thing! I got it all done, and it's big! You can find it here! Read that if you're interested, rather than giving attention to this post, please! This is SO outdated now!

O-OK...here goes....

First thing's first: I am not expecting a lotta people to read this. I'm not asking people to read this. At this point, I'm making this mostly as a passion project, and if anyone enjoys it, it'll be a really cool bonus. My writing style isn't gonna be for everyone, and the characters I write aren't the most....popular characters in the CRK X Reader community, and I imagine this isn't really something a lotta fans'll be demanding more of.

This is LONG. This one chapter is 56 pages long. I am a VERY wordy writer,

So......why'm I posting this preview? Well....partially as an interest gauge for people who WOULD wanna read it, but...mostly as a motivator. As something to remind myself of whenever I get lazy. After all....I can't quit after I made the first chapter public, right? By doing that, I put myself out there...And, hey, I even tagged it, so, if by the off chance, someone did read it, I'm basically promising them more eventually.....

But, again, I'm not forcing anyone to read this.

Not only is it long, but.....This first chapter is probably my least-favorite thing I've ever written. By posting this chapter by itself, I'm testing to see if it does its job of making people wanna read the rest, cuz....right now, I'm not so sure how well it succeeds at that.....

This is the boring part of the story. It's a bunch of setup, and me jumping through hoop after hoop after hoop to just get everything started. I know setup is important and all, but....I'm already a very wordy writer, so....oof....There is some interesting stuff that happens, but it takes a while to get there.

I-I....kinda hate it, actually. The only reason I didn't scrap it is that I didn't realize I hated it until I was about halfway through it and the "good part" hadn't started yet. And I still spent a month writing the thing, so....I finished it.

I'm tagging this...as an experiment. If you wanna read this, go ahead. W-well, read my tags first, THEN go ahead. XD

All I can really say in this chapter's defense is that....I do try my best to salvage it. It's just setup, but I TRIED to make it interesting. And everything that seems like it didn't go anywhere, will later. This isn't the whole story, it's just the beginning of what's gonna be a BIG story. Anything that seems weird in this chapter, gets explored in the other chapters. This does set up a bunch of stuff that becomes important later (The friend character shows up later, the Colosseum becomes relevant later). This chapter is boring, but I tried not to make any of it pointless.

For the future: I'm aiming for five chapters. Chapters 2 and 3 will be a series of smaller vignettes that take place over the course of a few years, chapter 4 will be the climax, and chapter 5 will be something of an epilogue. After that, there will be two endings to choose from (which will make sense when we get there).

This probably won't be my favorite thing I've ever written, but it will be the most ambitious thing I've ever, and probably will ever, write. I haven't written something like this before, and it's all to flesh out this story and make it believable.

Right now, I.....I want to finish this. I'll probably still be writing this in February at the rate I'm going, but...at this point, I've put too much into it to give up on it. However, I'm STILL not completely ruling out the idea of my motivation dying before then. It COULD happen. So, what I'm planning to do is...setting a short-term goal of finishing chapter 3. After I do that, I'll post the first three chapters on AO3 together, and work on the rest. That way, even if I don't finish it, I'll at least have it over half done, and chapter 3 will end on a somewhat high note.

So, yyyyeah....Not a lotta people will read this preview. Overly wordy writing style + boring setup part of story + 56 pages long + assumed lack of interest for X Readers of this character (At least, I haven't SEEN many simps for her, m-maybe I'm wrong, I might be, I-I haven't checked any tags cuz I've been nervous, b-but it doesn't make my writing any better. In that case, this is my first time writing her so I'm trying super hard to do her justice >//////<)

I-if you wanna read this, and see if this first chapter does a good job of making you wanna read the better chapters, then...Go ahead.....

Some notes:

-This is still not the final draft. It's finalized enough for me to share, but I'm still not considering it finished. Even tho I'm working on chapter 3 right now, I STILL go back and edit this, even very recently. So, chances are, even if the story is finalized, small details and sentences are still subject to change. I know for a fact that there are still SOME placeholder bits in here that will change after I get some stuff cleared up. Recently, I even considered chopping off an entire section to make it shorter. I decided not to, but hey, it could still happen. I don't wanna waste anyone's time. The first chapter of a story, even if it's boring, is still very important, and I wanna make sure it's the best version of itself.

(A-and yes, this means that I've finished chapter 2 as well. The reason I'm not sharing it is that, unlike chapter 1, it was finished VERY recently, so I might still need to give myself time to edit it. From what I have, tho, I do like it a LOT more than chapter 1. There are some parts of chapter 2 that I'm legit proud of.)

-Even tho this first chapter is completely clean, I-I should mention that....this fic is for adults. The full version, at least. Chapters 3 and 4 are gonna contain some light N/S/F/W moments (the "fade to black" variety, so nothing explicit) and there'll be other slightly racey comments here and there. Just a heads-up. I'm gonna be uncomfy with minors reading this.

Th-that's all? I-I think that's all.......O-OK, so......h-here goes..... E-enjoy....

[jhsharman]

extinction events

[writtenmemxries]

Pretty sure social media ruined my life and I would have been so much happier just twenty years ago without instant messaging bc what do you mean I get anxious when I have to reply to texts and I get anxious when you're texting me because I think you're mad and I get anxious all the fucking time I'm on my phone ARRRGHHH MAKE IT STOPPPP

[koka-mi]

I wish stoves had volume buttons </3

[thefirstvessel]

I find it absolutely fascinating that liminal haunted house horror got a huge spike in popularity not too long after the start of a traumatic global event that forced us all involuntarily into our homes for uncomfortably long amounts of time.

It's fun finding cultural anxieties in horror, man.

[creaturepower]

Call me a technophobe but I fucking hate when shit updates when I tell it not to. If I'm hitting "remind me later" on the update that doesn't mean I want the update to happen at that moment in time so to just. Take away the choice after x amount of times I've hit remind me later is so annoying and frustrating

[yoohyeon]

I found a nice place to send my cv at, but I’m terrified

[atinyladybug-daydreams]

I'm suffering Immensely. It's worse that I'm computer illiterate <- really really illiterate

[prince-jelli-fish]

i literally have the discord app on my phone i just need to man up and finally make one