Does Technology Hinder Us?

Ok lets be honest here; without the advancement of technology, we would not be in the world that exists today. Being able to connect with those from across the country or even the world through technology has brought us great fortune. Smartphones are the primary source of being able to stay in contact with others when you’re not around. As convenient as this may be, is this truly the way the world is suppose to function?

We’re slowly getting consume by technology to the point where there are some people who aren’t able to have decent motor skills that we developed all of our lives. Over the years, texting has become the go to communication method seeing how fast is it to get your message across rather than calling the person or meeting up with them. With these text messages, people have become lazy and started to shorten the words like gtg which means “got to go” or brb other know as “be right back.” These abbreviations and many more actually do more harm than good especially for those who have a hard time distinguishing between phone communication and face to face. Now i’m not saying that texting is bad by any means here. Sometimes the only way you can reach someone is buy texting them due to the environment the other party is in. However it’s becoming problematic that people prefer to text rather than talk in person. Sadly it doesn’t stop there unfortunately. It happens everyday and you can’t say that you haven’t done it at one point either: distracted driving. It’s a huge problem in america and it’s something that definitely something that we need to stop doing. Even though it’s against the law, people still do it regardless. Why you ask? Because that’s just how much technology affects our lives. At least 1 out of 4 car crashes every results in texting while driving. Even much so this can also result in death. The fact that people are aware of this but still continue to do that puts their life at risk always surprises me. It’s almost as if they don’t care what happens to them as long as they get that one last text off then everything around them is going to be ok.

One major aspect that technology has affected is our education system. It provided us with the resources to analyze students and give them the proper assessment in class in order to further their learning. I would have to say that learning in this generation is a lot more easier than learning back in the 80’s or the 90’s. This is partly due to the develop of the internet and how it’s full with endless amount of information. It’s also easily accessible so almost anymore to this day can use it. One would think that giving a student a computer and expecting them to go on educational websites would be a dream come true for teachers. Once again though, as much as you want students to do something that enhances their cognitive skills only to be distracted by social media. It’s getting the point where back in my home town there’s a school that instead of textbooks are giving iPads. That’s right, a school of at least over 2,000 students are giving ipads. Of course their access is limited and i would hope that would include most major media websites being blocked, but whatever happened to just being giving textbooks and learning from there?

Now i’m not saying that technology is the root of all the wrongs in our society nor is it a skynet 2.0. Technology has done a lot of good for the world that we live in. Personally, I love being able to Skype and talk on the phone to my family while i’m away at college or whenever i’m away in general. I believe that we need to take a step back from technology to enjoy all of the little things in world.