Has Over-Reliance on Technology Disconnected Us From Real Meaning? Important Questions for the Modern Family!

Written By: Scott Compton

How much faith do you have in the goodness of humanity? Do you view it as a sliding scale based on where you look and what timeline you are in? Do you perceive the general thoughts of humanity interwoven with the good and the beautiful, or in service or shackled to negativity and darker sentiments? Individually, each of us is a single microcosm of humanity. Each of us is able to perceive a pulse, or feel a tug in one direction or the other: toward real humility, love, courage, kindness, beauty, respect, forgiveness and gratitude… or in the other direction such as looking at a wall of emojis. And what do you believe is the best design in how you express these virtues to other human beings?

Each of us has a radiant side and a shadow side if we honestly look inward. One of the largest challenges we have been given in the past century is how we communicate and relate to other humans, the methods of our education to encourage the mind to think with certain patterning as “a better way,” how open we are to embrace specific concepts and the actual exposure to the information that helps to form our knowledge, that when combined with our personal experiences forms our perception about what we judge as wisdom itself. The ramifications and ways in which we acquire information, retain knowledge and interact with other humans are often not considered and left out of the formula completely.

The fabric of communication within society has gone through a massive overhaul with the expansion of technologies, and being so integrated with technology throughout my life, I would argue technology disconnects the depth of relationships people can have, rather than connects them up. I expect this problem to get worse, not better, as the world of AI takes over. I was brought up on the first computer systems, joined the first chat rooms on 1200 Baud modem, and nerded out on the original Apple and Commodore systems. However, at that time in the early 1980s, many of us were loners and geeks and just wanted to pass our solitude with other people when we could not, so the illusion of meeting another person online was attractive at times. But was it an actual interaction?

Arguably, meeting up in person with friends and family is profound. It if were not, then every Thanksgiving here in the USA, every family would have their turkey dinner over Zoom or Skype to save airline fees, as it is the busiest day of the year. What is it about “being in person” that makes the experience more meaningful? There are obvious qualities of course like physical touch, gestures, facial expressions and the whole range of non-verbal communication that account for a great deal of how we communicate that can be overlooked.

But is there anything else overlooked? Why yes there is. Here is where the reader balks and laughs or has an open-enough mind to see the details of our biology. We generate fields within our hearts and brains. The heart field is much stronger and can permeate out over 10 or so feet away, whereas our brain fields have a faster falloff,  around 3 feet. These electromagnetic fields are generated from the heart and brain both being electric organs. Most of society views the heart and brain processes as mechanistic and biochemical, when it’s a huge disservice to the actual biophysics in play. If the heart and brain were not electrical, we’d be getting a flatline on the EKG and EEG machines, of course a flatline represents not being alive. Don’t miss this point, if you were not electrical, you would not be alive.

These electromagnetic fields are ultra-weak and can only be detected with sophisticated equipment, but our biology surely must be designed to feel them nonetheless. As emotions are also electro-chemical events, the frequencies we emit from our hearts and brains are typically overlooked by most of society. When one says, “I feel a magnetism when I am close to that person,” it does have a deeper meaning. Yes, to the untrained biophysicist, this looks to enter the WooWoo land quickly enough, but it’s up to you to dismiss it outright or be open to experience it and investigate on your own.

Here is where the rubber meets the road. What happens when we inject screens and technology into the equation and build a society to interact continually with technology. What happens when lovers spend more time texting their communications or sending pictures, rather than holding each other in the flesh? What happens when schools are giving out assignments on computer tablets, while the teacher sits in a corner and disengages on technology as well? What happens on school buses when Wifi is installed to get kids to interact less with other kids? What happens when people are generally “thinking” all of the time with their devices, rather than “feeling other people” meeting eye to eye?

Technology, like any tool, can be useful. But I believe it is becoming the greatest crutch for humans to have basic communication skills with other humans. Just like any vice or addiction, there needs to be structure and a time set to consume it, and to know what consequences it may have if over-used or used for the wrong purpose. You decide…. is technology encouraging less feelings in the people around us? Could this be at the root of why you may believe your faith in the goodness of humanity could be lesser than it was 20 years ago? Do you think technology promotes more analytical thinking throughout the day?

Could a person on technology be more prone to cortisol swings, mood issues, addiction behaviors, etc.? Could technology directly damage our bodies by exposure to non-native electromagnetic fields? Are we turning humans into over-thinking robots to have emotions buried or downplayed? Are humans taking their phones and devices into the bedroom and sleeping with them next to the bed stand? Waking up with the phone? Always going online or would it be just fine if a person took a tech-fast for a week? Would there be a feeling of loss from tech? Is a person giving more attention to a device than another human? Is that respectful? Will there be a large backlash and tech-hygiene to know to turn off and remove technology to pay attention to other human beings? How will society balance what we have unleashed in the years to come?