I see technology as enhancing communication, especially for those who live far away.

It

allows me to connect with family and friends, especially now that I am in college and do not see

my high school friends everyday like I used to. With social media, I am allowed to keep up with

friends even though they are miles away. I can view pictures that they take, giving me updates on

their lives. I am also able to stay in touch with my relatives. My cousins live in Australia and I

just recently saw them for Christmas for the first time in ten years. Because of technology, I am

able to text, call, and FaceTime them anytime. It makes it so much more convenient because

without technology, the only time I would be able to see them is if I were to book a flight to

Australia. There are also group chats where I can keep up with all my family members and we

can all communicate on one platform, making it much simpler.

However, I can also see how technology can make it difficult to communicate. I don’t

believe technology should be involved in face to face conversations. Whenever I go out to eat

with friends, I always will put my phone away so I can give them my undivided attention. A lot

of times at restaurants, I’ll see families sitting together all on their phones instead of conversing

with each other. I find it annoying when I am having a conversation with someone and they are

on their phone while I am talking to them. I find that most people who use their phones while

someone is talking to them can’t pay attention to their phone and the conversation at the same

time. So, when this happens, I find myself repeating myself since the person wasn’t paying

attention. Elon University student Emily Drago states, “researchers found that conversations in

the absence of mobile communication technologies were rated as significantly superior

compared with those in the presence of a mobile device” (Drago). This further proves how much

more engaging a conversation can be without a phone.

 Nicholas Carr is known for writing about issues on technology and culture. He has

written many books including Does IT Matter? and The Big Switch: Rewiring the World, from

Edison to Google. He mentions how he used to able to read lengthy articles without a problem.

However, he now loses focus after the first few pages. He blames technology for this (Carr). He

goes onto say how he has gotten so used to searching things up online and getting an immediate

answer. On the other hand, when reading, you won’t get an answer right away.

I also notice that when I was younger I used to love reading and was always placed in

advanced reading classes. Now, I find myself having a shorter attention span and less patience. I

tend to zone out when reading long articles. I agree with Carr that technology has to do with this.

After becoming so accustomed to quickly receiving answers to any research I have, it’s difficult

for me to go back to researching things in books, which takes much longer. Even though

technology may be decreasing our attention spans, it can make things more convenient in

education. Senior writer Lawrence Biemiller mentions the importance of Powerpoint and Google

Slides. When inconveniences occur, such as a snowfall closing down schools, teachers are able

to use technology to allow the students to catch up with what they will be missing. By posting

information on a Powerpoint, students can still study the material from home (Biemiller). In

many of my classes I’ve had teachers post a Powerpoint online, allowing me to go back and go

over anything that I did not understand. It’s also very helpful used as a study tool for tests.

Overall, I find that the positives on technology used in communication and education outweigh

the negatives. Technology shouldn’t be used all the time, as there should be a balance.

Works Cited
Biemiller, Lawrence. "Technology? It's just another knitting needle." The Chronicle of Higher

Education, 22 Sept. 2017, p. B13+. Academic OneFile,

http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A509161381/AONE?u=cod_lrc&sid=AONE&xid=89d92849

Carr, Nicholas. “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” They Say / I Say, 3rd ed., W.W. Norton &

Company, 2017, pp. 313-329

Drago, Emily. “The Effect of Technology on Face-to-Face Communication.” The Elon Journal

of Undergraduate Research in Communications, vol. 6, no. 1, 2015, pp. 13–19.