Your Technology Is Making You Lazier

Bella Breakdown

Playing on your phone for most of the day may sound entertaining, but it’s making you lazier. A new study from Washington University shows that Americans spend almost a third of their day sitting down and using some type of device.

Using a range of ages, researchers saw that the average sitting time has increased by at least an hour a day from 2007 to 2016. Surprisingly, Baby Boomers aren’t that tech-incompetent because more than 50% of retired-aged adults use their computers on a daily average of an hour or more. Which was a drastic increase from the 15% that was reported in 2004.

Sadly this dependency on our gadgets is having a negative effect on our intelligence and our productivity. With new smartphones come new apps that are seemingly created to make our busy lives easier. No one has to leave their house for groceries, going to the store to rent a movie is no longer necessary and many other on-demand services that right at our fingertips have contributed to the growing epidemic of being a sloth.

Sadly, technology isn’t just affected adults, but children are also becoming more and more dependent on technology. 62% of children between the ages of 5 to 11 watch television for at least two hours a day.

“A sedentary lifestyle has been shown to increase risks of obesity, diabetes and heart disease,” said lead Researcher Yin Can. “Adults are recommended to perform at least 150 minutes of moderate activity a week, but only 1 in 4 do so. Kids between the age of 6 and 17 should perform 60 minutes of exercise daily, but only 1 in 5 get the recommended amount.”

Check out the video above to find out more on just how lazy you’re getting because of technology.