*School Project*

1. Problems of Well-Being
“Technology is harmful to our minds, bodies, and social lives”
By: John Victa and Emily Jonkman

2. Agenda
• Introduction
• Well-Being
• Technology Facts and Problems
• Sociological Theory
• Intellectual Well-Being
• Physical Well-Being
• Social Well-Being
• Solutions

3. Introduction: Well-Being
• A state characterized by happiness, health, welfare, and prosperity
• “Well-being is not just the absence of disease or illness. It is a complex combination
of a person’s physical, mental, emotional and social health factors. Well-being is
linked to how you feel about yourself and your life”
• (Better Health Channel, 2012)
• Key point to remember  not just about wealth
• According to an Australian consumer study, 58%
of people want to spend more time improving their
health and well-being
• (Better Health Channel, 2012)

4. Factors Affecting Well-Being
• There are many interconnecting factors that affect one’s well-being;
1. Nutrition/exercise/sleep habit
2. Money
3. Friends/family
4. Optimism
5. Enjoyable career
6. Self-esteem
7. Sense of purpose and meaning in life
- (Better Health Channel, 2012)

5. Technology Facts & Problems
• Innovative technology is increasingly becoming associated with higher rates
of unemployment and stability in the workplace
• Those who are unemployed are unable to provide for their families which leads to
multiple health issues such as depression, anxiety and/or stress
• Competition continues between human labor, and computerized machines
• Technology is now starting to relieve to mental stress and thinking needed in the
workplace
• Allows cyber-bullying to become very easy for bullies, and it is even easier to
become a victim of bullying

6. Continued…
• Social media is the most powerful form of technology that humans become
infatuated over
• Two out of every three Canadians use some form of social media (Faber, 2013)
• Technology becomes addictive
• Most people are, at all times, roughly 3 feet away from their cell phones
• 40% of people will check their social media accounts before getting out of bed in the
morning (Cactus, 2014)
• Negatively affects attention, emotional, decision making, and communication skills

7. Sociological Theory
• The sociological theory that relates to this topic is “Symbolic Interactionism”
• Each individual is affected differently from social media and technology
• Some negatively, some positively
• An individual can take technology and use it to benefit different aspects in their
lives, while other people get overpowered by technology and use it to destroy
their minds, bodies, and social lives
• The way an individual is shaped by technology will create different
attitudes, behaviours, and beliefs

8. Continued…
• Symbolic interactionism “focuses on the individual level and subjective
aspect of social life.”
• (Brett, 2014)
• Social interaction is one of the main things that can affect
a human being in a negative way by loosing their social
skills from ‘hiding’ behind a screen for so long
• Identity is shaped by social interaction

9. Video Clip:

10. Intellectual Well-Being
• “Intellect” is the process of reasoning and understanding thought and theory
- (Harper, 2010)
• Intellectual well-being is the overall ability to creatively stimulate the mind and the
brain with mental growth in order to live a happy and healthy life
• Technology changes the way the brain works and develops
• Social media can become a psychological addiction
• Brain scans show white matter in the brain, from technology use, use,
that negatively influences one’s attention, emotion and decision
making (asapSCIENCE, 2014)

11. Continued…
• Nervous system becomes rewired, causing the brain to react differently
• “Phantom Vibration Syndrome”  psychological phenomenon where your body has an
itch, but your brain thinks that it was your cell phone vibrating
• Dopamine is released with social media use
• Gaining pleasure from posting about yourself, and getting ‘Likes’, or having 600 ‘Followers’
• (asapSCIENCE, 2014)
• Think back to the symbolic interactionism theory: each individual will have a
different pleasure affect from gaining ‘likes’ and ‘followers’
• Some people might not care, while others will learn to love and crave the attention

12. Continued…
• Children as young as 1 are being introduced to technology devices
• “Critical milestones for child sensory, motor and attachment development are not being
met” (Rowan, 2010)
• Overuse of technology in children essentially causes tracks to parts of the
brain such as the frontal cortex, to be cut or taken away
• Affecting impulse control
• Affecting executive functioning (memory, problem solving, and
reasoning
• (Rowan, 2010)

13. Physical Well-Being
• Our lives have become increasingly
immersed in technology, therefore our physical
well-being is affected
• Mainly our lifestyle
• Those who rely on technology for entertainment
and communication become sedentary
• Even those who have to work in front a computer all day are also affected

14. Continued…
• A sedentary lifestyle is caused by:
• An addiction, which than leads to:
• Lack of proper nutrition
• Improper amounts of sleep
• Very minimal or no amount of physical activity
• Depression/anxiety
• This then leads to…
• An increase risk of chronic illnesses or diseases
• Death

15. Social Well-Being
• Technology can be used to gain an understanding of other cultures, meet
people all over the world, communicate effectively with others, and maintain
and strengthen family relationships
• However, technology can take a toll as it can increase isolation due to
constantly being distracted, and becoming addicted to technology
• Example: Children becoming addicted to video games
• Video games are the preferred leisure activity for many youth

16. Continued…
• Studies found that 88% of the nation’s children ages 8 to 18 play video
games. With approximately 45 million children of that age, studies suggested
that more than 3 million kids are addicted (Donna, n.d.)
• People who are addicted to video games always encounter the situation
where they have to choose whether to interact with the real world or
continue living the virtual world.
• This results in isolation, which than leads to the slow diminish of effective
communication skills
• Relating back to the symbolic interactionism theory, one’s identity is shaped by social
interaction

17. Solutions
• Promote playing outside and getting active to limit screen time
• Encourage friends and family to join
• Set time limits to the use of technology and social media use
• Rearrange your room so that the television or computer is not the focal point
• Chances are, one of your friends is also addicted to technology so work as a team in
order to help each other out.
• Working together with the machine instead of letting the machine do the work
itself.
• Remember, the solution starts with YOU

18. References
• 5 Crazy Ways Social Media is Changing Your Brain Right Now;
asapSCIENCE. (Video File). Retrieved from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HffWFd_6bJ0
• Brett. E. (2014). Thinking About Social Problems. (PowerPoint Slides). Retrieved
fromhttps://gc.blackboard.com/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_tab_gro
up_id=_2_1&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Flauncher%
3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_220335_1%26url%3D
• Cactus. M. (2014). Social Media & Mental Health. (PowerPoint Slides).
Retrieved from http://www.slideshare.net/CactusMike/cbhc-social-medi

19. References
• Donna St., G. (n.d.). Study Finds Some Youths 'Addicted' to Video
Games. Washington Post, The.
• Faber. H. (2013). Canadian Social Media Statistics 2013. Web Fuel. Retrieved
from https://www.webfuel.ca/canadian-social-media-statistics-2013/
• Harper, D. (2010). Dictionary.com. Retrieved from
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/intellect
• N.A.(2012). Wellbeing. Better Health Channel. Retrieved from
http://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/bhcv2/bhcarticles.nsf/pages/wellbeing
?open#

20. References
• Rowan. C. (2010). A research review regarding the impact of technology on
child development, behaviour, and academic performance. Zone In.
Retrieved from http://www.sd23.bc.ca/ProgramsServices/earlylearning
/parentinformation/Documents/Impact%20of%20Technology%20on
%20Young%20Children%27s%20Development.pdf (child development
info)