Is Technology Always Beneficial?

The idea of how technology is affecting us as human beings is a largely argued topic nowadays. For example, a professor of science, technology, and society at MIT University named Sherry Turkle seems to claim that all this digital communication we have access to now is not such a good thing. Turkle has a sample of an essay of hers in the book, They Say, I Say. The name of the essay is “No Need to Call,” and Sherry Turkle 's claims could be implied by this quote from her essay, “subscribing to a new etiquette, claiming the need for efficiency in a realm where efficiency is costly.” Turkle believes that us using digital communication has costly repercussions to our humanity and our ability to have empathy to one another. However, this quote and essay has much more depth to it.

1. What role does technology play in US society in relation to bias, discrimination, and power? What specific examples of discrimination related to race, ethnicity, gender, and disability can you see in our society that has been enabled or exacerbated by technology?

Technology has made great advances on a global scale, especially within the last half century. Works of fiction and informational texts have addressed the numerous influences of modern innovation. Technological advances can be both beneficial and detrimental to society.

Technology can be considered both beneficial and harmful to the people of the United States. It can help us connect with one other, find answers to mysterious questions, and entertain us in boring times. However, technology can also be addictive and interrupt our day to day lives. One of the biggest effects that technology has had one our country is the negative aspect.

Within the last century, electronics grew faster than ever anticipated. With computers, cell phones and computers in cell phones, many consumers cannot even use the high-tech electronics sold to them. Whether through new invention or simply by means of innovation, countries are advancing in technology everyday. As technologies advance, a natural side effect of the gains they produce can be seen in the degradation of the local surrounding environments. Ground, air and water pollution from chemical runoff can produce greater negative externalities than the benefits they provide to communities and corporations.

Many people have many different views of technology and how it is effecting our lives. Some completely love it, others despise it and the rest are just kind of in the middle. Within the many debates on whether we should be for or against these three authors, Wortham, Gladwell, and Carr, seem to argue over the fact of how technology is affecting our brains that causes chaos within us and our outside world.

The topic of controversy for this essay is whether or not technology has a negative or positive affect on people. In order to help explain whether or not technology has a positive or negative affect on us there will be four articles that will be discussed within this essay. The first article is “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” by Nicholas Carr, “The Reading Brain in the Digital Age: The Science of Paper versus Screens by Ferris Jabr, “Get Smarter” by Jamais Cascio, and “Technology Doesn’t Dumb Us Down. It Frees Our Minds” by Damon Darlin. Carr and Jabr’s articles say that technology does affect us negatively, while Cascio and Darlin say that technology affects us in a positive way. An interested, but uniformed person can learn most about this

In the anthology Points of Departure by Michelle J. Brazier, two writers have compelling arguments about the influence of technology. In Ian Bremmer’s essay, Democracy in Cyberspace: What Technology Can and Cannot Do for Us, he argues that modern communications and technology are just mediums or tools because they can be used for various purposes. In Malcolm Gladwell’s essay, Small Change: Why the Revolution Will Not Be Tweeted, he argues that social networks are hurting social activism because less motivation is needed to participate in online activities than in physical activities. Gladwell would respond to Bremmer’s essay by stating that social networks and other forms of modern communications create “weak ties” because Gladwell believes that there is no genuine sacrifice when it comes to social networks and other form of modern communication and therefore no significant change will be occur. Contemporary forms of communications and technology are tools that could positively impact society because individuals can use technology to express freedom on their own terms.

Technology has made a big difference in our society such as communication, work, education, and entertainment in good and bad ways. Some people say that technology has made life better with the internet, cell phones and other devices. While others say technology has been making life worse because people are becoming lazy and replace their lives with technology every day. Technology surrounds almost everyone in modern society and it affects our lives in many ways.

As you know, daily life today is not complete without technology; whether it be cell phones, laptops, GPS, smart watches… the human race by today’s standards cannot persevere through a day without technology. Yes technology assists in communication, encourages multitasking, and teaches knowledge, but children are glued to screens. Kids don 't play outside nearly as much as they used to due to video games, texting, and social media’s superior appeal over playing ball outside. Which leads to the ultimate question: has technology done more harm than good to children?

Technology will eventually replace most of humans’ current jobs. When and how will that come about? Is this a good thing or a bad thing? The answer to the latter question is technology replacing humans’ current jobs is a good thing. Some might say that technology would mass produce goods by focusing only on quantity and not quality. While that argument does have some merit, there’s no denying the many more ways technology can better the world. Technology replacing human beings is a good thing because it is efficient and productive, will continue to advance scientific, mathematic, and medical fields, and can unlock new possibilities never before imagined.

Technology has evolved over the years, improving in fields such as medicine, computer programming, business, and the list goes on. It has opened up a number of jobs and work opportunities and helped make society more efficient. The human brain has also benefited a great deal, due to fast paced research and new ways to improve and present creativity skills, using different pieces of technology and search engines. There are some downsides to technology and the wide growth of it, while some problems are created through the misuse of it and how others take advantage of it. However, technology really has more of a positive impact than anything, because it has made society and people work more efficiently, opened up new work opportunities, helped our brains think more in depth and helped people become more creative, and has really made an impact in medicine.

Is technology pulling us towards a better future or the opposite? Schools are upgrading their softwares by buying ipads and other gadgets for teaching. But is this a good thing? Students get easily distracted by these devices, most of the students are browsing the internet while the teacher is teaching. Students go online and chat with their friends, play video games, and do homework, gossip, and escape from things that stress them out. The older generation compared to now don’t rely as heavily on the use of these electronics as the teenagers. For example, they talked more with others and interacted with them. Technology is really useful and anyone can do anything these days with it, such as Uber, Lyft, shopping, chatting, networking, homework, and more. But there’s more dangers of being on the internet, for example how students put their information online for others to view. Students can develop bad habits and problems when faced with too much use of technology. These problems come back to haunt them when they enter adulthood, such as personality problems, depression, difficulty concentrating, and lack of communication skills.

Along with modern technology came new ways to communicate, for example texting. Texting is a way to communicate with people near and far without having to speak. It is as simple as typing a message and selecting who you want to send it to, and pressing send. It may seem like the simple way to do things, but it does not allow you to practice your social skills.  Younger people have also created ways to shorthand different words and phrases. They use “idk” instead of  “I dont know” or

Jacques Ellul once quoted, “Modern technology has become a total phenomenon for civilization, the defining force of a new social order in which an efficiency is no longer an option but a necessity imposed on all human activity.” How many lives have been saved since the technology for health situations was invented? This question should give a general  idea of how important and different lives would be without the use of technology. Mechanization has changed and improved throughout these past years, which has impacted many of society's lives’. Modern technology is beneficial to save many lives, improve education, but could be harmful to the planet and on the living in many ways.