IS TECHNOLOGY GOOD?
There are many things that seem to be worse about our world since the invention of modern technology. Matt Richtel from New York Times writes that technology poses a profound new challenge to the young people of today. It is very easy to become distracted from what you are doing by a tex message or a facebook notification. Many of us will do homework with some other social media window open as well. This can cause us to not give our full attention to our school work. A Pew Internet study found that 64% of AP and NWP teachers think that today's digital technologies do more to distract students than to help them academically. There have been many studies that show technology has not always helped society out in a positive way. For example a new study that has been published in medical daily, the Huffington post, US Today, and time states that over the course of the last couple decades the average attention span has dropped from 12 seconds to 8 seconds. This is mostly due to the use of digital technology. However this is mostly age dependent. The study says that 77% of people between the age of 18 and 24 responded "yes" to the question "when nothing is occupying my attention, the first thing I do is reach for my phone", and only 10% of people over 65 said that they check their phone when they have nothing to do. It can be inferred from this that people over 65 do not check their phone when they are bored because they did not grow up with this technology, so they have taught them selves to direct their attention to something more productive. In an interview with an 80 year old named Farrell Daste he was asked a series of questions about what it was like growing up in the 1930's-1940's. Over the course of the article he states that he believes technology has ruined kids ability to communicate, and imagination. I have to say looking around I think that Farrell Daste might have a point.Sources:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/21/technology/21brain.html?pagewanted=all
https://livesimplechicago.wordpress.com/2010/12/06/life-before-technology/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/diana-graber/kids-tech-and-those-shrinking-attention-spans_b_4870655.html
http://www.pewinternet.org/2012/11/01/how-teens-do-research-in-the-digital-world/
http://www.medicaldaily.com/human-attention-span-shortens-8-seconds-due-digital-technology-3-ways-stay-focused-333474
I agree that to some extent, technology has ruined our ability to communicate with others meaningfully. However, do you think the benefits of technological communication outweigh the losses? I think the convenience and ease of communicating via the Internet easily outbalances the fact that we no longer have as many face-to-face conversations (a fact which can easily be countered by individual initiative). I also think that this loss of real communication is an inevitable effect of technology and that we must learn to become accustomed to these changes in our lifestyle; maybe online interactions are just as valuable as "genuine" conversations after all.
ReplyDeleteI think this was very different to read because in social media all we see is how technology is making our lives so much easier when in reality that isn't always the case. I like how you said, " There have been many studies that show technology has not always helped society out in a positive way." I completely agree with this and I think the idea of tech was to improve our lives and make life easier but the truth is for me that technology affects students in a negative way because they have their computers do things for them like auto correct, thesaurus, and math problems. This results in students currently and in future generations learning less and relying more on technology to do their work for them leading to less innovation.
ReplyDeleteThere have been many studies that show technology has not always helped society out in a positive way.
I agree that technology can be disruptive and distracting, however it is a amazing resource we have as well. This is a major topic nowadays especially in schools with our computers in every class and our phones. I think the industrial technology is helpful overall however smaller technology such as computers and phones can be helpful but are often abused.
ReplyDeleteI do agree with your point to some extent because back in the 1920's many felt that the new inventions were changing family traditions, and this is something that many still feel since many teenagers and adults are constantly on their phones, and aren't interacting with others like they could. However, the new inventions are changing the ways in which we do things and the way we communicate which are making things easier and faster, it is just our duty to use in moderation. If these new inventions were to be used in moderation, this problem with technology wouldn't be much of a problem anymore.
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