Essay on dependency on technology
Answers
Answer:
Throughout history, mankind have been developing different types of technologies that allow him to simplify and enhance his lifestyle, since ancient times humans were developing new technologies to help them in activities to use a smaller amount of time and more do it more easily. Over the centuries, these rudimentary technologies were improved, and new ones have emerged in some cases replaced earlier technologies and others who came to meet new needs. These new technologies introduced at the same time, changes in the socio-cultural practices; therefore the world has begun to be characterized mainly by presenting a rapid development of technologies that enable the ease of communication. But the very rapidity of these has also generated a significant impact on society; this can be observed in the young people who excessively use specific technologies such as cell phones and the Internet, to the point that we are talking about a possible dependence of these new tools. The technology sector lives in constant motion. Each year we see more and better products and services that facilitate our daily and professional life and no doubt, in the coming decades we will see newer developments in this area. Most people who live in this world make use of new technologies, but we must consider a little that these new technologies not only have a positive side, but also a negative side. Most people only see the positive side of this and the fact that they can count on technologies such as social network and mobile phones that contain everything that a person needs to communicate; this has made us dependent of these new technologies. It sounds terribly dramatic, but the truth is that if we do not use one of these media for one day, we would not be satisfied.
More and more people are turning to online dating websites and social networks to meet people and make new friendships by simply filling out a detailed profile of different people linking with their common interest. Some may argue that this is not a natural way of developing relationships. Relationships are not as simple as logging on to a computer and chatting with someone you don’t really know. With that comes the risk of revealing too much personal information and putting yourself at risk. In August 2003 alone, 40 million unique users visited online dating sites in the United States alone, this was according to Andreo Fiore (qtd. in U.S. News & World Report). The use of technology does not only have social negative impact. Diane K. Danielson who is the CEO and the founder of the Downtown Women's Club, a women's networking organization, she wrote on January 2009 that, “Americans are relying more and more on personal digital assistants (PDAs) with e-mail access. But surveys show we're not using these devices to reign in our work hours; instead we're adopting technology to help us work harder, faster and longer.” This tells us that such innovations are taking our leisure time away. Let us try to pause for a moment and examine closely the hold and effects modern technology has on our lifestyle.
Dependence on technology has made us forget about some of the traditional skills. Technology is wonderful but its dependency has become so alarming and most of the traditional skills have been forgotten. For example the skills of reading maps have been forgotten as now people are using GPS or MapQuest for directions. People are so dependent on the GPS that when it loses the reception people get lost. Also nowadays driving is automatic, it practically drives itself in that people can't operate on manual cars. Calculators have also become so popular in school that people can't operate without one even for doing simple calculations with their brains. People are also so used to compact digital cameras that they have troubles operating digital SLR cameras.
The dependence on the technology is too much that people are losing their ability to think and even read as people have all the information they need on the internet. Their ability to think has been lost due to the use of computers as they always give us all the information we need and also our spelling mistakes can be corrected by the computers. We also don't produce our own foods as productions of packaged foods have been mechanized.
For a long time computers have been all over the place and most households have them. Internet is the common activity on the computers and the internet is used to expand our information, listen to music, play games, chat and watch videos. And people are addicted to internet and this is a problem as they spend much of their time on the internet other than spending their time on productive activities.
Internet also affects peoples' social lives as they use internet as the principal source of information and communication. Also it may lead to impairment on their careers, studies, community and society.
Technology makes our life simpler and easier but people's dependence on the technology is too much in that they are making people very lazy as we have become sluggish, obese since our transportation has been mechanized. The technology has made so lethargic in that we cannot even go to the shops to buy fast foods and all we need is just a phone call and the foods are delivered to us. So in my opinion too much dependence and addiction to the technology is not good for humans.
Hope it helps!!