The End Of Solitude Analysis

Solitude, which has played an important role in people’s lives throughout history, is quickly being erased by the changing world and advancing technology. People no longer value solitude, and some people fear it. This claim is argued by William Deresiewicz in his essay, “The End of Solitude.” In recent years technology has developed at rates never seen before. Deresiewicz wants to inform society about how this change in technology has brought about the end of solitude, which has had negative effects on younger generations. By his use of high-level vocabulary and references, the intended audience of the essay is the educated members of modern society. Deresiewicz uses the rhetorical appeal strategies of ethos, logos, and pathos in the essay to effectively and successfully argue his main claim.

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).

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.

Technology has become a daily part in one's lives where it helps people do the simplest of tasks and allows time consuming tasks be completed in seconds. People don't have to go to a bookstore to buy books anymore since e-books made the process easier or have to wait in long lines at the DMV when people can make an appointment through their phones. The amount of time technology saves people isn't beneficial though, according to Paul Goldberger and Christina Kline technology has belittled experiences that they believe are part of the experiences of life on a daily basis.

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.

The more advanced technology becomes, the more of a toll it has on our daily lives. Lee Siegel states that “we shop, work, play, love, search for information, seek to communicate with each other and sometimes with the world online. We spend more time online than ever before. Yet people are not arguing about this startling new condition." It is my belief that due to the control technology has taken over society, technology is ultimately detrimental to society as a whole.

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.

I found Deresiewicz article very intriguing and agree with it. I also believe in what Deresiewicz said that younger generation are afraid to be alone and can’t go without technology. Deresiewicz states “Technology is taking away our privacy and our concentration, but it is also taking away our ability to be alone”. I tend to use technology a lot “computer, cell phone, internet, television etc…” as I sit here

Technology allows us to separate ourselves, mentally, from what’s going on around us. In “Is Google Making Us Stupid”, by Nicholas Carr, he notices how the internet allows him to jump around and lose focus. Another effect that technology has on society is that we are losing fundamental social skills. Texting and emailing make it easy to contact someone, but we are losing skills that come with face-to-face communication.

Thanks to technology we have never been more connected-or alienated. Have you ever noticed when there is a family gathering the majority of the time the family members are spending their time using technology rather than socializing? One will notice that almost every person will be using technology whether it is cell phones, iPods, tablets or the television. After watching PBS Digital Nation I believe that “being connected” all the time ultimately does hinder us as a society in many ways.

Technology has become an important part of the American lifestyle. Everything from work to school involves technology in some way, shape, or form. For example, computers have made gathering and transferring information much simpler and accessible. This is a benefit to society because people are able to become better educated in a convenient fashion. Convenience has always been one of the main goals that technology has tried to accomplish. All major inventions, from automobiles to the internet, were created to make life more convenient and easier for people. Whereas automobiles made it easier for people to travel long distances in short amounts of time, the Internet has made gathering information, doing business, and learning much more convenient. Although convenience is a major benefit that technology gives us, there are also negative effects on society as a result of new inventions. Not all technology is beneficial, many new technologies have had a negative impact on our youth. Therefore, technology has hindered the American society because it has made people more self-centered, encouraged laziness in American youth, and made establishing relationships much more difficult.

Solitude is defined as choosing to be alone with your own thoughts. In his January 2009 essay “The End of Solitude” former Yale English Professor William Deresiewicz argues that solitude is necessary for personal identity; however, he worries that this generations views are incompetent. Deresiewicz “believes we all need to have in order to understand who we are, what we believe, and what we value” (“From Inquiry to Academic Writing” 98).

There are many teachers for example, who would not be able to teach if they didn’t have availability to technology on a daily basis. This is because in the years back and up to this day, people rely on technology so much, they feel as if they wouldn’t be able to effectively function everyday without having it at hand. In my opinion, technology is taking us closer to the world is Big Brother because of the control it has over us, the amount of information it helps us carry, and the consistency in which we use

The article entitled, “Can You Hear Me Now?” by Sherry Turkle, a professor of the social studies of science and technology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology wrote an article on the negative effects that technology has on people. In the article, her main argument is the technology of today, which connects people, is making them estranged not only to others but to themselves. Turkle explains many problems she has encountered with this new technology and discusses the problems that people have with the dependency on technology. The devices that people are using, for instance, cell phones, BlackBerry’s, and the internet to keep them connected have the opposite effect. They are keeping people attached to text messages, emails, social

Technology in today's society can do great things for so many different reasons. Healthcare, Transportation, safety. Just as technology can do great things, it can do some seemingly terrible harm such as make it easy to forget about our own lives because we are so infatuated with others, kills social interaction, makes us more paranoid, and can be used as a weapon. A great question though, is technology making us more alone on a physical and social aspect in society today. With Cell phones and all the social media we have that can be accessed by the click of a button and the immense information we have due to google and other search engines, it's as if we never have to actually leave our houses. Technology where it stands is fine and doesn't need to advance anymore because it takes away sociality amongst people, physical meeting, and it can be weaponized.