Negative Effects Of Technology On Society

The USA on average spends 2.6 hours on technology but in Argentina on average they spend 4.3 hours on technology (Document 4). Technology specifically phones have drastically changed our society and our way of thinking. There has also been a lot of debate on whether to limit amount of time spent on technology or not. While some people believe technology is negatively impacting teenagers, in reality Technology has helped connect people and boost people’s intelligence.

“THE MOST DISTURBING Stories about the future may be less about what could happen, …and more about what should happen given the way things are right now. The haunting visions of a sad tomorrow in Alexander Weinstein's excellent first collection, Children of the New World, fit that category. Inspired by the author's anxiety over our increasingly virtual lives, these 13 stories artfully slam an unchecked obsession with technology and affirm the beauty of reality's texture,” wrote John Wilwol in a book review published in the New York Times.

The effects of technology usage have long been a topic of debate, with the negative consequences often being brought up. Authors such as Robert Samuels, Alison Gopnik, Nicholas Carr, Gary Small and Vorgan Gigi have all addressed this topic in their own articles. In Samuels’ “Breaking Down Borders: How Technology Transforms the Private and Public Realms,” he discusses the creation of private bubbles in public spaces due to technology, and the consequent alienation of others. “Diagnosing the Digital Revolution” by Gopnik argues that the habits that tech users have today have always existed, while Carr’s “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” states that technology is actively changing the way humans think. “Meet Your iBrain” by Gigi and Small covers how technology affects brains and alters them. This paper will use the articles and an interview with a peer to analyze the perceived negative effects of using technology, particularly worse memory, shorter attention span, exacerbation of bad habits, and shifting emotions.

Technology has a negative effect on society because people are becoming antisocial, technology is creating bad habits, and online problems are emerging. “Technology is a useful servant but a dangerous master” (Christian Lous Lange). Imagine being in a world with no cell phones or technology, the only way to communicate is through person. In society it is easy to get caught up in society online instead of our own lives. Technology is an easy way to communicate to others, and also helpful in everyday life. Although there are many amazing things technology does for society there are negatives sides to technology. Technology can be a huge distraction in life and can blind society from the most important things in life.

Mankind has had a yearning for knowledge since the dawn of time, causing giant technological leaps. At the dawn of the new millennium technology thrived, and since then, technology has taken our world in a completely different direction than anyone could have imagined. Just like everything else, people have their own opinions and they either like, or dislike what technology has brought into our lives. If we look at the idea of technology from both sides, it is having more of a negative effect on our society today because communication skills are deteriorating, technology is changing the way we think for the worse, and privacy issues are bigger than ever.

In recent discussions of technology in general, a controversial issue whether the social media provide a net good for the society, has raised wide concern. That is due to the fact the technology has developed so fast and affected our society in various aspects, such as the way of communication and self-assessment. On the one hand, some argue that technology makes our life easier and more convenient. That is definitely true. For example, we can learn what just happened in the world immediately at any time and any place via the Internet. From this perspective, technology is good for the society because it helps us get can get closer to the world. On the other hand, however, others argue that technology is influencing people negatively. There

88 percent of teenagers, ages 13 to 17 have a smartphone, or have access to a smartphone. (www.growingwireless.com) Due to the fact that people are exposed to technology at a young age, they become very reliant on technology for the remainder of their lives. Throughout the years technology has evolved to make people’s lives easier, possibly too easy. As the generations evolve, people are forgetting how to live their lives without a cell phone, iPad, or laptop, which is causing people’s social skills and independence to become much worse than those of people’s just a decade ago. Millennials have the reputation of constantly being glued to their cell phones and are seen as being addicted to their devices twenty four seven. Technology is detrimental to today’s society and has negative long-term effects, because it causes people to become lazy, it is a distraction, and people are being cyberbullied.

Society could not function the way it does without technology. The way humans rely on technology is incredible and the worst part is most of us don’t even know it. Younger generations worry more on what someone said about them on social media or how many likes they got on their photo rather than how they are doing in school and getting themselves out there in the world. Most elementary schools have stopped teaching cursive and correct spelling because we have these fancy things called computers with spellcheck. Technology needs to be limited to the amount of success a human can perceive on their own without the aid from artificial intelligence.

