technology

Technology is a vital part of everyday life in the twenty-first century. Every household in America has at least one computer and two televisions with cable or satellite TV. Kids as young as ten have their own cell phones and are fluent in acronyms commonly used for texting and instant messaging. It seems as if everyone is constantly connected to their buddy list by the way of technology, but is that beneficial to humans as a whole?

Technology has destroyed our ways of communicating with other humans. In high school, teens are taught how necessary proper grammar and clear expression is, but anonymous chat rooms, texing, instant messaging, and forums are undermining the true value of what we are taught. Capitalization is forgotten; punctuation is unnecessary; sentences are fragmented; spelling is disregarded. To thrive in such a community of frequent web browsers, a knowledge of this makeshift language that use abbreviations, acronyms, and numbers is critical. In addition, those who become accustomed to speaking this way find it hard to communicate with those who don't depend on it to talk. This is making our teenagers dumber than previous generations, and if we don't fix this problem, it will only get worse as time goes on.

Technology also undermines the quality of human interaction. With the rise of the social networking sites and instant messaging clients, talking to others in person is rare. It is much easier to talk to your friends and coworkers from the comfort of your own home then meet them someplace in real life. Certain qualities and lessons are learned when you interact with people; we miss the opportunity to obtain these when we talk to people through what we type. People learn to pick up on vocal cues for emotion and reactions when we hear another person's voice, and we suffer from this sacrifice we willingly make when we log in to talk to our friends.

We also become dependent on technology after we use it enough. Most people who are constantly connected find it atrocious and blasphemous to turn off their phone or computer. Some people would find it impossible for them to disconnect from the internet for even a day. Constantly logged on, these people seem to have forgotten about other methods of entertainment such as reading or spending time outside. It seems as if people live their life through technology instead of how it was meant to be fulfilled.

But why we do this? For one, the lack of human interaction can desensitize us to other people's emotions, making it easier for us to deal with tragedy and pain. Delivering bad news via e-mail or text message is much more impersonal than by actual interaction. This can numb us to the effects of certain actions. Likewise, a cyberculture is much easier to become a part of than real life. On the internet, you can lie about who you are in order to receive more attention. On that note conformity is inevitable, as it is in most settings with huge masses of people; consequently, you have to fit into a certain mold in order to be accepted. It just so happens that mold is someone who has made themselves dumber by speaking certain ways.

Perhaps we need to distance ourselves from the very items that make us dumber. Technology can be glorious, but we seem to abuse it beyond the point of it being beneficial. We are fairly new to ubiquitous technology, but we are already addicted past the point of being able to quit on command.

Currently listening to Incubus, James Blunt, and She Wants Revenge.