Technology is a factor in today’s society that is progressing and developing at an exponential rate. To look back as little as five years ago, people would say that the tech used back then is completely out of date and useless; the technological advancements made across the globe in current times is simply amazing, to say the least. Products are being developed that people couldn’t even dream of, or only saw in science fiction. Laser technology, satellites, space exploration, medical developments, the list goes on forever. I’m sure if you look around the room you’re in, you’re guaranteed to see one piece of technology that was made within the past 10 years. Although the advancements are grand and vast, there are many contrasting views on the growth of this new age. One of the stronger opinions say that technology is a giant hindrance on our culture; it kills social and communication skills, shrinks our ability to focus, and changes our whole thought process.
Despite the negative views on technology, there are some positive aspects to these developments. In Gary Small and Gigi Vorgan’s article from “iBrain”, different effects from new technology are discussed and seen as beneficial. For starters, the word “google” is now an official verb, which means, “to search for information about (someone or something) on the Internet, typically using the search engine Google.” People are now referred to as “Digital Immigrants” or “Digital Natives”, depending on whether they have to adapt to the changes or grow up learning the basics of technology, and then some. As the world becomes more digital and automated, we are learning to react more quickly to visual stimuli and improve many forms of attention. We are also learning to strain out only the information we’re looking for when surfing the web. The incredible speeds of the Internet are also affecting our times of reaction. Since the processes we perform on the computer are becoming so choppy and automated, we have learned to complete our actions as quick as possible. There has also been proof that average IQ scores are steadily rising, and the ability to multitask without error is improving (thanks to video games). It may even be possible that future generations will evolve with smaller hands in order to type and text faster and more efficiently.
As many benefactors as there may be, people will still find flaws in technology. Adam Gopnik's article "The Information" talks about 3 different types of people with different views on the advancement of technology: the Never-Betters, the Better-Nevers, and the Ever-Wasers. These divisions set the views of technology on a black-white-gray scale; the Never-Betters are for, the Better-Nevers against, and the Ever-Wasers in the middle. One Better-Never thought is that the Internet is taking over our minds and that we aren't able to think for ourselves anymore. Due to the amazingly fast pace that the internet works at these days, our time to process actions is diminishing every day, and possibly even more automated due to our technological repetition. Going to websites, checking e-mail, making online purchases (for you shopaholics out there), etc. When we find a site that we really enjoy, and we visit often, the process to get to that site almost becomes second nature. Checking e-mail is a zombie-like process, seeking out only the new messages that seem significant enough to actually read. Most of the time, people pay no mind to how they complete their objective, since it's the same process every time. Some say that the real damage is being done at the neurological level, that our children are having their brains altered by too much instant messaging and such. These mentalities maintain the dogmatic idea that technology is bringing society down to a dumber level, and the fact that people are slowly, but surely, turning into drones only reinforces the views of Gopnik and other Luddites.
Michael Wesch's video “Web 2.0” argues that the machine is breaking the process down for us so that tasks are simpler and less time consuming, such as uploading media onto websites. For example, in Wesch's video, it describes how the HTML Internet language fuses the content of a page with the form. Then XML comes along and divides the two; the code of XML only describes the content of the page, not the form. The Internet is also breaking down our reading and writing skills. Every action we perform on the Internet is becoming more automated and systematic for us, and it takes little to no effort to focus on a selection of writing, despite the type. As technology advances, the "efficiency" of our interpretations online is increasing, and our levels of focus are steadily declining, since we're spending less and less time on each page and link on the web. Computers are also evolving into machines that can remember our technological habits, such as the pages we visit, the music we listen to, the style of fonts we like, etc., and this is only contributing to how little we have to think while on the internet. As I said before, we only need a small amount of focus while surfing the web, and as the world grows more and more automated, that level is becoming infinitesimal. It’s even possible that the increasing cases of ADD and ADHD are due to the growth of the Internet. If this trend continues, how do you think all generations following ours will be different from us? They may even have mentalities on the complete opposite end of the spectrum compared to ours today.
Nicholas Carr’s article “Is Google Making Us Stupid” sends the same message as Gopnik’s article; technology has a significant effect on our society. It affects the way we think, the way we interact, the way we communicate, and much more. The shame of it all is that future generations will be born without experiencing a life without the mass amounts of technology that there will soon be. Anyone who was born around the late 80s or earlier has an idea of what life was like without technology orbiting around our skulls. It seems like kids today are born with Blackberrys in their hands and their 5th birthday present is a MacBook. Kids like these don't know anything but a life full of technology, and when they see how our culture was without all the hype, they'll sit there in disbelief and ask "How is it even possible to live like that?” If someone needs to find a certain piece of information, such as the background of a culture, different generations will find different ways to access what they need due to their experiences with technology & the Internet. An older adult who isn’t familiar with the Internet may prefer to look up an African tribe in the Britannica Encyclopedia set, while a high school student would simply type the name into Google and skim multiple pages until they pick out the information they need. That’s how the Internet is dividing the people; that’s how it’s affecting our culture.
Is technology becoming too much of a problem? It seems that way. With the constant desire to go faster on the web and to have more features than any other product, our minds are becoming as automated as the voicemail message on your new 4G cell phone (if you even know what 4G is). Technology, mainly the Internet, is affecting the masses in such a way that our future generations won’t even think of opening a book. At least 1 computer will be in every house within the decade, and it will be the primary source of all information needed. Our children’s children will be able to multitask 5 different chores at once and make decisions in a split second, thanks to all those video games. Overall, the growth of technology in our society has its share of malefactors, but its development & impact is unfortunately inevitable.
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