The evils of technology

by Maureen
(New York)

Technology as a whole is a great thing and advances society in an extremely positive way. In fact, with out technology at all, societies would likely die out. With that being said, there are many negative impacts that technology has had on people. It is a great inconvenience as it gets in the way of relationships and communication. In one light, technology has somehow advanced communication... but really the only advances it has made are by creating more ways for general communication to take place... for a message to be sent, for someone to be able to connect with people all over the world at the click of a button..which is amazing... but I find it so extremely important, fascinating, and terrifying how often there are people in a room with other people who are not even speaking to each other. More times than not where texts are more descriptive than anyone seems to be with each other when they are within physical reach of one another.. How often there are people out to dinner, watching a movie, at an outing, where cell phones are spending more time with people than other people! How absurd. Outstanding, but completely absurd. There is not much of an argument that internet, smart phones, and all sorts of advanced technology have had a more positive impact than negative... but the negative is so close to outweighing most of the positives in my opinion. If people are not interacting with each other, then the meaning of what it is to be human almost goes out of the window, doesn't it? Over text some people almost seem like completely different people than when they are physically with someone. Amazing. There was a time when children would play with each other a ballgame, a hand game, word game, where input and interaction is key.. but now it is the social norm for children to play in isolation on an I-Pad. They see their parents on their phones and it becomes completely ok. There are families and there was a time when there were more families that valued a meal and discussion around the meal... but with the click of a button the touch of a screen and satisfaction is met for some people. It truly turns me off to life. It turns me off of people and makes me feel totally awkward. While being on a cell phone for a small fraction of the day seems acceptable..I almost find it impossible to want to be on a cell phone for even more than 1/20th of the day when you are surrounded by family or friends! After all, you will not always have those people around you and I think the best thing to do is to value the time you do have with them.. or else what are you living for?