Monday, August 11, 2008
When have we gone too far?
I have realized thanks to Postman and Huxley just how much things like television and pretty much technology in general has affected our society, our culture, and our lives. I mean, technology has overwhelmed us with its versatility. However, when does it become too much? When do we as the creators of the things we have and use today take a step back and decide that we’ve gone too far? I don’t mean to say that technological growth is a bad thing; it is after all an inevitable thing. All I’m trying to say is that we need to watch what we are doing. Technological growth can’t be stopped, but it can be slowed. If we are not careful, the next thing you know, technology will be the end of us; and I don’t know about you guys , but I personally don’t want to have to live out a situation like in the movie, ”I, Robot”.
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6 comments:
I completely agree with you. Lately I have realized that since I got internet, i just can not get my butt off the seat. It eventually got to the point where I used my homework as an excuse to use the internet only so I can find myself bored with nothing to do on the net, but I stay on it anyways but why? I stay on simply because I have become a slave to technology, and like you said, it overwhelms us. Personally I believe technology owns us, with the exception of the Amish. Our lives rely on technology to make things easier but just like drugs, people abuse it until it becomes harmful. Too much television hurts our vision, too much music hurts our ears etc. I saw "I,Robot" too and one of my thoughts running in my head was "wow, our future looks scary". I want to warn you guys, do not become a technology junkie and I speak from personal experience. I am literally using technology almost 24/7, especially the computer.
I agree that technology can't be stopped. We simply need them in our societies today. It is almost impossible for me to be without technology for a day. Similarly, I also use my computer a lot. I even skip meals sometimes just to play online games. Of course there is a limit to everything. I ended up with an overused computer and had to buy a new one. So now I use it less often. I guess I learned a lot from experiencing these problems to avoid being controlled by technology. Technological advances have lots of uses. It helps us in our daily activities. However, it starts to have negative effects once it controls our lives.
You bring up a really good point Jacob, and I can definitely agree with you on this one. I find that media is taking over our lives, for example I can remember a time when I used to go over to my friends house to actually hang out, talk, do normal girl stuff. But now more often I found myself at my friends house playing wii, or the latest game of rockband, or on myspace(what a shocker!). Although I have never seen I, Robot, I believe that we are headed in a bad direction, and if we don't at least slow down and try to change our ways the outcome may be very bad.
I agree with you Jacob about how technology has overwhelmed us. For example it's like when someone gets a new phone and then a month later a new one comes out, soon you're gonna want that one, then when another one comes out you want that one. So in other words if you don't want technology to overwhelm you just like with my example about the phone, just stick with your first phone because in the long run you probably get the one you want.
I believe that you can't necessarily slow down technology since most people crave for technology that make their lives easier and enjoyable. I too admit that I myself crave for such a thing. In this world I believe that technology has corrupted has to the point that we can no longer not live with it. It's sad that we have become so dependent on technology, but what can we do? We humans are stuck in a time where things such as air conditioners keep us cold from summer heat, where telivion and computer has completely wrapped us in their fingers, speaking metaphorically of course, this is our world now and Aldous Huxley's prediction about what we love (technology and the little unsdignificant things) will completely destroy us, might come true in the future. The most we can do is hope that such a thing will not happen since unfortunately I believe that we too are on that along that boat that is sailing us to Huxley's world.
Technology has affected our society, culture, and our lives, and I do agree with you that technology has overwhelmed us with its versatility. Technology has taken over my life especially now that it's summer. During the school year, I stopped going on the computer, and lessened my television hours so I can achieve better grades. As soon as summer hit, all I have been doing was watching non-stop movies, shows, and been on the computer more. For me technology has been too much and I'm sick of it. I don't think our society can stop technological growth, or even slow it down. The only way I can stop is if my internet goes down at the point where you can't surf the net, and if there's no way to fix it. Just the other day, my sister was watching Hannah Montana, a show I loathe. I sat down to watch, but didn't get up, and ended up watching 2 hours of it. Television has made me so lazy that I watch shows I don't like, simply because I don't want to get up. I can see Postman's point and realize what technology has done to me.
-Rishabh Mehta
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