Thursday, September 27, 2012
Technology Is A Tool, Not A Life Ruiner
So I'm currently taking a graduate course called Emerging Telecommunication Technologies. Oh I know, how impressive. Except it's not. The textbook is from the early 90s and other readings are from the 60s. Not so emerging.
Really the class is about crotchety old men scared of change. They think technology is ruining which ever is the current generation, making us all more and more stupid. Their 100+ long papers are filled with gargantuous word which I don't have the time or carry the attention span to read. My world involves tweets and articles I can read in three minutes. Characters are much to valuable in technology to be using large words and like most people, I need my news short and fast because I have about million other things to check and do.
I'm in the process of writing an opinion paper for said class and I thought I'd outline my initial thoughts about the way technology is affecting the world here. First of all I would like to make my opinion clear, I do not believe technology is ruining the world. Until we are creating Arnold Schwarzenegger killing machines I think we will all just be fine.
The world is always changing and humans are always adapting. This is the first reason I know we are all going to be okay. Older generations always fear something, like rock and roll, civil rights, and girls in pants. We are getting better at realizing that many of these things won't destroy the world. Most of us understand that future us is going to look back and think about how silly the world was not letting gays marry because we were in fear that would collapse the entire structure of marriage and family. Yes it might change the structure but, like accepting that the world was actual round and Earth was not the center of the universe, maybe things will make more sense and we might actually learn something.
The second reason we can all chill is technology is simply a tool. Just like scuba gear allows us to explore the depths of the ocean, technology allows us to access information almost instantly. It does not actually transform humans in any way. A person is not actually stronger or more talented because they can strap on a scuba suit and swim underwater for an hour. However, human are not going to grow gills or develop bodies that can sustain large amounts of pressure so they can freely dive. Maybe in a million year, but should we really have to wait that long to explore the ocean? I don't think so. If we have the tools we should use them and then use our technology to store the information we collect, research better methods, and communicate across the world.
Third, technology has ruined anything yet, at least not drastically. If it had, many more people would be serious about using it less. It has made us lazier and walk into a few more fountains at the mall but life is still going strong.
Lastly, the problem is with society, not technology. We have become lazy and weak-willed. We make the conscious decision to lay around watching YouTube clips and constantly checking our Facebook. We feel anxious when we are not near our phones to check updates. We do not have to accept that reality. Really just leave your phone at home for the day. Read a book on the weekend and keep your computer off. It really isn't that hard and it may actually feel good. Also, relax and keep everything in perspective. Technology is not a big deal, it is a tool.
Everyone always says that if technology disappeared we would all be screwed. That is not true. We would quickly adapt. Humans always adapt. If it is with technology or not, change will happen and we will learn to live with it.
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I love this post! While I have enjoyed the readings, I do agree with you on a lot of the points you make. People have become lazy and I also think a lot of people, especially young people, don't place as much value on learning as they should. They want technology to do everything.
ReplyDeleteI need quick news and tweets on the web. I love to read and have no problem sitting down to read a good novel, but in the case of the web, it should be short. I create content at my job and so I constantly have to think about new ways to concisely share relevant information. A lot of people access the news and whatnot on their phones and iPads and don't have the time or the interest in reading a long article on them.
I don't think technology is destroying us either, and some things are really useful. I am not a fan of eBooks, but had one of my textbooks been an eBook I would not have had to make an hour round trip this morning to pick it up because i forgot it yesterday.
Of all the quotes in your piece, I really like this one: "The world is always changing and humans are always adapting. This is the first reason I know we are all going to be okay."
I think we should be more concerned about mental disorders and whatnot than technology (since there is a lot of evidence they are on the rise in society). We can still prosper as long as we learn the right morals and values and actually have passion for something.
Thanks Alyssa!
DeleteI know that my ability to sit down and deep read has decreased, but I did just read another article and the author made a really good point. We are still able to sit down and focus on things we are passionate about. When I work on things that I love, the entire world just stops and I completely lose track of time. So maybe there is an element of doing things we actually care about versus doing things we just have to. With so much information out there, you have to be fast to get through it all, but you can also be picky.