What has the ever growing and expanding world we live in come to? Every technological company that is based solely on a gadgets is competitively rushing to create the best new and improved edition of the first. So is technology bettering our lives or is it creating impermeable barriers? How do you decide which side of the question you believe in?
Being a sixteen year old, and growing up with the ever increasing technology right along with me, it has left my life as little bit of delusion . I remember watching movies in my childhood and seeing teenagers actually having conversations in the cafeteria. There wasn't cellphones or a computer for every classroom let alone three or four. By the time I had entered fifth grade, I remember my peers writing to their parents for a cellphone, and the thing that blows my mind is that they were doing this writing project for a school assignment, granted it was a persuasive letter, but how do they learn to write a letter period when, they probably didn't understand the full impact a cell phone would have. With my parents I had a discussion with them, and really it was not a discussion on whether or not I could have one, it was clear statements like this, ''this is what it is'' and ''how it is going to be'', no if, ands, or buts. They made it clear that I would not have a cellphone and probably wouldn't in the near future.
When I was younger I was disappointed greatly, looking back though, I'm thankful. To some this would seem a bit backwards, but how do I compare to others when I can actually have a decent conversation with any age group and not feel the social anxiety that others may feel when talking with another person.
I don't talk unless I need to, my friends have learned this, when I need to answer I do, but I'm not going to go through the useless chatter that others have. I'm not shy at all, when I feel passionate about a topic I will express every detail until I'm through. People of today have come to realize they don't want to talk or none of their friends are around they immediately pull a device out. With this sentence I relate completely because let's face it when your bored, your bored and having anything to do helps pass the time. Sitting in the cafeteria in the morning I watch the social groups around me and notice that once a person has joined a group, the individuals there exchange pleasantries' and small talk for a minimum of two to three minutes and go right back to the enamored relationship of them and their device.
How has society as a whole become the most socially inactive generation to be known? Henry David Thoreau, writes, ''We do not ride on the railroad; it rides upon us.'' This metaphor is so common today that it's almost irony. Through American history alone, we have covered the map with our success as a nation. What once took four to five years to build, now only takes six months to a year to complete. This example is a wonderful use of technology as a country. Getting back to a more personal level, the wide expansion of technology, I believe it is only weakening our feeble attempts to connect to people. The reason being is that with the wide varieties of communication it has eliminated the face to face interactions by a great deal.
When a person is given a way out they will take it, very few are willing to go the bumpy road instead they take the smooth path. On an earlier post, someone wrote, "Teens only interact with this glass barrier in front of their faces'' I completely agree because when a person is able to avoid the uncomfortable they search for a more comfortable situation. The situation being a unfeeling and man-made device that has no connection to the realities of our world. Since when has a cold piece of plastic become our comfort zone? I would much rather have a thoughtful and caring conversation with a living breathing person face-to-face then the user account they created over the web. This generation will become the most technologically advanced but the most socially awkward of humans since the dawn of time.
Where is the line drawn for addiction? For alcohol it's the complete want of a substance beyond control. For gambling it's the constant pull for the chance of a life time, the thrill of being lucky. ''Men think that it is essential that the Nation have commerce, and export ice, and talk through a telegraph, and ride thirty miles an hour, without a doubt, whether they do or not'' excerpt from Walden by Henry David Thoreau.
With these examples I would think it's quite clear that with any device it's easy to become addicted to the thrill of being able to know something before someone else, the thrill of beating a level, or waiting on a text. This addiction has wove itself into our life's and become tighter and stronger each day. We become so involved with a screen that is 5 by 7 that we often miss what is right in front of us. A recent example is with the crisis in Washington, an entire fleet of secret agents had a shootout with a woman inside of a vehicle, this crisis was right on the front lawn of our nation's capitol. The sad part of my story is that on the walkway of the white house a man was photographed. He was so distracted by the device in his hand, he walked right behind an agent on guard, completely missing the activity happening right in front of him. To make my point more clear he didn't even glance and wonder what the guard next to him was doing. Here is a link to the story.
http://news.yahoo.com/story-behind-viral-photo-from-capitol-car-chase-174858002.html
''The nation itself, with all its so-called internal improvements, which, by the way are all external and superficial, is just such an unwieldy and overgrown establishment, cluttered with furniture and tripped up by its own traps, ruined by luxury and heedless expense, by want of calculation and a worthy aim, as the million households in the land; and the only cure for it, as for them, is in a rigid economy, a stern and more than Spartan simplicity of life and elevation of purpose.'' http://thoreau.eserver.org/walden02.html This excerpt from Walden by Henry David Thoreau, is a prime example of the reckless use of tehnology that is most common known in our culture.
To finish up, I don't completely disagree with the uses of technology. I have a twelve year old sister, she has multi disabilities and is unable to speak, she depends on the use of sign language. The school she attended last year, Westridge, was able to get an iPad for her to use as a quicker and better understanding communicator. This device stays with her at school and moves with her through out her school life, it is now with her at Bondurant. At home we use sign language and have created a system of understanding with signs she has yet to learn. This iPad helps her to speak with individuals that are not common to sign language. The device stays at school, so when we are out and she signs something we have to translate. My sister and I are very close and with only a few words we are able to understand and have an entire conversation. In just a few movements and nods.
For my family technology has improved our lives, but when it's just us, we still rely on the basic face-to-face. I personal wouldn't want it any other way.
*Mikka*
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