Albert Einstein is credited with the following prediction: “I fear the day that technology will surpass our human interaction. The world will have a generation of idiots.”

With the exploitation of smart devices, social media and the World Wide Web, could it be that we’ve already reached this point?

Some would argue that our information consumption habits are destroying our sociability, productivity, power of attention and creativity.

We no longer know how to interact with people, we don’t produce as much as we could at work, we find it difficult to focus on something for long periods, and we practically don’t create anything anymore—we just consume information that bombards us every few seconds from a screen near us.

This is so damaging that there are companies today that prohibit their employees from using work email after hours, while others have eliminated internal email altogether. Some productivity gurus even advise taking a break from technology to improve mental and physical health.

Don’t get us wrong; technology is a great tool! Platforms like YouTube can be useful for personal educational needs. Who doesn’t love a good how-to video? But when content becomes aimed at feeding covetous eyes with hopes of ‘my-life-could-be-like-that’ turned ‘my-life-isn’t-good-enough-because-it’s-not-like-that’, that’s when such platforms become a problem. We as individuals have to know when to stop.

Have a balance with what you consume. Don’t allow it to take over your life. Have some real human interaction and spend time with actual people. You won’t regret it.

How much time do you think is acceptable to spend online? Share your opinions in the comments below or on our Facebook page at facebook.com/uckg.ie.

If you have a problem with how much being antisocial and how much time you spend away from the real world, you can speak to someone at one of our HelpCentres.