Thank You For Being Late By Thomas L. Friedman

Technology has always been a controversial subject between conservative people and innovators. Some people believe that it is a great tool to connect cultures and improve education and innovation in our society today, but others view it as a menace in our lives. “Growing Up Tethered” by Sherry Turkle and “George Orwell...Meet Mark Zuckerberg” by Lori Andrews both view technology as a dangerous tool. They believe in the many drawbacks of technology and the harm it can do to our lives with no explanation of the positive effects it has had on our society. “Our Future Selves” by Eric Schmidt and Jared Cohen plays the role of a positive look at technology and its role in our lives today. It gives examples of how advancing technology helps us and improves so many peoples’s lives. We can use Schmidt and Cohen’s essay as a lens to view the other two texts and gain a different understanding of what they are writing about.

Technology is an essential part of the American life and it's constantly changing with the newer generations. A few people view technology as a positive addition to life while others believe it is a negative thing and will take over their lives. Nicholas G. Carr a well known American, the author of The Shallows a novel about the various distractions that come with internet and how people are losing key skills. In the start of the book the negative effects of modern technology on the masses. Carr’s argument is effective and flawed for various reasons such as don't include the helpful advances have improved education, medical field and business.

As technology is advancing, it is ruining our reputations and everyday lives because we use it too much. “The Veldt” by Ray Bradbury is a story of parents who use too much technology to spoil their two kids which rely on technology and use it to kill their own parents. The Atlantic is an article on how technology has changed the concept of the community and how it affects people’s daily lives in mostly negative ways. In both sources, humans rely on technology too much, having a negative effect.

Modern technology has seen many debates about its usefulness, its relevance, and its impact on society. Two main parties have bound together, one arguing that the impact of modern technological advancements has had a positive effect on society, while the other side believes that it only makes things worse. In their argumentative pieces, Charles Seife and Eric Schmidt and Jared Cohen address the issue of technology in the modern world, although their arguments vary drastically, through the use of various rhetorical devices.

In his essay, “Five Things We Need to Know About Technological Change,” Neil Postman brings up a plethora of ideas on the topic of our ever-changing landscape in the technological world, discussing at length the problems of technology and culture. In his first point, Postman states that “technology giveth, and technology taketh away” (Postman, 27). His argument insists that in a culture swept up in technology, humans do not stop and ask questions regarding the possible detriments of new inventions. He continues on to say that though technology favours some individuals, it may harm others, or neglect a group of people entirely. In spite of this, humans continue to use and expand upon technologies as they emerge. Next, the author discusses how

As we begin to explore the world of technology, we must be careful that we don’t get too dependent on what it can do for us. We cannot forget that technology can change the way people think, feel, and can prevent them from daily activities. In the movie Wall-E, it gives you a glimpse of what can happen if you don’t help take care of the earth, and depend too much on technology. Wall-E gives us a look at a few Dystopian categories such as environmental, political, psychological, and technological; making the film feel as if this is what has already started to happen on earth today.

People of all ages suffer from the negative effects of long-term exposure to technology. As technology continues to evolve, the human brain struggles to keep up, and ultimately loses a multitude of once valued abilities, such as the ability to focus, and deep intellectual thinking. People grow severely attached to these new artificial intelligence, that they forget there are other real people whom they can communicate with and share thoughts with. As Fahrenheit 451 has illustrated, our society has evolved to interact with technology on a more personal level, change the way humans interact with one-another, shift the way political subjects are dealt with, and change what the roles of certain people in a community are and how those communities function.

Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee created a book titled Race Against The Machine in which discusses the tremendous impact of technology on today’s society, today’s current employment issues, and the current economic status of the world we live in. Brynjolfsson and McAfee wanted to raise awareness and generate enough of a buzz to get people thinking about where we are currently and where our futures are headed—they did just that. What the authors are basically saying is that we are impacted far more than we realize by technology and if society does not take notice and take action, we will ultimately be beat out by technology and lose the “race”.

Technology has advanced in many ways over the past few years. Medical machines, smart phones, and televisions are all able to do things that not too long ago, we may have thought were impossible. The question is, are these improvements helping us, or destroying us? Ray Bradbury, the author of Fahrenheit 451, predicted the devastating impact technology could potentially have on a society. Although Fahrenheit 451 was written around the 1950’s, the plot of this science fiction novel takes place in the 2020’s. Bradbury came up with advanced televisions and other devices that at the time, seemed unrealistic but are now becoming a reality. As the author of Fahrenheit 451 predicted, technology is slowly ruining our

In today’s day and age, it is safe to assume that technology is everything. In daily lifestyles of a normal person, it will become very hard to live without the use of technology. From waking up early in the morning with the help of an alarm clock, to going to sleep at night time by listening to soft sounds on a smartphone. not only the more modern generation, however all people have been inspired via technology in some manner, shape, or form. Today, from computers to laptops, smartphones to smart glasses, everything that a person needs is turning into “smart.” Or so one thinks! In the article, “is google making us stupid?" the author Nicholas Carr shares many remarkable insights about his views on technology advancing. Technological advance is affecting every person from early adolescent to an elderly person. As using

In today's society there is no escape from technology. We are completely submerged in our iPhone, ipads, computers, and gaming systems. These gadgets give us the opportunity to be connected to each other and the rest of the world at all times. But, this is not a glorious step in history. Technology blinds us from the real world. As John Tudor said, “Technology makes it possible for people to gain control over everything, except technology.” We may run our lives with the help of our iPhones and computers, but do these forms of technology in turn control us? At first glance these new advances are greater steps to making our lives easier. But, when examined closely a large portion of technology is the cause of many problems in our society.

Over this past decade or so, people all around the globe have been granted with greater advancements in technology. From cellphones we can talk to, to 3-Dimensional televisions, we are able to pretty much do anything thanks to these high-tech products. But, should we really be grateful for these easy-to-use devices, or are they taking over the lives of millions? In the articles written by Michael Malone and Daniel Burrus, we receive an inside look on whether todays modern, wired, Web world is, or is not, benefitting society. Although both authors held pretty neutral views on the subject itself, Malone’s support towards the negative effect of technology definitely lures readers into

What effect does modern digital technology have on individuals who rely on it heavily in their everyday lives? Innovations such as video games, internet search engines, and online databases receive great praise as well as great criticism depending on who answers this question. Nicholas Carr and Steven Johnson have both written pieces stating their opinions on technology’s effect on the human brain. Carr’s article “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” explains how accessing information quickly and easily through search engines like Google negatively alters the way people seek and read information and think. Johnson’s book “Everything Bad is Good for You: How Today’s Popular Culture is Actually Making Us Smarter” covers the positive attributes of digital technology, video games in particular. He explains how video games are intellectually stimulating and help develop complex skills. Digital technology has interesting effects on the different processes of our mind.

Technology surrounds us. Like water in the ocean, people are swimming in technology each and every day. From the radio playing a favorite song to a text received about the results of a game, people use technology constantly. However, there is a point at which people are overtaken by technology; when the wave engulfs us and there is no way out. People are becoming more and more dependent on technology. Ever since technology began heavily integrating itself into society, many major uses have developed, but at a cost that brings on dangerous side effects, both mental and physical, as shown by the potential Y2K bug, that will continue unless active measures are sought out by those so dependent on technology.

“Societies have always been shaped by media for communication, it is impossible to understand social and cultural change without knowledge of the workings of media even the alphabet is a technology that is absorbed by young children to learn to speak through communication. The digital age is changing the way we use our brains. Rather than store important facts, today we are more likely to store information about how to find those facts where a particular file is located on the computer, how to find an important webpage again.