Perplexed by the Technologies

Perplexed by the Technologies

            The technologies are unique to humans and have been invented by us to make the matters more convenient and to improve people’s lives. It is true that most of these technologies have been implemented into our society and nourished the culture in a benign way. For instance, the communication technology and the information technology have enabled swift and constant connections between friends, family members, and many others, which overflow our minds with the information that could be useful as we move forward in our lives. If one walks down a street, he can observe many others who “have carved a little semi-private, personalized space out of the larger public” (Samuels) in order to stay connected to the community via Internet, which sounds ironic but true. However, they all have side effects of some sort and these side effects can only be found after such newly found technologies have become ordinary to the society by being used for many years. Far as the information technology, such as the Internet, cellular phones, and computers, goes, they have turned many people into the information and entertainment cravers who spend infinite amount of time glued to the screens of such products. In the American culture nowadays, this is an ordinary scene and, although many doubts this situation, the truth is that people are in a situation in which they cannot live up to standard lives without them. Many say that these technologies may affect people unfavorably in every aspect but cannot put them aside.
            In the American culture, the opportunities people obtain have stretched far beyond what they had twenty years ago. The information technology has provided them the opportunities to semi-permanently gain infinite amount of information and to express themselves in many various ways in which people can make their livings off of. This situation is common now and many have achieved the American dream by doing so. This happens because of the ability of the Internet to show only the viral and wanted information. When something fresh and wanted gets posted on the Internet, people rush upon it and praise it as the best. However, from a different perspective, it can also be said that the people are choosing to only observe what are entertaining to them and to exclude those that are not. People switch and channel between different webpages, split away from them once they are satisfied, and repeat this cycle continuously forever. This has created a kind of man who “absorbs everything, but not deeply. Everything is linear. Nothing can be sustained – If it’s not going well, his first instinct is to surf away,” (Lasn 43) who are very common type of person to see nowadays. The information technology has created a habit in the American culture, in which people only face those that are beneficial to them and condemn the rest.
            Such change in the attitude has caused another problem. The concentration levels of those who constantly interact with the information device or devices have diminished. The information technology tamed people in a way that they cannot focus on one thing and understand its core but rather skim through the superficial dimensions of it. This has been causing the educational process to hinder and deteriorate among the students in any educational level. For example, the students at middle school in South Bronx browses web pages or play computer games that are not related to the class materials during class  and even the students of Massachusetts Institute of Technology which is one of the top level schools in the world have gotten worse grades than they were expected to get due to the distractions by the computers according to a documentary, Frontline's Digital Nation.
            The information technology changed the American culture in many different aspects but one most significant change it brought is that people have gotten so dependent on it. Although people are taught that such dependency and addictiveness on it are not healthy, they cannot reside from it. More changes the information technology has brought into our society are starting to get revealed and I do not know if these products and changes are justice or evil. However, I know that these changes are definite and not recognized or alerted fully enough by most people. I believe that everyone must face and understand the fact that this technology can bring both good and bad into our society in order to be ready and not stampede upon when we encounter more negative sides of the information technology.

Response

                Technology is what we interact with everyday. We can avoid it but it will take us way longer to accomplish any civil act. This is because it has become the basis and the fundamental instrument for us to work off of. Before, I was using my computers like they were magical items just popping out from somewhere. However, now, I can see how it positively and negatively affected people. It must be considered seriously when we talk about modern culture.

                I personally do not like this essay. My quotes are not as constructive. The introduction is too big and unbalanced compared to the rest. However I like the connections between the paragraphs. I am able to transition from one paragraph to another swiftly. In future, I will try to be more decisive about the sentence structure.