Last month, I watched my nine year old niece FaceTime her grandmother who lives 2,000 miles away. They played virtual board games together, laughed at silly filters, and genuinely connected despite the distance. Beautiful, right?
The next day, I saw that same kid have a complete meltdown because we asked her to put the iPad down for dinner. She hadn’t looked up from her screen in three hours. The contrast was jarring.
That’s technology in 2025. It’s not simply good or bad, it’s both, simultaneously, depending on how we use it and what we’re willing to give up for the convenience it offers.
If you’re looking for a simple answer to whether technology is good or bad, I’m going to disappoint you. Because the real answer is messier, more nuanced, and requires us to be honest about both the incredible benefits and the very real costs of our tech saturated world.
The Question Everyone’s Asking Wrong
Here’s the problem with asking “is technology good or bad?”, it assumes technology is a single thing with a single impact. Americans express some openness to AI’s potential benefits, but they’re concerned about its impact on some human abilities, with 50% saying they’re more concerned than excited about the increased use of AI in daily life, up from 37% in 2021.
Technology is simultaneously saving lives in operating rooms and destroying mental health on social media platforms. It’s connecting families across continents while making people feel lonelier than ever in their own homes. It’s democratizing education while creating a generation addicted to dopamine hits from notifications.
The question isn’t whether technology is good or bad. The question is: what are we willing to accept in exchange for what it gives us?
The Undeniable Good (Let’s Start Positive)
Look, I’m not going to pretend technology hasn’t revolutionized our world for the better in countless ways. Let’s give credit where it’s due.
Healthcare: Lives Literally Saved
With the help of technology, doctors and researchers have made significant strides in treating and preventing diseases. We have diagnostic tools that catch cancer early, telemedicine connecting rural patients with specialists, and AI analyzing medical images faster and more accurately than humans ever could.
My friend’s dad had a heart attack last year. The paramedics used a portable EKG that transmitted data to the hospital in real time. The cardiac team was prepped and waiting when he arrived. That technology saved his life. Period.
Information Access: Knowledge for Everyone
The internet has made it possible to search for and find information on virtually any topic. Want to learn quantum physics? Free courses online. Need to fix your sink? YouTube tutorial. Curious about a medical symptom? Immediate access to information (though, please, still see a doctor).
I grew up in a house with a set of encyclopedias. When I wanted to know something, I had to hope it was in those 20 volumes, or wait until I could get to a library. My niece can ask her phone and get answers in seconds.
Connection Across Distance
Technology has made it easier than ever to connect with people all over the world, with the rise of social media and messaging apps allowing real time communication with friends, family, and colleagues, regardless of location.
During the pandemic, technology wasn’t a luxury, it was a lifeline. Video calls kept families together. Remote work kept businesses running. Online learning kept education going. Technology revealed just how essential it had become.
Economic Opportunity
Technology has created entire industries that didn’t exist 20 years ago. Freelancers work from anywhere. Small businesses reach global markets. People in developing countries access opportunities that geography used to deny them.
The universal value behind technology is bringing equality to products and services and minimizing socioeconomic gaps among societies and people.
The Uncomfortable Truth (Now Let’s Get Real)
But here’s where we need to be honest. For every benefit technology provides, there’s a cost. Sometimes that cost is invisible. Sometimes we’re in denial about it. But it’s always there.
Mental Health: The Crisis Nobody Saw Coming
Let’s talk about what nobody wants to admit. 53% of Americans say AI will worsen people’s ability to think creatively, and 50% say AI will worsen people’s ability to form meaningful relationships.
But it’s not just AI. Social media has created a mental health crisis, especially among young people. Studies have shown a correlation between heavy social media use and depression, anxiety, loneliness, and suicidal ideation, with platforms deliberately designed to be addictive, using algorithms that feed users content based on their preferences and interactions, keeping them engaged for longer.
A 2025 study found that by age 14, almost one in three participants had a high addictive use trajectory for social media and one in four for mobile phones, with these adolescents significantly more likely to report suicidal thoughts or behaviors.
Read that again. One in three 14 year old showing addictive patterns with social media. This isn’t normal. This isn’t okay.
Addiction by Design
Here’s what makes me angry: concerns have been raised about social media platforms having been deliberately designed, in highly sophisticated ways that use behavioral psychology, neuroscience and artificial intelligence, to promote behavioral reinforcement and behavioral addiction.
They know it’s addictive. They designed it to be addictive. The people creating these platforms don’t let their own kids use them. Let that sink in.
A World Health Organization (WHO) study from March 2025 identified smartphone addiction as a public mental health concern in over 54 countries, with China’s urban youth reporting an average of 5.3 hours of non essential screen time daily, with 23% showing withdrawal symptoms when restricted.
5.3 hours. Daily. Of non essential screen time. That’s over a third of waking hours staring at a screen for no particular reason.
The Creativity Killer
Remember when kids got bored and invented games? Built forts? Made up stories? Now they reach for a screen the second boredom hits.
Americans are generally pessimistic about AI’s effect on people’s ability to think creatively, with 53% saying AI will worsen people’s ability to think creatively, compared with 16% who say it will improve this.
But it’s not just AI. Constant stimulation from technology means we’ve lost the ability to sit with our thoughts. Boredom used to be where creativity happened. Now we scroll to avoid it.
Real Relationships Replaced by Digital Ones
Habitual smartphone use not only reduces opportunities for face to face interactions but also contributes to anxiety, loneliness, and stress, all of which, when accumulated over time, can lead individuals to use their phones frequently as a way to escape from the real world.
It’s a vicious cycle. Technology makes us lonely, so we use more technology to feel connected, which makes us lonelier. We’re more “connected” than ever and simultaneously more isolated.
