Studies debate the influence
of technology in our lives.
By: Iliana Leclerc
Introduction
It is often said that technology has changed
the way we live, the way we think and even
the way we interact with one another. It
affects peoples lives; whether inspires
somebody to be an architect or makes
somebody a computer hacker. It has
changed this generation rapidly. If we were
to actually compare the way we live today
and how life was a few years back, we will
definitely notice how technology has
transformed our lives.
Americans today tend to believe that
technology in fact does make life easier for
us; however, there are others who think
technology affects our lives in a negative
way. They argue that it has made our
generation more greedy, ignorant and lazy
and has even affected the way students
write. This report provides studies obtained
from a survey done to twenty-five people
and other sources that show different
thoughts on how is technology affecting our
lives.
Expert Opinions
Can you imagine the world without internet,
computers, cellphones? Its almost
unimaginable. Technology has made it
possible for us to conquer many things, yet
this technology also causes distraction,
stress and even in some cases isolation.
Although I should know better by now, I
cannot help thinking how is technology
really affecting our life? Below I show
experts views about the topic to better
answer these questions.
American writer Nicholas Carr wrote an
article in 2008 stating that technology is
(Google images)
affecting our brains in a negative way. Carr
tells the reader how the internet is a tool we
can use for everything to the point that we
almost feel dependent from it to do most
things. Also, Carr claims that technology is
a huge distraction by saying that it changes
the way we mentally process information in
our brain to seek more "shortcuts".
According to Nicholas, technology is slowly
becoming more important than people
claiming that Google is trying to invent an
artificial brain to replace ours because is too
slow. Writing in the journal commentary,
Carr complains that "what Taylor did for the
work of the hand, Google is doing for the
work of the mind (Carr p 324).
"what Taylor did for the work of the
hand, Google is doing for the work of the
mind (Carr p 324).
According to American writer Nicholas
Carr, the same way that production
increased when Taylor broke down the
manufacturing process into separate parts;
the minds ability to absorb information will
increase in efficiency as the internet
becomes more organized. Researches that
would normally take hours to complete have
now been reduced to a few minutes of
searches; but the skill of knowledge
management, is likely to be lost.
On the other hand, Canadian freelance
journalist, blogger and science and
technology writer Clive Thompson reported
that technology is changing the way we all
think for the better in his article Smarter
than You Think. He argues that these
changes are guiding our brains to a new
style of intelligence that becomes better and
better by the resources that technology can
provide. Also, he mentions the three ways
he thinks technology is changing the way we
think: it can give us an enormous external
memory, it can make it easier for us to find
connections between things, and encourages
more communication and publishing.
Thompson also says that they key to being
smarter than we think is to learn how to
control and make use the power of the new
technology while addressing the powers it
can create. Thompson states, "What would
happen if, instead of competing against one
another, humans and computers
collaborated? What if they played on teams
together one computer and a human facing
off against another human and computer?
That way, each might benefit from other's
peculiar powers. The computer would bring
the lightning fast --- if uncreative--- ability
to analyze zillions of moves, while the
human would bring intuition and insight, the
ability to read opponents and psych them
out. Together, they would form what chess
players later called a centaur: a hybrid beast
endowed with the strengths of
each"(Thompson p. 343-344).
"What would happen if, instead of
competing against one another, humans
and computers collaborated? What if they
played on teams together one computer and
a human facing off against another human
and computer? That way, each might
benefit from other's peculiar powers. The
computer would bring the lightning fast ---
if uncreative--- ability to analyze zillions of
moves, while the human would bring
intuition and insight, the ability to read
opponents and psych them out. Together,
they would form what chess players later
called a centaur: a hybrid beast endowed
with the strengths of each"(Thompson p.
343-344).
In other words, Thompson is saying that
since machines could outplay humans 90%
of the time, it would be a smarter idea if
they both played together man and machine
against another man and machine that way
one would benefit from the other. Another
point he makes is that every technology we
have today whether is a smartphone, a hard
drive, and even a computer shapes the way
we think, it has produced a new style of
human intelligence. Thompson himself
writes, "The one thing that both apocalyptic
and utopians understand and agree upon is
that every new technology pushes us toward
new forms of behavior while nudging us
away from older, familiar ones... Living
with new technologies means understanding
how they bias everyday life"(Thompson p.
349).
"The one thing that both apocalyptic
and utopians understand and agree
upon is that every new technology
pushes us toward new forms of behavior
while nudging us away from older,
familiar ones... Living with new
technologies means understanding how
they bias everyday life"(Thompson p.
349).
This quote basically summarizes the biggest
effect that technology has on everyday-life,
and that is how it make us behave in society.
