Is technology really benefitting society

Destruction due to Technology

Is engineering truly profiting society or merely prima to its ruin? This is a inquiry one must inquire themselves. Everyone has in one manner or another been affected by engineering whether bad or good. What was the impact of that experience like? Mary Kolesnikova, writer of the essay “ OMG! If LOL, so KMN! “ , explains the negative impacts engineering has on society and its communicating accomplishments, giving existent life illustrations of incidents that are abashing and black. “ I ‘ve been asked how to spell “ here ” and “ one ” by high school seniors and seen more your/you ‘re, there/their, to/too confusions than homophone workbook ” ( Kolesnikova, 623 ) . Those are lone communicating accomplishments that have been affected. Imagine how many more countries it can hold an influence on. This is merely one of many capablenesss which have gone down the drain due to the maltreatment of engineering. Similarly, Eric Brende writer of the essay “ No Technology? No Problem ” stresses the usage of engineering as good and how it should non be made a necessity in life and is non required. Many feel and agree that engineering is a great assisting manus in our society and plays a major function throughout day-to-day lives. This is a valid point and engineering is decidedly good in mundane lives, but when abused it leads to these negative impacts. Due to the fact of the society non utilizing engineering in a practical manner, persons from ages eight to fifty are missing basic accomplishments required on a day-to-day footing. While the usage of engineering may be helpful and a necessity in society today, if continually abused, will take to a negative impact doing a deficiency in everyday required accomplishments.

Kolesnikova in her essay, stresses the function engineering has on a society ‘s authorship accomplishments and how it has affected her and those around her. She sums her point up into one chief factor, this factor being that engineering is doing the population to decrease the art of authorship. “ Chat slang is killing the trade of composing ” ( Kolesnikova, 623 ) . In her essay she explains how the effects of engineering and confab speak led to her depression. After a canvass held by the Pew Research Center concentrating on 12 to seventeen twelvemonth olds about their usage of chat-speak, about 30 eight per centum said they let it steal into their prep and essays ( Kolesnikova, 623 ) . Kolesnikova is an occasional coach in San Francisco public schools and she ca n’t conceive of how far chat speak has spread. Along with chat speak, she elucidates the usage of emoticons in prep and essays every bit good. For those who may non cognize what emoticons are, they are defined as a crabwise facial glyph used in e-mail to bespeak an emotion or attitude, as to bespeak wit [ : – ) ] . Harmonizing to the Pew Research Center, a canvass resulted in 20 five per centum of teens utilizing emoticons in their trials, prep, and essays ( Kolesnikova, 623 ) . Kolesnikova states how it ‘s a shame that the popular civilization today is promoting this lunacy and is traveling every bit far as making chat talk its ain wiki-dictionary. The U.S. Department of Education released the Nation ‘s Report Card on Writing 2007 and merely 30 three per centum of eight graders demonstrated abilities at or above proficiency degree ( Kolesnikova, 623 ) . This is yet the beginning and needs to be brought to an terminal before made worse.

Brende, in his essay, discusses a different, yet similar instance of how engineering is non a necessity and can take to negative results. After having his alumnus grade in political scientific discipline from MIT in 1992, he and his married woman moved to an Amish-type community where they spent 18 months populating without technological progresss. “ As MIT graduates go, I realize how unusual I am. I run a jinrikisha service in downtown St. Louis, where I live. I make soap at place, and my married woman sells it at the local husbandman ‘s market on Saturday ‘s ” ( Brende, 619 ) . After returning place he goes on to state that these wonts stick with him and him and his household do n’t truly experience a demand for such progresss. He besides states that engineering deprives an person of needful physical activity and can take to future issues. In the past persons would ramble on, thrust to the gym, or possibly even play athleticss in order to acquire in some exercising and remain healthy. Brende stresses that it has gotten to the point where some people perform hand-squeezing modus operandis since computing machine keyboards do non offer the physical opposition they need and can take to carpal tunnel syndrome ( Brende, 621 ) . In add-on, he explains how engineering is taking off choice clip from households every bit good as impacting the human mental powers restricting the usage of multiple capablenesss. These are merely a few of many factors that can take to a ruin due to the maltreatment of engineering.

