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Technology And Technology Essay

Decent Essays

Humanity is known for being blindly susceptible to aspects of its own creation. In recent years technology has been labeled as the main authority amongst society and is said to be responsible for the numerous shifts in daily life, specifically those related to the evolution of the human mind that go unnoticed. However, this development has not taken on a positive connotation after such extensive advancements in the digital world. In articles such as Nicholas Carr’s “Is Google Making Us Stupid” and Gary Small and Vorgan Gigi’s “Meet Your iBrain,” people have been drawing attention to the way technology “is rapidly and profoundly altering our brains” (Small and Gigi 1). Carr even mentions that society has been involved in a struggle of discovering who is doing the thinking: them or their technology. Using articles such as these and peer interviews this paper will dissertate the influence technology has had on the human mind and society’s actions.
One subject of discussion within the theory of technology’s impact on society is the idea that the gears have shifted and left the technology in control of the user. Carr describes the human brain as being “almost infinitely malleable”, (3) leaving one vulnerable to change whether one knows it or not. Using different digital devices at such a constant and consistent rate allows for the technology to slowly, or sometimes quickly, overpower one’s own thoughts and choices. In addition to Carr’s observation, he also makes a personal statement saying that “over the past few years [he’s] had an uncomfortable sense that someone, or something, has been tinkering with [his] brain” (1). This feeling of lost control explains why people have found themselves building a world based on their technology rather than building one that incorporates it. When allowing oneself to use technology, one is also giving the technology a chance to use oneself in return. Choices to go out or stay in, text or call, type or write, etc. are all often made based on digital devices and efficiency. This effect, however, is often undetected, especially given the fact that the biggest users of technology are ones who have never truly lived without it in one form or another.
Examples of these aftereffects

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