Do you ever stop and wonder whether you’re being controlled by a force beyond yourself? Does the world ever feel empty, unreal, and mad all at the same time? Maybe these thoughts don’t even occur to you as you’re already consumed by all the technological innovations that were supposedly made to help us. In any case, here are twenty signs that you might be a slave to modern technology.

1. You’re more interested in recording the moment than living in it

Not a slave.

Are people even experiencing life anymore? It seems everyone today is more interested in showing off what they’ve seen and where they’ve been than they are in actually relishing in those moments. Today’s social media is making people take “Pics or didn’t happen” attitude quite literally.

2. You often lose track of your time on the internet


How often do you snap out of staring at your favorite screen only to realize that you just spent several hours online? You had better things to do, but you just wasted your time on brainless Youtube videos and dumb clickbait articles. You promise yourself not to do it again, but… Oh! You need to check THIS out!

3. You feel anxious without digital connection


Do you constantly check for emails, messages, updates, and news frequently even when there aren’t any? People today are such junkies with their smartphones that nomophobia is a real thing.

4. You spend more time in front of a screen than in real life


Average Americans spend more than 7 hours a day staring at screens. And you know things are getting bad when you start to feel that the real world is too boring in comparison. Even myself, who prefers being in nature and enjoys doing physical activities, need to spend exorbitant amount of time working on my laptop.

5. You don’t get enough sunlight


People around the world are suffering from Vitamin D deficiency due to lack of sunlight, and technology is not making things any better. Is it any wonder that the folks who are constantly plugged in don’t seem to have any vitality left in them?

6. You have difficulty falling asleep


The same people who deprive themselves of natural light during the day love to bombard their eyes with artificial light at night time when they need to sleep. Doing this will really screw up your sleep cycle by disrupting the melatonin production in your brain.

7. You walk or drive with a phone in your hand


I don’t know how many times people almost bumped into me because they were too busy staring at their phones while walking. I also find it outrageous that many people rationalize their texting and driving habits by claiming that they’re smart (i.e. entitled) enough to do it safely.

8. You believe that brain games actually make you smarter

brain game

I’m sure this will be very useful in real life.

I always thought all these “brain training” games people play on their phones were dumb and pointless. Recent studies have proven my suspicion.

9. Your social skills are poor due to lack of human contact


I was a shy and awkward teenager growing up as I had spent almost all my free time on television, internet, and video games instead of socializing. It took me almost a decade of painful struggle just to catch up and be somewhat average with my social skills.

Many millennials today are bunch of bumbling wrecks who are shallow and clueless. I’ve even met few teenagers who were afraid to pick up a ringing phone because they were too used to receiving texts instead.

10. You prefer porn and virtual girlfriend to a real woman


Would bang… by pressing the button repeatedly.

Internet porn has already plagued and ruined men all over the world, but did you know that there are now “virtual girlfriends”? They’re already popular in Japan and the West will probably see a similar rise of prevalence of these AI chicks with the continuing dysfunctional sex relations in our societies. Many men are likely to turn into total sex slaves to machines once the sexbots come into being.

11. You obsess over the latest gadgets



You spend several hours checking out the specs of the latest consumer devices, obsessing over every minute details like how the new version of the product is 0.8mm thinner than the previous model or how it has more pixels than you could ever detect with your eyes. You line up to buy the next cutting-edge phone because your current one is already 11 months old. And once you’ve dished out your cash to own your prize, you debate with the idiots with rival phones and sneer at them because your toy makes you superior to them.

Yeah, that’ll show those losers.

12. You find yourself being dragged into the technological cult


“Join us! You’ll be happy and beautiful just like us. We promise!”

I’ve been wanting to get rid of my low-end smartphone for a while now so that I can downgrade to a flip phone and simplify my life. That, however, has proven difficult as the people where I live use a popular third-party app for almost all personal and work-related communications. I’ve virtually been forced to remain in the clutch of my smartphone even though I don’t want it anymore.

It’s already nearly impossible to live without credit cards and emails. How much longer before the same becomes true for smartphones and RFID’s?

13. Your posture and health has degraded


Technology has ushered us modern humans to a sedentary lifestyle that is having a devastating effect on our health. Forward neck posture is epidemic in today’s world where people are constantly leaning forward to stare into a screen. And this is just from using modern electronic devices. Don’t even get me started with processed foods, genetically-modified foods, chemical toxins, hormones, etc. present in everything that we consume.

14. Your cognition has declined


Have you noticed that you feel bored more easily, and have difficulty concentrating and remembering things? Back in the day, people used to memorize entire tales and epic poems; today, many young people struggle to remember their own phone numbers.

Also, people can’t seem to read anything longer than few hundred words anymore as it automatically leads to the “TL;DR” response.

15. You think multitasking makes you smarter and more productive


No, it doesn’t. If anything, your productivity suffers while your brain becomes worse.

16. You frequently buy things cashless and look forward to the mobile payment system


Cashless society is not a good thing.

17. You let yourself be dictated by a machine


Is the technology you’re using guiding you or commanding you? The line seems to be getting blurrier everyday, but not too many people care because they are addicted to convenience that they provide.

18. You have no concern for your privacy


Don’t worry, it’s for your own safety.

Never in history has governments and corporations been able to amass as much information about us as they do now. Today’s world of information collection and surveillance is a Stasi wet dream come-true.

Even though the chance of dying from a terrorist attack is less than getting struck by a lightening, the people have bowed down to the government’s fear-mongering campaign and have willfully given up all notion of privacy. Your every movement, online search, purchase, and communication are being recorded and stored now. The real winner of the War on Terrorism is Big Brother.

19. Your government has better toys than you


Now, it just needs a mini-gun, facial recognition technology, and database from Facebook to hunt down anyone with higher testosterone than Caitlyn Jenner.

While us peasants are barely able to arm ourselves with basic weapons like knives and guns—if at all—our governments possess all sorts of advanced weaponry to control us. And with the coming robotic technology, it seems our overlords won’t even need other men to stamp our faces with a boot—forever.

20. You think technology is all fine and dandy


Humanity will be subjugated not by guns and prisons, but with electronic screens and entertainment.

Even with the above points, there will be many people who openly and blindly accept all technological innovations as a good thing. They will claim that you just need to “moderate” your use and everything will be fine. But who decides what’s moderate? How do you quantify it? How do you remain moderate in a world that is becoming increasingly dependent on technology? Moderate use today would have been considered excessive just a century ago.

There are many more problems regarding technology, but I will conclude by saying that the issue isn’t a simple black-and-white one to generalize it as being either good or bad. And I’m certainly not suggesting that we abandon all technology and go back to the primal times (at least not yet). What we must do, however, is be more aware of the effects that technology is having on our daily lives lest we end up like frogs being slowly boiled in a pot. You don’t want to wake up one day only to find yourselves consumed by technology with no way to escape.


Read More: Why Able Men Should Cheer Every Job Eliminated By Technology


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