In 2002, during an interview with Wired Magazine Steven Spielberg said, “Technology can be our best friend, and technology can also be the biggest party pooper of our lives. It interrupts our own story, interrupts our ability to have a thought or a daydream, to imagine something wonderful, because we're too busy bridging the walk from the cafeteria back to the office on the cell phone” (Kennedy, para. 7). In the twentieth-first century, we all have a certain kind of technology that makes our life easier in many ways from the most basic to the most complex, such as lighting, cell phones, internet, cars, etc. When we think about technology, it suddenly reminds us of entertainment, but it provides more than entertainment, it provides us with everything. It is unthinkable that nowadays we can live without technology and yet, it influences us both positively and negatively.

With all of the technological advances that have been made over the last decade, it is amazing that a person ever leaves their home. While technology allegedly makes our lives better, in reality, technology only makes our lives more difficult. In doing so it changes the way things used to be done, it causes a huge lack of communication and lastly, technology is great, until it breaks.

Technological advancements have made strides in cultural adaptation to successfully fabricate easements in life’s elaborate, intricate processes in the twenty-first Century. Business prospers with the use of e-mails to send notes within seconds of writing the thought rather than people having to engage in an hour-long conference, while the use of Skype has vastly increased how we interact with people from all over the world. The News was once posted once a day through tabloids or television, whereas today, the information would be missed and not updated with up-to-the-minute posts. Present-day children will be interacting with their friends in-real time and do not have to take time out of their schedule to form plans ahead of time. Consequently, people have abused how the internet was intended to be which has led to some undeniable, severe consequences. Technology, therefore, has negatively impacted how society’s simplistic, indispensable interactions through substitution of the human-connection experience, which affects people’s attention span shorter than it used to be, and providing a need for people to receive shallow and instant gratification about how people view the world.

As we go into the future we see that computers are not going anywhere and are becoming more and more prevalent throughout our society. The big question is whether or not this is helping or hurting us. Man dates back over twenty thousand years ago, and we are always advancing. During the early years when we were first starting to forming colonies on new land we notice that guns helped to give us and edge. New technology is what helped found this country. Nowadays we look at cell phones and internet and how we are able to communicate with people all the way on the other side of the world with ease. Without technology like cellphones, laptops, and tablets we would not be able to communicate so fast and easily. Others argue that this is why our society is corrupt and that cellphones, computers, and new technology is the root of this evil. They believe that machines are what cause people to become fat, and that games are making children angry. These are also the same people that say the internet is making it easier for children to access things that they shouldn’t see.

There’s no denying that technology has improved most people’s lives. Most people, including teens and in some cases children carry cell phones with them at all times. People no longer get lost when they travel because they have a navigational system to guide them on their phones. In case of an emergency, people be reach though different social platforms. People are depending on technology to work for them all the time, but when it doesn’t people feel lost. Smart phones are no longer used for what they were meant for, people don’t talk to each other over the phone anymore. Technology that allows communication through social media like smart phones has impacted the everyday lives of people in good ways: however, it has also been detrimental to the social lives of adolescents.

“Technology should improve you life, not become you life” - Billy Cox. These words from the legendary bassist have a powerful meaning which can relate to today's society. The fascination of new technology has stolen the eyes of the people worldwide. As more breakthroughs with technology occur, people will become more dependent on a resource that is not reliable. In other words, more people will start to depend on modern technology with all of their needs, which can lead to reducing of their creativity and own intelligence. The uprising of new technology may have its advantages, but on the other hand, it can cause cyberbullying, health issues, and a lack of social skills.

According to Libby Larsen, the great myth of our times is that technology is communication. Technology has become a big impact on today’s world. What would you do without your phone or computer for a day, week, or month? Is pretty much something to think about. Technology in today's world, is making it easier for us to become lazy. When I was younger, I didn’t have a smartphone. I had a regular old flip phone, where the only thing you can do is call, and answer. Technology has a negative impact on our society today with the following such as lack of social skills/social bonds, lack of focusing on what's important, and health problems.