Excessive Technology Use – Nese Ulusan – 1

>>> This is the first part (1/2) of our interview with Nese Ulusan <<<

>>> You can read the second part (2/2) of our interview with Nese Ulusan click here <<<

“We interpreted the concept of autonomy that we have gotten from the West as selfishness. Families’ role is inevitable. Z Gen’s kids will be more selfish.

We had a fruitful interview with clinical psychologist Neşe Uluşan about excessive use of technology and its affects.

We’re talking about the excessive use of technology. Is there any formulation in defining excessive use of technology? For example, is using social media for three hours or more in a day excessive?

Currently there are lots of work being done especially on internet addiction. In those studies using internet for business purposes is not considered as excessive use. When the person follows social media constantly, login sites except for getting information, then we perceive this kind of usage as negative. Negative effects can be disruptive depending on the usage time, frequency and aim.

If we exclude the working time like eight hours, people have approximately four hours at home. If they use more than an hour technology, then we can begin to talk about an excessive use. In those four hours they need to spend time with the family, have dinner, rest, deal with own needs, an hour is too much to spend.

What are the effects of excessive usage of technology on themselves and their social relations?

An individual shall be aware of his/her self-perceptions of strengths, weaknesses and needs. We can understand whether the person has an autonomous and original structure or not. In case of excessive technology usage, individual describes himself through comments and feedbacks given by others. The ‘self’ description may change accordingly. The individual needs relations also. Interrelations shall be balanced with the individuality properly.

What are the pathologies caused by excessive use of technology?

When the duration of use is excessive and out of purpose, we can talk about abuse. If a person spends too much time in social media waiting for the feedbacks, he can lose his self-confidence, feel depressed and the level of self-esteem may change. He can be depressed when he begins to define his existence, the level of acceptance from others by the feedbacks. I may give an example from one of my clients. He has a blog. He writes articles, shares his special moments, pictures, and then he begins to check the number of followers and his followers’ comments constantly. He begins to create a perception of his ’self’. Mostly this perception is distorted and not healthy. In fact, the person shall be able to identify the strengths and weaknesses of himself and fulfill his needs with a realization of ‘self’. When he begins to define his needs according to the feedbacks of his followers then he begins to experience anxiety and can be obsessed with the number of likes and comments. This is a social reinforcement. As long as he concentrates on getting more likes, he begins to spend more time checking them.

Another example can be the obsession disorder on body image. Especially some adolescent girls follow the celebrities and begin to be interested in their own outlook too much, their hair, noses, eyes etc. We already know there is a globally drawn look in the media. Those role models define how the outlook shall be, how they shall dress up, behave etc. When young people follow them, they try to be like them and make comparisons. Then dysmorphic disorders, eating disorders, anorexia, bulimia, nervosa discomfort can be occurred.

On the other hand people are exposed to too much news bombardment.

Yes, this is another perspective. Individuals may be traumatized by the negative news. For example; animals’ torture news or a message left before a suicide. That message was watched by many of my clients. When I spoke to them, they mentioned that they were badly affected, suicidal thoughts came to their mind and experienced an increase in depressive features.

Many of my colleagues will confirm it. How exaggerated the threat perception that is experienced by the individual, the anxiety disorder will increase. The stress brought on by the big cities is enormous. If you add the mental depression to job, mental and physical fatigue, individuals become more depressed and get less pleasure in life and their relationships begin to be deteriorated. At the end,an unsatisfactory state of life becomes normal as definition.

In this case, a balanced ego subject stands out. We will not give up technology but we need to use technology in a balanced way and we need to be aware of our persona in the virtual world is not the same as our own selves. How can individuals have this awareness?

Individuals shall be aware of their inner world and while defining their identity, they should be able to identify themselves correctly and be honest to themselves. The self that individuals want to create is called the ideal self. There are goals and desires in it. If there is a mismatch between the points where individuals are standing and want to reach, then the deterioration in the individual’s self-perception also damages the perception of self-worth.

Individuals need to establish relations with society and people, while they are living their autonomy. There is no problem when the individuals have their own unique personality. If they continue their relationships with others by mirroring others’ comments, change and shape their autonomy accordingly, then they begin to tear apart from themselves. This stability is very important. If individuals live by certain norms, they may feel stuck, begin to ignore others and show egocentric and narcissistic tendencies. Compliance is broken and individuals lose their health and feel detached both from the self and the society.

Thank you very much.

My pleasure.

>>> This is the end of first part (1/2) of our interview with Nese Ulusan <<<

>>> You can read the second part (2/2) of our interview with Nese Ulusan click here <<<

You can watch the first part of video interview with Clinical Psychologist Nese Ulusan below in Turkish.