Technology: The catalyst for American Laziness
Part One:
Side Effects of the 21st Century’s Technological Overload
Defining three key issues of this generation’s overuse of technology
Scroll.
Click. Purchase. This is what we have replaced a short trip to the
store with. Technology is always at our fingertips and gives us easy
access to everything which sounds great, but is it really? Don’t get me
wrong, I think that Technology is helpful for the most part, but if you
are not careful, the negative repercussions will catch up to you.
Relying on technology and spending too much time on it can cause you to
be lazy which could lead to obesity and poor social skills. Some people
hardly get out of the house due to the fact that, using technology, we
have the whole world at their fingertips.
There
are clear issues with America’s new obsessive use of technology. If we
need an answer, we Google it. Google is not a verb! It is the name of a
search engine. That’s an example of how technologically based and
dependent we have become. Anyone can “Google” anything they want. It’s
all so easy, instead of problem solving ourselves, now the Internet just
solves them for us. And EVERYONE has this same access to technology. I
see Elementary school children walking around with their eyes glued to
their smart phones! That proves that this technology overload is a
growing problem. At young ages kids aren’t developing social skills for
face to face conversations. The Northern-Iowa Editorial Staff in Is technology harming our communication skills,
reports that in a 2009 national survey 80% of Americans use the
Internet. Of that 80% Americans average about 17 hours of Internet use
per week. It’s the unfortunate truth that most of our communications
travel through our phones and computers, because of this our social
skills suffer. With texting, Twitter, and Facebook, you don’t ever have
to speak to someone face to face again. All of these social networking
sites have caused a major problem. Some people have difficulty
developing deep, meaningful relationship because to make friends online
all you have to do is click the add button. Also, why would you go out
and talk to someone to find a date when you could just be paired up with
a complete stranger using online dating? Our society has gotten caught
up in a virtual reality and doesn’t experience the world like our
parents did. Social skills are decreasing and will continue to get worse
if we continue on this technological path.
I
think it is very clear that America has an obesity problem. I don’t
want to blame that solely on our rapidly advancing technology, but that
sure doesn’t help the problem. Back 50 years ago kids would get up and
walk to the library to study and research. And in today’s society I am
doing all the research I need right from my computer. I don’t need to
get up at all, if I want knowledge I go straight to the Internet. Some
people are more dependent and it becomes a health issue. There is no
need to go outside and play a sport when you can stay on your couch and
play the Wii. You can shop straight from your bedroom and have your
dinner shipped right to your doorstep. Most of the tasks that once
required a small amount of effort can now be accomplished without
moving. Video games provide all the entertainment you could ever want
which means you can have fun without moving a muscle! Kids are swapping
going outside and playing with their friends with staying on their couch
while talking to their friends through the game. In How Technology is Making us Lazy,
Tejas Moorey says about video games, “Other than depriving people of
their sleep, they have made people completely avoid the outside world
and immerse themselves in a virtual reality of gaming.” This is the
unfortunate truth, people live in their own virtual worlds and that is
causing exercise to decrease and obesity rates to increase.
The
last big side effect technology has on us is low patience. As a kid, I
can easily relate to this. When my mom asks me to do something while I
am watching television or looking on the computer I get impatient with
her very quickly. It is something my generation has adopted and the
rapidly advancing technology around us is to blame. In The 4 Negative Effects of Technology,
Alice Martin talks about how gets kid frustrated so easily now with
things like a web page taking a long time to load. We cannot not even
wait for a site to take 10 seconds to load without getting frustrated,
that is an clear sign of low patience. Parent-child relationships are
weakened because kids continue to have less patience. Whenever the
mother and father start talking and ask something of them, they tend to
lash out and get upset. The children of this generation are at a
disadvantage with all their access to technology, and young kids with
shortened patience is not an ideal combination.
Technology
is on the rise, and our future could be scary. Our reliance on
technology grows as every second ticks by, and if we are not careful, we
will be caught up in a virtual reality. Technology has plenty of
benefits, but you have to be careful to use it wisely so the negative
effects don’t catch up to you.
Works Cited
"Is Technology Harming Our Communication Skills?" The Northern Iowan. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Apr. 2014.
"The 4 Negative Side Effects Of Technology." Edudemic. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Apr. 2014.
"Modern Technology the Internet Demise Newspapers the Rocky Mountain News." By Erica Bradley. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Apr. 2014.
"How Technology Is Making Us Lazy." Www.mensxp.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Apr. 2014
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