How Technology Affects Us

Written by Jose Santiago
As time goes on technology, is ever forever advancing, but this tends to be more of a hindrance to those who use technology as a means of convenience then to those who can really benefit from it. I’d like to give you an example of this, imagine walking around downtown around 3 in the morning. You’re trying to meet up with a friend and right before they give you directions on how to get there, everything powered by electricity, from the lights in the office buildings to those in the streets, just shuts off. Besides the head lights from cars, you’re in complete darkness in what used to be one of the busiest places in the city. What would you do? Have you ever heard of the New York blackout of 1977?

The city had lost power for about a day and over three thousand people were arrested for looting, damaging property and rioting. We tend to rely on technology a lot more than we back then, so imagine if that were to happen now?
Harvey Brooks of A Critique of the Concept of Appropriate Technology (19) states that there are two perspectives on technology, one of them being that technology supports social values and goals besides economic efficiency, which is something I can agree with. We tend to satisfy or own needs by using technology that makes it easier for us to do things instead of using it to really change how we live for the better. There are some disadvantages to the technology we have now, most notably communication. It’s not that we don’t get the messages that we want or need fast enough but with social networking being the norm, people tend to look at their smartphones, tablets and laptops more than actually communication with another person. This hinders someone’s ability latter in their future as they don’t develop the proper communication skills needed in life. It seems the bigger social networking becomes the more and more people seem to be disconnected with the outside world.
With the constant access we have to the internet with our smartphones, information is easier to receive, like with navigation in transportation. The use of global positioning systems and map application in or smartphones has made our lives easier since we don’t have to worry about if we are going the right way or not. All we have to do is just listen to the directions given to us. Though some might see this as a great convenience in our life, we neglect one of the things that people had to use before the navigation apps were even a possibility; our memory. We learn to get somewhere a certain way and remember every step getting there. This method is tried and true and was the only way we could travel before maps. Map reading has also been deemed a useless skill since the rise of GPS’s as well.
I remember when I was in high school I decided to enroll myself into JROTC, they taught us many of the same methods and techniques used in day to day lives of soldiers, from navigation to basic medic training. It showed me things that while I might not be using them on a daily basis, I’ll know what to do when if there was ever an emergency. I won’t feel like I can’t contribute to a cause because my phone died or I have no signal.
I’m not saying there aren’t benefits to the technologies we have now because we have come a long way in the last century, improving in transportation, transactions, medicine, and education and so on. Irene Taviss of A Survey of Popular Attitudes toward Technology states that eight-seven percent of people believe computers have made business and the government more reliable. But the way we seem to almost rely on technology to help us get through the day isn’t going to do us much good if it all disappears one day. This can be prevented by using the same way of live everyone used to live before the rise of technology. Learn to map read and explore, so you never get lost. Meet new people in order to become more sociable in life. And learn how to do things the old fashioned way instead of doing it over the computer, like paying bills, and getting tickets to the next bull’s game or railway tickets. It

shows you can become more independent in life, without worrying about how to do things the next time your phone dies or your laptop breaks.













Works Cited
Brooks, Harvey. "A Critique of the Concept of Appropriate Technology." Bulletin of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences 34.6 (1981): 16-37. Print.
Taviss, Irene. "City Colleges of Chicago Library /All Locations." City Colleges of Chicago Library /All Locations. The Johns Hopkins University Press, Oct.-Nov. 1972. Web. 9 Nov. 2013