Cause/Effect How Technology Influences Personal Relationships

The image of ideal families has changed and is now looked at differently compared to years ago. But does technology and devices how to do with the separation of family? In a short story in Rereading America called “Quality Time Redefined”, author Alex Williams executes many interviews to try and see how media has impacted the lives of family. According to one of his observations there was one family in particular that stood out. Ms. Vavra a cosmetic industry executive spoke about an evening with her family: “…Their son, Tom, was absorbed by a Wii game on the wide screen television. Their daughter, Eve, was fiddling with a game app called the Love Calculator on an iPod touch.” Ms. Vavra recalled, “The family was in the same room but not together" (94). She was advocating about how her and her family was all sitting together but all of them were in their own little worlds with their devices. Technology has become very popular and advanced throughout the years. This may be the cause for why families

There have been many studies done on the negative psychological and sociological effects of technology while some may be true technology has its share of positive effects on society. The advances of technology have aided in the access to information from relatively anywhere. According to Hepburn (2013) “By the end of 2014, the number of Internet users was expected to be almost 3 billion, two-thirds of whom live in the developing world, and the number of mobile broadband subscriptions was expected to reach 2.3 billion globally” (as cited in Yáñez, Okada, & Palau2015, p.89). It has become easier to stay connected to family, friends, access personal information, and has improved educational opportunities. Technology is always evolving and changing for the better. “Mobile technologies and networks are increasingly expanding in their sophistication and capacity, and new applications (software programs) are enhancing the ways in which individuals interact” (Giota, 2014).

In these days, people get addicted to the technology around that we are not even realize. Although technology is very useful to us, it has more disadvantages than we think. Almost everybody in this world think that technology make life more convenient. It is true!!! But very few realize how technology is going to affect our lives. Technology affects us negatively by decreasing the ability of our brain, consuming more time, and decreasing the life skill ability.

In this world of growing technological dependence we are losing the ability to socialize without the interruptions of technology. Physiological changes, addiction, and saturation of information are just a few of the negative effects that technology can cause to anyone who has used it. Technology is, without a doubt, detrimental if it is not used in moderation.

Kids in schools play on computers too much. They are all focused on playing that they don’t focus enough on their work. Now children have shorter attention spans than they used to. Technology distracts us from meaningful moments with other people. And people are addicted to technology and it is getting worse. Technology has had a permanent effect on everyone's lives.

As much as I regret to admit it, I’m attached to my phone. I’m constantly reaching into my pocket to check the time, make sure I haven’t gotten a new update, or to send a message. I do this even when I’m not talking to anyone! It’s become an addiction, having to make sure I’m not missing anything, and I'm not the only one who has this problem. Seventy-five percent of the world population has a cell phone, and that number will only increase. With the creation of new technology portions of life have become easier. Technology has changed the way we go through life. It’s made talking to people easier, as well as keeping up with the lives of others. However, the effects have affected the aspects of our lives that don’t include technology.

When there are more television sets than members of a household under one roof, it is obvious that technology and media has greatly effected the contemporary American family. There are many forces and pressures that help to shape the American family that we all see, as well as, are a part of today. Technology and media has brought us very far as a country, but has also inflicted upon norms of yesterday. Technology is growing now just as fast as ever before and families are constantly changing because of it.

Technology isn’t a bad effect on our society; people in our society aren’t turning into the people that Bradbury predicted. The world benefits from technology all the time by being that people have jobs that require other forms of talking. Schools use technology; it benefits the work environment for the classroom, allowing research and a chance to make interesting assignments. Phones and computers are being used more frequently ever since Phones started to become popular in 2008. Video Game systems and computer and even phones have improve the relationships between people, the benefits from devices are

Technology has brought us nothing more than negativity toward people. The first effect is health. technology affects individuals' exercises; so children become lazier and are most likely not motivated to work out. Along these lines, numerous health issues like obesity are brought about by the effects of technology. The second impact is communication. Ironically children don't have the chance to socialize with each other in person. They’re wasting their time using electronics instead of exploring the world and developing human nature. In addition, individuals lean toward using communication devices than collaborating in person.

Social networking and other social technology allows for interactions to occur between friends and family regardless of their location. While people remain social through communicating at a constant rate, the essence of face-to-face interactions is in part affected. In romantic relationships, open and honest communication with one’s partner is critical to the trust and development of the relationship. Young adults use social technology such as the Internet and mobile phones on a daily basis to maintain their relationships. Due to the miscommunication that often occurs from not a lack of face-to-face interactions, social technology shapes the way romantic relationships function. Therefore, social technology impacts romantic relationships

Technology separates people because it nurtures addictions. For example, in her CNN article, Sandee LaMotte says that the overuse of cell phones has made people addicted to them, and as a result, has negatively affected people’s relationships with friends and family. Specifically, she says that people can get ‘nomophobia’ characterized by anxiety when they don’t have their phone on them. This can cause depression, which in turn distracts people, and affects relationships, because no one wants to have face-to-face conversations. LaMotte quotes Caglar Yildirim, who created a scale to test addiction ‘ “[Overuse of phones] might negatively affect your social life and relationships with friends and family," [...] those who score high on the test tend to avoid face-to-face interactions, have high levels of social anxiety and maybe even depression” ’ LaMotte believes that addiction to phones can reduce physical time with other people, to an extent at which it can harm relationships, and slowly tear people apart. In another example, in her 2011 social media article, Deborah Mackey that addiction to phones and social media can limit the amount of time people spend with each other. Mackey states that a large percent of people use their phones while with friends or family, and many even use their phones at meal times.

In this generation we tend to use social media networks, such as facebook and twitter to communicate with our friends and family. Has social media replaces all other forms of communication?

Last but not least, technology makes us lazy. Children do not want to read books anymore when they can just run to a computer and get the summary of the book. People are becoming obese because they are not getting out of their homes anymore to exercise because they are glued to Farmville on Facebook. We rather do something easy than actually take the time to do it the long way around. Technology has made the people of the world couch potatoes. We can do everything at a push of a button, and we don’t have to put forth much effort to do the things that we once use to do manually.

Technology has more negative effects on today’s society than positive. Due to technology in the past few decades Canine Shock Collars have been increasingly popular. Students in school pay more attention to texting than they do their classes. Violent addictive video games have made their way into American homes. Parents encourage their children to not text as much, but them to face the problem of constant communication. The Internet gives the students easier ways to cheat in school, and reinforces laziness. Internet Porn gives every bored male a chance to look at the seediest film in the comfort of his own home. Technology has taken the innocence and mystery away from the American family.

Predicting about the future, Albert Einstein once said, “I fear that the day technology will surpass our human interaction. The world will have a generation of idiots." This quote does apply for this current generation, a generation that relies on technology for almost everything. Is that a bad thing? Are we those idiots Albert Einstein is talking about? Well that depends on how much we depend on technology on our daily lives. Most people agree that no matter how much excessive it gets, technology is the best thing discovered in the world thus far. On the other hand, others think too much technology is a major tool for people to ignore reality and sink deeper into an imaginative world. Since everyone has to keep up with modern lifestyle, they have to know how to manipulate some sort of technology, but if they don 't know when and how to gain control of it, they will be led to an obsessive life style. Although some people claim that social media has a positive psychological effect to those who have difficulties in the actual world, others argue that unlimited social media usage is an addiction: an addiction causing neurological complications, psychological disturbances, Social and family problems that need serious mental treatment in order to live stable life style.