Whatever point you are at in your life, whether you’re a toddler in a daycare or a grown adult in almost any line of work, technology is probably a big part of your everyday life.
We wake up to an alarm clock, which probably doesn’t even need batteries anymore; in fact, the alarm is probably coming straight from our cell phones. Whether we snooze the alarm, or actually decide to get ourselves out of bed at that moment, we probably scroll through our phones first to see what is going on in social media land.
Technology is with us from the second we wake up until the second we go to bed. Is this harming us or helping us?
Well, I believe it does both. Technology has helped us in many ways from building towns to providing advances in many medical departments. We cannot say that technology has completely hurt us. However, what would happen if every technological item just decided to shut down on us one day? This would be a bigger problem than if something were to happen to just my phone, lighting up next to me, and my MacBook, which I am typing this article on. It would affect people’s jobs and could even keep doctors from saving lives.
It is kind of scary how much would be taken away from us if technology completely vanished one day. We are so consumed in the technology in front of us that many of us do not even stop to think about this type of scenario.
Not only would the halt of technology create issues, but its continued use can even be increasing harmful to us day by day.
We are so utterly consumed in our phones and social media that we are not realizing what is happening around us. When we walk to class, we’re on our phones. While waiting for class to start, we’re on our phones. While walking across a busy street, we’re on our phones. If we feel uncomfortable in any situation, we’re on our phones.
We use our phones as a crutch to avoid actual social contact. We feel as though we are staying more connected to the world when we have access to any of our friends right at our fingertips, no matter where in the world they are, but we are actually creating a barrier between us and the “real” people in front of us. We don’t know how to have real conversations anymore, and it is because we rely so much on our phones.
My mom always tells me the story of how when a boy wanted to get in touch with her when she was in high school, they either had to call her home phone that was hooked up to a chord in her kitchen and speak to her mom or one of her four other siblings first, or actually come to the house and knock on the door and have a real conversation because there was sometimes no way of getting her number.
Now we have Facebook, Tinder, Twitter and even just texting. Does this just make it easier on everyone, or is it crippling our ability to have real conversations with people?
Technology has made many things easier, but some advances have made us way too reliant on it. We sometimes need to take a step back and be grateful for the opportunities we are given, but we must also take a break from all the technology to enjoy everything around us and think about how different life would be without it.
Breanna Connell is a fourth-year student. She can be reached at BC810217@wcupa.edu.