“Within this world of instant and absolute communication, unbounded by limits of time or space, we suffer from unprecedented alienation.” (Marche, 3) The irony in this statement is almost unsurpassable. As technology advances, one would think that efficient communication would become effortless, and that relationships would be easy to foster; however, that does not seem to be the case. One cannot go anywhere these days without seeing the majority of people on their smart phones, whether it be at the gym, at a restaurant, or walking down the street. As smartphones take up more of our attention, face-to-face conversation ceases to exist. It is now considered strange to strike up conversations on the bus or in line for coffee.
I strongly believe that technology such as Facebook and smartphones are detrimental to society. Instead of increasing communication, they increase loneliness and decrease social skills. This loneliness not only affects you socially, and psychologically, but biologically as well. “Loneliness affects not only the brain, then, but the basic process of DNA transcription. When you are lonely, your whole body is lonely.” (Marche, 6) As this pandemic of loneliness creeps across the world, we may begin to see effects that surpass the typical mental signs and symptoms. The social media craze could increase rates of depression, suicide, and more. There are many articles citing this exact correlation. If today’s society is not careful, the constant increase in technology could have some very negative and possibly fatal consequences.
Other facets of everyday life are being consumed by technological advances as well. Today, companies such as Google and Honda are developing self-driving cars, with some already qualified to be on the road. In theory, these cars are designed to detect their surroundings, pedestrians, and even other vehicles. This technology is meant to increase the convenience of driving long distances. It is advertised that these cars will allow their drivers to complete other tasks such as reading or texting while the car drives itself. However, is this technology really all its cracked up to be? “Automation complacency occurs when a computer lulls us into a false sense of security. Confident that the machine will work flawlessly and handle any problem that crops up, we allow our attention to drift.” (Carr) Lack of attention while driving could have deadly consequences if left unchecked. I believe that these self-driving cars, if put on the road, need some sort of interactive quality in order to keep the driver’s attention on the road. If the car’s technology ever fails, the driver will be left helpless if they are not paying attention or not adept at driving. Technology is not infallible, and relying too heavily on something that is destined to fail eventually can be dangerous. It would be interesting to see how the introduction of these vehicles to the road would affect traffic statistics such as injuries and fatal accidents.
As you can see, both current and future technical advancements raise the important question of whether or not the benefits of the technology outweigh the negatives. Careful consideration must be given to each advancement as they come, in order to prevent the potentially disastrous consequences that could come along with it.