Harmonizing to the texts stated above, a decision can be reached: the maltreatment of engineering is go forthing a negative impact on society. Both writers, though from different scenarios, have from personal experience recognized that engineering is doing society to miss accomplishments required on a day-to-day footing. These accomplishments include mental, communicating, and physical capablenesss. Kolesnikova ‘s experience as stated above was as a coach and she discovered that the pupils were missing basic communication/writing accomplishments. On the other manus, Brende took a entire opposite position and unusual attack. Although an MIT alumnus, he decided to populate in an Amish-type community with his household for 18 months without any technological progresss. He came to recognize that non utilizing engineering came to his benefit, and for those who were continually around engineering, they seemed to be missing multiple capablenesss. While both took different attacks, the consequences were the same. To carry the reader and go forth a long permanent feeling they besides ended their essays with an appealing last sentence. Kolesnikova ended saying that both parents and teens either battle now or confront a sentence-less hereafter of the three missive word OMG ( Kolesnikova, 624 ) . Brende, on the other manus, stated something rather different, yet relevant to the impact of engineering. He stated that in a universe superabundant in appliances and doodads, the richest among us are those who have mastered the delicate art of thinning out the extra, doing manner for the look of their full humanity ( Brende, 621 ) .

It can be agreed that both writers make valid points in their essays. The usage of engineering has changed from what it may hold been in the yesteryear. Younger and younger ages are being affected daily due to the usage of these technological progresss. Progresss such as computing machines, cellular devices, and telecastings have gotten to the point where people are incapacitated without them. Harmonizing to free-lance author Leigh Goessl, childs today would hold a reasonably hard clip imaging life without such points ( Goessl, n.pag ) . In the past kids would pass their clip running about, playing athleticss, and siting bikes. Video games were played in the signifier of out-of-door activities and everything was more relaxed. In present times about every adolescent has some kind of technological device and ne’er truly takes the clip to travel out and acquire some fresh air. They are stuck on these digital playthings all twenty-four hours and dark without recognizing it. Statistics show that in September 2008, Nielsen Mobile announced that adolescents with cell phones each sent and received on norm, 1,742 text messages a month. At the clip the figure sounded high, but merely a few months subsequently Nielsen raised the run to 2,272. A twelvemonth earlier, the National School Boards Association estimated that middle- and high-school pupils devoted an norm of nine hours to societal networking each hebdomad. Add electronic mail, blogging, IM, tweets and other digital imposts and you realize what sort of hurried, 24/7 communications system immature people experience today ( Bauerlein W.11 ) . These progresss are taking over lives and non being noticed. Harmonizing to the American Record Guide the technocrats want an person to believe engineering is neutral-want them to believe that they are in charge. But more and more the persons are engineering ‘s victims. Persons are non running it ; it is running them ( Vroon, 53 ) . It has besides resulted in a major factor of emphasis, particularly for parents. One may inquire why? This is due to the fact that their kids are more technologically advanced than they are. It is difficult for a parent today to maintain path of their kids when they themselves are non capable of some of the progresss their childs have adapted to. Aside from the parents, instructors excessively are accommodating to the emphasis. Students continually make the same authorship errors on their prep and documents and neglect to acknowledge it. This is due to their technological progresss, leting them to utilize chat speak, about a whole new linguistic communication. Mark Bauerlein, a professor of English at Emory University states that among the many effects of pupil careerism, campus selling, Facebook, texting, and other philistine forces set uping undergraduates today the chief force is the level inconsideration to linguistic communication ( Philology, Etymology, and Phoneticss, n.pag. ) . Harmonizing to the District Administration Magazine pupils are taking advantage of engineering. “ The job is pupils are utilizing and mistreating engineering without understanding digital citizenship ” ( Ribble, 85 ) .

The abuse of engineering is non merely impacting an person at present clip, but can ensue in a long term issue every bit good. They adopt bad wonts such as confabs speak, which causes proper English to melt out of their lives, the inordinate usage of a reckoner, which limits their mental capablenesss, every bit good as being lazy and non traveling out-of-doorss to acquire some needed exercising which may take to future wellness related issues. Harmonizing to the American Record Guide, the job with most of these engineerings is that they isolate people, kill conversation, and promote sedentary behaviour ( make people lazy and fat ) . They besides waste clip that may be utile ( Vroon, 53 ) . One illustration given by the writer is telecasting, which he feels leads to a overplus of jobs.

