Are all of our technological innovations and inventions
actually impacting our lives for the better? At first glance, many would say
"yes of course!" Yet some of the more subtle problems tell a
different story.
Our
technological advances seem to make something easier, or less time consuming. Inventions
such as the plane and the telephone allow us to travel and communicate with
others at anytime and everywhere. But technology has sped up our society too
much? The Pilgrims took months to cross the Atlantic; today, one can travel from
Boston to London in about 8 hours, and even then we complain about how long the
plane ride was.
Instead
of giving us more time to ourselves, it seems the opposite. We used the time we
saved to do more things. Work to do, people to see, projects to finish, places
to be… our lives have become incredibly fast-paced. Students can now fit more
things into their schedule, juggling multiple projects and assignments, sports,
and their social lives. You wouldn't be hard-pressed to find sleep-deprived and
stressed students staying up late to try and finish up that last paper or
project.
Even
worse, technology provides a multitude of endless distractions. Our smart
phones provide us with a outlet to keep up with the world no matter where we
are. With a quick status update or a quick look on social media sites, instantly,
we get the current news as it unfolds. The web draws us in with more
entertaining ways to spend our time. There's always something we could be doing
instead; surfing the web, watching videos, playing games, anything to keep us
away from doing all that bothersome work.
It's
expensive to keep up with the latest technology. Consumers of unlimited data
plans for their smart phones pay around
50 to 60 dollars a month. The newest video game consoles like the PS4 and Xbox
One cost upwards of 400$, with yearly payments of 50 or 60 dollars. Yet there
are some who are addicted to keeping up with the latest technology. One of the
sadder sights of my life was visiting my cousins, who lived in a run-down
apartment with chipped paint walls, and seeing them engrossed in the screen of
their shiny new IPhone 5s.
While technology
has brought about many positive changes in our society and simplified our lives,
it brings consequences that offset some of its benefits. If we overuse and
become too dependent on technology, it could have dramatic repercussions on our
society
Kevin, You do a really good job of outlining the negative aspects of technology and how we misuse the time that technology saves us. I think you "hit the nail on the head" in your portrayal of our obsession with keeping a screen in front of our faces at all times consuming information that may or may not be useful to us.
ReplyDeleteI think this message needs a stronger counter-argument. Techonology isn't just for time saving, it has a myriad of other positive impacts on society. You could highlight the medical benefits of technology, the ability to raise money for causes through social media, the ability for an individual story or talent to "go viral" and change someone's life.
A societal advancement as impactful and far-reaching as technology always has benefits and liabilities. The truth lies in exploring both sides and delivering a well-conceived warning rather than a slam.
Kevin, Keith is right. You do a nice job outlining the negative aspects of technology. In addition to identifying a variety of potentially deleterious consequences of technology, you also write very well. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this. I particularly liked the example you cited of your cousins. I have seen that same scene too many times, and you are right, it is sad. Keith is also correct that you might have benefited from a slightly more developed counter-argument. Obviously there are some benefits to technology. Perhaps you figured those are so obvious that they were not worth mentioning. You might be right about that.
ReplyDeleteOverall, you have a clear thesis and you write very well. Personally, I wish you would have included some other layer of evidence - more imagery, another personal example, an analogy, some empirical evidence. What you write is convincing and probably true. It just feels a bit flat to me. Evidence like this might give it more depth.