Today’s society has become consumed by technology. It is nearly impossible to escape. Even as I type this I am texting on my phone, watching TV, and checking my e-mail while in a room with several other people on their computers and phones. Is it a problem? Is it making our lives easier? How much is too much? These are just a few of the questions that we are faced with today.
All across the world people are distracted from their everyday lives because of technology. Technology has now evolved to creating almost an entirely new virtual world, whether it’s Facebook, texting, or a massively multiplayer online (MMO) game. This new aspect of our lives has in many ways become a distraction. It may seem like all this technology is allowing us to do more but at what point do we become too consumed with this “virtual” world and stop paying attention to the real world. In South Korea doctors have actually begun diagnosing “chronic online usage” as a psychiatric problem and they have even implemented several treatments and preventatives. One of the treatments includes a ten day program where they attend group sessions and are not allowed to use any sort of electronic. As excessive and even absurd as that might seem is it not more absurd than the idea that a society could become so obsessed with technology? In the past few decades the number of people diagnosed with ADD has greatly increased but why? Is it possible that all of today’s technology has been the cause? However, we are all so consumed and controlled by technology that even if technology was the reason behind illness we couldn’t stop. Our society thrives so heavily off of our emails, our TVs, our computers, or our Blackberries to point where not having them makes us seemingly useless. For example, it is required to have a laptop if you attend Georgia Tech and indeed it would be impossible to pass nearly any course without one. Has this dependency changed who we are as members of society?
Technology has indeed changed society in an extreme way. Once again, the question becomes whether this is more "good" or "bad." Many people have a tendency to become addicted like you say. But once again, I believe technology can be good if used in moderation. The next questions of course would be what is "moderation?" Where is the line drawn? I think that really depends on each person and how much is required in their daily life/job. Over all, I think we should be careful not to let ourselves drift too far into this "second life" that technology has created.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your views on the need to step back away from over using the internet. I feel that it has almost become too large a part of modern society and we need to take a good look at how the rampant usage can be toned back.
ReplyDeleteI feel that this post was quite short and could have benefited from another paragraph. The use of rhetorical questions was also on the high side.