In today’s world technology seems to do more harm than good due to our mindless reliance on it. As technology begins to reach the far ends of our world we become more susceptible to its’ free rein. And even though technology has improved our life in ways we didn’t know possible the negative effects outshine the good it might bring. In some ways it solves the problems that we didn’t think we had. Eric Schmidt and Jared Cohen have both worked for Google, a massive technological corporation. They write “Our Future Selves” to illuminate the innovative growth that technology has made to better, and continue to better our lives. On the other hand, Nicholas Carr, an American writer, published his article “Is Google Making Us Stupid?”. He focuses on the side effects of technology that we overlook. In this way, the negative effects of information technology does not outweigh the good it does because we hand over our rights.
The use of technology has manipulated the mind of consumers over time and is detrimental to our ability to expand our knowledge and use of thinking. Ultimately, information technology has impaired our cognitive development and has altered the way our brains operate. In Nicholas Carr’s article Is Google Making Us Stupid, he discusses how the use of information technology has affected the way we read, think and comprehend. Information technology has affected the way our brain operates by constricting our attention spans. Carr states, “I’m not the only one. When I mention my troubles with reading to friends and acquaintances … The more they use the Web, the more they have to fight to stay focused on long pieces of writing. (pg 3) Carr is proposing that the web has inevitably shortened our attention span by mentioning that it is happening to not only himself but he has observed it in others as well. We can infer because it is affecting our attention span, it has resulted in a change in our brain’s capacity to acquire knowledge. Carr also mentions how it has affected us cognitively when mentioning, ”What the Net seems to be doing is chipping away my capacity for concentration and contemplation” (pg 6). Carr is stating that the web affects his contemplation which is essential for our ability to comprehend, come to our own conclusions and to think critically. This demonstrates how the web is deteriorating our cognition by impacting our mental process to think critically and impeding the ability to have original thoughts and ideas. It is not only “chipping our capacity for concentration and contemplation” but it is chipping at our individuality as well. Information technology has modified our minds and brains to be mindless, mediocre and unoriginal.
Technology has made its way into our lives good and bad but over time it has only become worse, due to the fact that we are getting emotionally attached. It has always been a source of bullying, expressing feelings, fake news, connecting with others and our actions. In the article “Growing up Tethered” by Sherry Turkle he explains how technology has ruined today’s kid in learning empathy skills, their values, their identity, and managing/expressing their feelings. They have reformatted all those resources for screens and small talks online not allowing them to think for themselves. “Now, technology makes it easy to express emotions while they are being formed” (Turkle, 239). We express our feelings as we type instead of actually processing them and experiencing them. We hide our feelings as well as share our feelings behind the screens. It is as easy to form a thought by sending out pictures, comments, and likes and we tend to dependent on that, and when we don’t receive as many likes or comments it affects us emotionally because we start believing we aren’t as pretty as someone else. We let our self confidence go down based on what people have to say online. People become someone they’re not because they don’t have a good lifestyle, money, confidence, popularity, or a voice. They feel unwanted so they go out and make a fake profile of a pretty white girl to get likes and feel loved by someone online. Or even sometimes they edit their own pictures to make themselves skinnier, a bigger waist, bigger boobs and so on. We let technology get to us and who we really are just to please others.
On the other hand, technology preoccupies a major fraction of our everyday life from dawn till dusk. Moreover, it increases efficiency, prompts innovation, and creates more opportunities. As the sun rises, we are awaken by our alarm to signal us that it’s the start of a new day. Then just as we are about to head into the restroom to brush our teeth with a electric toothbrush, we are delighted by the aroma of a sweet, fluffy bread that’s coming from the toaster. Furthermore, who is to say that our life would be the same without these masterpiece inventions. Technology yields “gains in efficiency and productively. . .particularly in developing countries where technological isolation and bad policies have stymied growth and progress for years, and people will do more with less” (Schmidt and Cohen 220). As many of us has heard of the saying “time is money” technology is essentially giving us the key to minimize our labor time and maximize the amount of money we can potentially earn. The internet, yet also another source that eases our busy life is being berated for its convenience. In such, author Carr argues that in the midst of web surfing, individuals are being distracted and loses their train of thought from pop-up ads. But these ads can easily be blocked if the individual simply downloads “AdBlock”. Additionally, Carr’s claim has not yet been scientifically proven. Whereas, it’s been seen that because of the easy accessibility of the internet one is able to finish a task more faster than ever, such as, “research that once required days in the stacks or periodical rooms of libraries can now be done in minutes” (Carr 2). Informational technology has eased our hectic schedule, especially those of students. Ultimately, “everyone in society benefits from digital data, as governments can better measure the success of their programs, and media other nongovernmental organizations can use data to support their work and check facts” (Schmidt and Cohen 221). The internet allows for information to be efficiently and handily gathered; it is able to gather precise information with accurate statistics within seconds for the government. Compared to if the government had sent out people to collect surveys from town to town, it would take months or even years. Information technology empowers men to build bigger and better machineries while conserving time. In the near future, “communal 3D printers in poor countries would allow people to make whatever tool or item they require from open-source templates. . .rather than waiting on laborious” (Schmidt and Cohen 222). The 3-D printers will allow developing countries to print out utensils and building parts. Therefore, it means that inhabitants of rural areas will needless to travel a long distance to get to the city to buy their home necessities and construction workers are also able to print out the missing equipments. Essentially, the time they saved can be used in other needed areas, which in turn will help them seal in some gaps between their (developing) country and Third World countries. Although, a world with classless society may never seize to exist, I believe that technology is definitely able to break some underlying barriers and help level the status of the lower and higher class.
Although technology provides a mirage of endless positive possibilities that may or may not come to fruition we have to be grounded in reality and realize the actual effects it will have in the everyday lives of the people. One of the grim realities that all this technological advances would be is the laziness that inevitably will increases in future generations, we will begin to become reliant on the internet and technology for all the answers and solutions eventually evolving to not being able to think for themselves and “be better off” if our brains were supplemented or even replaced by artificial intelligence” (Carr) this results in a mindless society being a product of constant reliance on technology and the internet over time which can be easily manipulate but I digress. Another negative impact that this constant reliance on technology and the internet is the violation of our privacy by the government, as it is we already freak out that the government was revealed back in 2012 when Edward Snowden exposed the government for watching and constantly having us on surveillance through our laptops, cellphones, game consoles and etc. the united states freaked the hell out didn’t they, now you have to realize that if we were to keep up these constant advancements in technology and reliance on the internet our privacy will be even more violated than it already is. Overall while yes these constant advancement that we make in technology are not only amazing and could possibly come to life and help those in need we need to keep the other foot grounded and rooted in reality and monitor that this technology doesn’t become out of hand and escapes the boundaries that we want to encapsulate it in, because if we were to let our imaginations run wild and just dream our privacy will be thrown out the window and all of this technology will backfire on us.
Lastly, because technology grows larger and more complex with each passing year it is important to inspect the side effects of it. Even though it has given us positive results it is also wise to look at the negative effects that it has created. Technology has become something the we have built but haven’t truly understood. And while it has asked to mindlessly aid it we should be aware of its effect over us.