An example of this is how back then, people
used to make friends with strangers all of the
time anywhere train, busses etc.., but now
everyone or at least most of us have
headphones on and the train and busses are
quiet.
Another expert, Michaela Cullington wrote
an article called "Does texting affect
writing?" where she claims that texting
language is affecting the way students write
formal papers. She uses information
obtained from researches that were done on
texting and how it affects the way students
write formal papers. Some say that the
language used when texting in fact does
affect students when they have to write a
formal paper, while others argue it does not.
The writer uses data from both sides of the
argument, and because it is such an
important subject she decides to conduct her
own research. In this article, Cullington
maintains that when texting "In order to
more quickly type what they are trying to
say; many people use abbreviations instead
of words. The language created by these
abbreviations is called textspeak. Some
people believe that using these abbreviations
is hindering the writing abilities of students,
and others argue that texting is actually
having a positive effect on
writing"(Cullington p. 361-362).
"In order to more quickly type what they
are trying to say; many people use
abbreviations instead of words. The
language created by these abbreviations is
called textspeak. Some people believe that
using these abbreviations is hindering the
writing abilities of students, and others
argue that texting is actually having a
positive effect on writing"(Cullington p.
361-362).
In other words, this quote quote explains
how the use of textspeak is ruining the way
students put down ideas on formal papers.
The use of these abbreviations has escalated
due to popularity and common use of
cellphones. Some people believe that
textspeak can actually help the student with
spelling problems while others think the
opposite
Methods
There are two sides to every coin, and two
versions of every story, so whats the deal
with technology? In order to answer this
question, I have created a ten-question
survey that I posted on social media via
Facebook and Snapchat.
The survey was directed to anyone willing
to take it from ages 18 and up. I got a total
of 32 responses. Luckily, any of the
participants skipped any questions in which
45% reported to be male, and a 52%
reported to be female, and a 5% of people
reported being from another gender. Out of
those people a 30% of them claimed they
were between the ages of 18-24, a 55%
reported to be between the ages of 25-34,
9% claimed to be between 35-44, and the
last 6% were from the ages between 45-64.
Majority of these people were students, but
there was a percentage of people who were
not. I made this survey available for people
of all ages in order to determine whether
technology is affects us in a good or a bad
way.
Results
Overall, majority of participants reported
having some kind of electronic device, and
always using it. More than half of the
participants in my survey claimed that the
use of technology actually decreases their
productivity at times. A surprising 63%
answered yes to this question while
remaining 37% answered no. (see chart
below)

Do you feel like the
use of technology
decreases your
productivity at times?
36% yes
64% No
In my survey, I asked participants How
much time a day do you spend on your
digital devices?, and it was interesting to
see how majority of people spent more than
three hours on their digital device a day. The
purpose of this particular question was for
me to find out how often people use their
digital devices. The results of this survey
showed that majority of people depend on
their phone to do almost everything, and
how is taking a big amount of time away
from people.
Discussion
The results I got from this survey support
both sides of the experts mentioned above.
Anyone familiar with technology agrees that
there is a good side and a bad side to it.
Although technology does play an important
role in todays society, it is also true that
people are depending so much in technology
that if they spend more than an hour without
a digital device they start to get anxious.
Most of us are also reporting to have an
electronic device when while enjoying a
meal. While is true that technology helps us
in many ways, it does not necessarily follow
that it affects our lives in a negative way.
With all of the information reviewed in this
paper, I feel like respondents have an
ambiguous feeling when it comes to
technology and how is changing the world. I
feel like most of them agreed with Carrs
theory as far as technology affecting us in a
negative way when they answered always
and yes to the questions: How much time
a day do you spend on your digital devices?
and Do you feel the use of technology
actually decreases your productivity at
times?. However, a good percentage of
them also reported to be ok without an
electronic device for a week.
Conclusion
According to the results obtained from my
survey, every part of our daily lives is
related to technology in one way or another.
This is why people have often debated
whether technology is good or bad. Many
believe technology is affecting us in a
negative way, while others strongly oppose
that argument. Although technology may
seem of concern to only a small group of
people, it should in fact concern anyone who
cares about our future as a society. With the
information I collected it is still uncertain
whether technology is affecting us in a good
or a bad way. In my opinion, both of these
opinions are correct, but only to an extent.
References
Carr, Nicholas. Is Google Making Us
Stupid? They Say I Say, Norton, W. W. &
Company, Inc., 2016, pp. 313328.
Clive Thompson. Smarter than You
Think. They Say I Say, Norton, W. W. &
Company, Inc., 2016, pp. 340360.
Cullington, Michaela. Does Texting Affect
Writing? They Say I Say, Norton, W. W. &
Company, Inc., pp. 361370.