“ Television, for illustration, isolates people and destroys conversation. These yearss the household rarely even watches telecasting together-there are excessively many sets in every family. Television destroys attending p-just another manner it turns people against reading. It creates passiveness, controls people ‘s ideas, sets the footings of political relations, Teachs people to desire things they do n’t necessitate, and stimulates the appetency for debris nutrient. It is mind-numbingly intrusive and invasive. Its velocity and aggression are downright hard-bitten. It is even turning people into chickens ” ( Vroon, 53 ) .

Brende in his essay makes a great mention to this explicating that these accomplishments may non be as easy to get or retrieve after they are lost. “ Multimedia devices erode and wasting human mental powers and accomplishments like reading and, possibly because these are even harder to retrieve or even place, these losingss can lend to a obscure sense of inutility which our antidepressants have n’t been able to bring around ” ( Brende, 621 ) .

Technology is non needfully a bad thing, but inordinate usage of it is ensuing in negative results. New technological progresss are created daily to assist heighten the manner we live and factors related to it, but the inordinate usage of it is merely doing it debatable. Who does n’t desire to utilize a reckoner for those hard jobs, or utilize a cell phone to acquire a speedy response? These progresss are decidedly good, it ‘s merely when it becomes accustomed that it causes issues. Harmonizing to a survey in Britain, the British are looking for a manner to farther incorporate cell phones into their lesson programs for the hereafter. “ We hope that, in the hereafter, mobile phone usage will be every bit natural as utilizing any other engineering in school, ” says Elizabeth Hartnell- Young, University of Nottingham research chap and analyze co-author ( Docksai, 10 ) . Technology can ever ensue in benefits if used in a peculiar mode ; America merely has a wont of mistreating anything it can come across which consequences in the ruins. “ It ‘s like everything else ; you have to be careful about it. There ‘s proper and improper usage ” ( Docksai, 11 ) .

Technology is decidedly a major factor in the day-to-day lives of many, but if continually abused it could ensue in negative results. Kolesnikova and Brende stress the impact it has left on them and society in general. Changeless usage of technological progresss can take to issues affecting an person ‘s mundane accomplishments and capablenesss. It ‘s up to the user to utilize it with cautiousness and understand the dangers of it. If twenty-four hours by twenty-four hours illustrations and incidents go to demo the impact and devastation it has caused already, than why farther encourage it? These progresss are to be used with bounds, and should be taken into consideration when operated. Overall, it is up to those who are already mistreating it to cut down. If continually abused, such progresss may be banned.

Plants Cited

• Bauerlein, Mark “ Why Gen-Y Johnny Ca n’t Read Nonverbal Cues. ” Wall Street Journal – Eastern Edition 28 Aug. 2009: W11. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 6 Nov. 2009.
• Brende, Eric. “ No Technology? No Problem ” . Readings for Writers ( 13th Edition ) . Ed. Jo Ray McCuen-Metherell and Anthony C.Winkler. Boston: Cengage Learning, 2010. 618-621.
• Docksai, Rick “ Teens and Cell Phones. ” Futurist 43.1 ( 2009 ) : 10-11. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 4 Nov. 2009.
• Goessl, Leigh. “ Technology: Its effects on kids. ” www.Helium.com. 3 Nov. 2009.
• Kolesnikova, Mary. “ OMG! If LOL, so KMN! ” . Readings for Writers ( 13th Edition ) . Ed. Jo Ray McCuen-Metherell and Anthony C.Winkler. Boston: Cengage Learning, 2010. 623-625.
• “ Philology, Etymology, and Phoneticss. ” History of Higher Education 56.4/5 ( 2009 ) : B2. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 4 Nov. 2009.
• Ribble, Mike S. , and Gerald D. Bailey “ Districts should learn their pupils digital smarts. ” District Administration 40.10 ( 2004 ) : 85. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 4 Nov. 2009.
• Vroon “ The Distracted Generation Victims of Technology. ” American Record Guide 72.3 ( 2009 ) : 53-54. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 6 Nov. 2009.