Technology and Its Influence

Technology in my opinion is a topic in which there is no definite answer to whether it is ultimately beneficial or not. I would compare its’ indecision to something I learnt in TOK where there are many ways in which topics can be viewed from, for example, cognitive versus biological psychology and Keynesian versus Marxist economics. Technology has its pros and cons and there is no just way in confirming which one outweighs the other simply from the amount of variables that factor into making such a decision and even so trying to analyze a situation like this.

Overly there are many people in this world and many people have different viewpoints on technologies influence and benefits to society. My personal opinion is such that I do not support technologies influence and “benefits” to society as to me, technologies so called “benefits” in my opinion are not benefits at all. I believe technology has made three things out of us; more lonely, counterproductive and socially retarded.

A definition of lonely is; remote from places of human habitation; desolate; unfrequented; bleak. This is exactly what technology has done to us; it hasn’t made us more connected to others, in fact it has distanced people from one another and this is what contributes to the now so lonely aspects of our lives. Looking into the video, I saw something that didn’t shock me so much as I am accustomed to seeing it in everyday life, but this notion of talking to someone on your blackberry or IPhone or MSN when there is a person sitting right next to you is simply mind blowing. Have we become so introverted that we are unable to communicate face to face and need a keyboard, a screen and some sort of media to aid us just as a walking frame does for a crippled person? I think so. Not wanting to see this, believe this or even notice this would be simple ignorance on anyone’s part. Our lack of interest in “real” humans that are in front of us, that we can touch, feel and look at without a screen or monitor is once again mind blowing. I don’t see why we rely on technology so much; Why can’t we have face to face, good, classic social interaction anymore? This notion of loneliness I believe is not fully developed yet but as we continue to develop technology and its power, I see us in 20-30 years in a cubicle by a computer for 12 hours a day and sleeping the other 12 hours in a bed by the computer. Our lives are becoming less real and more virtual and this is something I do not support, I see it as a step back in society’s development.

The counter productiveness of technology has underlying effects on all of us I like to assume. I mean I cannot admit I do not go on facebook, waste time on MSN or browse sports related websites when I should be doing something of far more importance to my life. During this essay I cannot say I was not distracted at least once because frankly, I was. I am sure that my classmates, while writing this essay will also be distracted at least once and I would like to assume that also any teacher reading this might be distracted by some sort of technology. Our thought process has become such that it only lasts for a short period of time and our attention span has become such that it has been reduced to next to nothing. Although this is a hasty generalization I do not see someone arguing with me that most of the people who use technology have an urge to multitask and spend their time doing 3+ activities at any one time. The video conducted experiments on notorious multi-taskers and showed them how that in fact multitasking was not a strong ability of theirs and actually limited their productivity or in this context, speed of answering simple questions. The main notion of this is distraction and its ability for technology to sway us from what we are supposed to be accomplishing. This can be seen as a correlation to the loneliness that technology induces as what we really should be accomplishing is being successful in the social aspect of our lives as well as the work aspect and my interpretation of technology is that it hinders both. With distractions we spend less time with loved ones and more time with the World Wide Web. The question really is, which one do we love more?

To being “socially retarded” is a factor in which is becoming all too common nowadays. By socially retarded I mean the overuse of technology, the World Wide Web and ultimately as a cause of this, lack of normal socialization. Now this topic interplays with loneliness as a cause of technology but essentially, the two are differentiated as with “social retardation” people seem to gain a life, a love and a world within their technology. Today it is all too common to see people devote their lives to technology. A lot of people spend most of their day on Facebook, online games, video games and even the more disturbing chat sites that this world has to offer. I find them quite scary actually, not knowing who is talking to me on the other end so I have never used one and never intend to use one. This lack of social interaction, I believe will greatly hinder this generation in their future lives. When searching for a job, writing a CV, going to interviews and co-operating with people in the workplace, these people will find this such a hard notion to idealize and play out even within their own heads. Teamwork is essential to success and being a leader sets one apart from another. Inherently, playing World of Warcraft or Halo all day will not make you a leader, or so I believe and will hinder your abilities in later life greatly. That of course is my opinion on this generation. My opinion for future generations is such that they can play as many games as they want and become as socially retarded as they want for the simple fact that companies, corporations and society is becoming more and more reliant on communication other than that of contact. As in the video, the IBM people were not at the office, they whiere in second life, the virtual reality where they were able to host meetings and conferences instantly through its ingenious tools. Although this is an engineering and technological marvel I find it quite depressing, mortifying and essentially “sad”. Overly, the future generation might never have to meet someone face to face as this could be done over second life or even have babies with someone, this maybe too could be accomplished over second life, although I am pretty sure it won’t be as rewarding.

In my opinion technology has simply gone too far and to all those people out there addicted to it “get out of your house while you can”.