I’ve been at dinners where everyone’s on their phones. I’ve seen couples in restaurants, both scrolling, not talking. I’ve watched kids at playgrounds ignore each other because they’re on their devices.
The Privacy Nightmare
Every app, every website, every smart device is collecting data on you. Your location, your habits, your conversations, your preferences. While there are many positive outcomes to the widespread use of these technologies, there are also negative outcomes, such as technology dependency, cyberbullying, and privacy violations, that must be addressed.
We’ve traded privacy for convenience, often without realizing what we gave up or what it might be used for.
The Environmental Cost
Technology has a negative impact on the environment, with the production and disposal of electronic devices generating a lot of waste. Mining rare earth metals for our devices. E-waste piling up in developing countries. The massive energy consumption of data centers.
Every time we upgrade to the latest phone (when our current one works fine), we’re contributing to environmental destruction. But we do it anyway because the marketing is effective and the social pressure is real.
The Real Problem: It’s Not Technology, It’s Us
Here’s the uncomfortable truth: Technology itself is neither good nor bad, it is the usage that concludes its goodness or badness.
A knife can prepare dinner or commit murder. The knife isn’t the problem. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t acknowledge when certain designs make harm more likely.
Social media platforms could be designed to prioritize wellbeing over engagement. They’re not because engagement equals profit. Smartphones could be made to last longer and be more repairable. They’re not because planned obsolescence drives sales.
The technology isn’t evil. But the incentive structures behind it often are.
What Nobody Wants to Hear
We’re addicted, and we know it, and we’re not doing anything about it.
In 2025, 74% of university students feel “emotionally attached” to their phones, and 61% of heavy smartphone users said social media was the primary reason they couldn’t reduce their phone usage.
U.S. adults logged about 7.6 hours daily in 2025, with roughly 2.8 hours on social media, and global surveys indicate that a significant proportion of youth spend upwards of 7-9 hours daily on screens.
Seven to nine hours. For young people. That’s more time than they spend sleeping.
We complain about technology while simultaneously being unable to put our phones down. We worry about our kids’ screen time while checking our own notifications every few minutes. We say we value real connection while conducting more and more of our lives through screens.
The cognitive dissonance is staggering.
The Generational Experiment We’re Running
Here’s what keeps me up at night: a recent study looking at data on more than 4,000 kids found that by age 14, about a third had become increasingly addicted to social media, about a quarter had become increasingly addicted to their mobile phone, and more than 40% showed signs of addiction to video games.
We’re running a massive, uncontrolled experiment on an entire generation of children. We’re handing them addictive devices at younger and younger ages. And we’re only just starting to understand the consequences.
The prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain responsible for decision making and impulse control, is not fully developed in teens, which can make it difficult for them to manage their use of smartphones and social media, often leading to addictive like behaviors.
We’re giving developing brains access to tools specifically engineered to be addictive. What could go wrong?
The Uncomfortable Middle Ground
So is technology good or bad? Both. Neither. It depends.
The effects of technology on society have been both positive and negative. While technology has made it easier to connect with others, access information, and improve medical care, it has also led to job loss, cyberbullying, and technology addiction.
Technology has:
- Saved millions of lives (good)
- Created mental health crises (bad)
- Democratized information (good)
- Spread misinformation faster than truth (bad)
- Connected the world (good)
- Made us lonelier (bad)
- Increased productivity (good)
- Burned us out (bad)
The answer isn’t to reject technology wholesale or embrace it uncritically. The answer is to be honest about trade offs and make conscious choices about what we’re willing to accept.
What We Can Actually Do
If you’re waiting for tech companies to fix this out of the goodness of their hearts, don’t hold your breath. Their business model depends on addiction.
What we can control:
Be Honest About Usage Track your screen time. Actually look at it. Don’t lie to yourself about how much time you’re spending scrolling.
Create Boundaries Mental health professionals are increasingly recognizing and addressing the impact of smartphones and social media, with therapies now often including components aimed at reducing screen time, promoting healthier digital habits, and addressing the negative thought patterns associated with social media use.
No phones at dinner. No screens an hour before bed. Designated phone free times and spaces. These aren’t optional, they’re necessary.
Demand Better Be mindful of your technology use, be selective about the technology you use, protect your privacy, and use technology to learn and grow.
We need to demand that tech companies prioritize user wellbeing over engagement. Vote with your wallet. Support platforms and products that respect users.
Protect Kids Kids don’t need smartphones at age 8. They don’t need social media at 11. The research is clear that early exposure increases harm. Be the parent who says no, even when it’s hard.
The Bottom Line
Technology is neither savior nor demon. It’s a powerful tool that reflects the values of those who create it and those who use it.
As we move forward, it will be essential to consider the potential impacts of new technological advancements and work to mitigate any negative effects. Ultimately, it is up to all of us to ensure that technology is used in a way that benefits society as a whole.
Right now, we’re failing at that. We’ve let convenience trump wellbeing. We’ve let profit override mental health. We’ve let innovation outpace wisdom.
The question isn’t whether technology is good or bad. The question is: will we take responsibility for how we’re using it?
Because here’s the thing, technology will keep advancing. AI will get more sophisticated. Platforms will get more addictive. Devices will get more integrated into our lives.
The only question that matters is: what are we going to do about it?
Are we going to keep pretending everything’s fine while anxiety and depression rates skyrocket? Are we going to keep handing our kids addictive devices and acting surprised when they become addicted? Are we going to keep trading our attention, our privacy, and our mental health for the fleeting dopamine hit of another notification?
Or are we going to wake up and make different choices?
Technology isn’t good or bad. But what we’re doing with it right now? That’s on us.
And if we’re honest, we’re not doing great.
