European University of Lefke (EUL) Computer Education and Instructional Technology Teaching Department Faculty Member Assist. Prof. Dr. Gökhan İskifoğlu gave information on the subject of “Conscious Technology Use” and handled the use of technology as the use of positive technology and abuse of negative technology.

“The use of technology today is almost inevitable. Therefore, considering the technology and internet usage, which increased significantly during the pandemic period, especially due to COVID-19, it has become very important to address issues such as ‘conscious use of technology’ and ‘internet addiction’ and to raise awareness of our people. ” He also stated that the technology, which started to affect social life, affects the majority of the population, especially children and adolescents, and that it has become an inevitable necessity to determine the effects of this development on the mental health of children and adolescents and to take necessary measures in this regard.

İskifoğlu: Technology, which provides great benefits in education, has positive effects on individual development.

“The conscious use of technology directly involves the organization and use of all information and information technologies for positive purposes. In other words, when we say the positive use of technology, we are talking about the use of technology for the right purposes of children, young people and adults. He stated that technology, which provides great benefits in education especially in terms of obtaining information, has been proved by many scientific studies that it has positive effects on individual development. İskifoğlu said, “Children collect information for projects in schools, send their articles to experts in another school or country, get their ideas and carry out projects with students in different schools. Students make new friends and get to know people from different countries via e-mail. In addition to being able to get information on the subjects they are interested in, by contacting experts, the positive use of internet and technology encourages children to creativity. Children who learn by being influenced by what they see or read are trying to create something for themselves. ”  “On the other hand, internet and technology gives children a more concrete awareness of what globalization is by emphasizing the fact that children live in a global world,” said that technology helps us in solving many of the problems we face in our daily lives. As the European University of Lefke, immediately after the curfew and face-to-face education, which was announced within the framework of the measures taken by the Board of Directors, mobilized all the possibilities of technology, first, asynchronously and within two weeks, continue to education without compromising the aims and scope of higher education and training. “Thanks to our university’s strong infrastructure and investments, we had the opportunity to develop all kinds of web-based materials, and we were able to effectively communicate all our lessons to our students over the internet with the use of multi-media. ” He stated that the most important factor is to be able to know and distinguish between good use and abuse, and he also stated that it is necessary to have knowledge about the misuse of technology.

İskifoğlu: Unconscious use of technology includes many situations such as; exposure of children to inappropriate content, negatively affecting physical, social, psychological and mental development.

“When we say unconscious use or abuse of technology, the first thing that comes to our mind is the uncontrolled, unlimited and unintended use of technology. This type of use is a type of use that affects one’s life, disrupting everyday life and responsibilities. The unconscious use of technology involves many situations such as unnecessary long-term use, exposure of children to inappropriate content, adversely affecting physical, social, psychological and mental development. ” He stated that individuals can be affected by psychological and sociological problems.

“Especially, disturbed sleep is one of the most common problems we encounter. Children and adolescents sleep less to watch more television, get on the Internet more, play more digital games, or chat with their friends. It was observed that when the sleep pattern was impaired and the 6-8 hours needed was not taken, the aggression level and impulsive behaviour of the children increased. On the other hand, it is known that children who have attention deficit problems and thus the learning process is adversely affected, are exposed to excessive and unconscious use of technology,”said İskifoğlu. nutritional problems that may be considered important; “It shows that the consumption of sugary foods and” fast food “is very high in order to save time in people who are addicted to technology.” İskifoğlu said, “This situation causes unbalanced and unhealthy nutrition and excessive weight gain, but increase in impulsive behaviour due to the fact that the excess energy is not excreted by physical activities.  Thus, children and young people who are pushed into a sedentary life suffer both physically, mentally and psychologically. The main thing is that the individual knows himself in the direction of his interests, abilities and abilities, is aware of the cons of his pluses, develops his deficiencies and is at peace with himself. However, the use of unconscious technology stands as an obstacle to all these factors, which are very important for the individual. ” The reason for this situation in the result cycle can be described as follows: With the purposeless and unlimited use of technology, the individual will not be able to ask the questions necessary for his psychological development, and thus, the time which is the most valuable asset and cannot be brought back, while missing the opportunity to invest in himself positively, will not be used. Since the person uses the technology unconsciously, it can be very difficult for him to manage his emotions, strengthen his will and have a say in himself, focus on a goal and follow it. Due to all these negative feedbacks, the need for regular and in-depth relationships required for social development in the abuse of technology cannot be met and this situation affects social development negatively. In order for mental development to be healthy, a number of attitudes and behaviours are needed. These are: loving information, turning towards accurate and useful sources of information, reading, seeing, thinking, using information channels correctly, and keeping the mind clean”.

Finally, İskifoğlu said, “The use of technology causes the person to fill his mental capacity with unnecessary information to use it in vain, and if the information cannot find a place in that capacity, if the wrong and harmful information negatively affects the quality of life of the person, or if the mind is filled with entertainment images and the love of information is lost, the technology is misused.