Technology, Humanity and Globalization
Recently, I cannot stop thinking that your class and culture place too much emphazise on technology. Students in our class would rather IM each other than have a verbal conversation, even though they are sitting next to each other. People seem to be consumed by technology and are starting to forget how to live without it. Everyone I know owns a cellphone (expect for my dad and grandmother), I am the only person in our class without a laptop, my roommate is constantly playing video games, I am writing a blog at this moment… Technology is everywhere and now it is connecting the world like never before.
However, technology is also isolating people at the same time. I could potentially never go to my globalization class because everything I need for the class is posted on this odd thing called a wiki. I could stay in my room all day and only leave to eat. My point is technology can replace humanity and should not consume to much of our lives.
I personally do not want to be spending the majority of my day in a small room, staring at a monitor for a huge portion of my life (the office). However, many people think the ability to do just that, which is pretty much nothing, is an great advancement in human ingenuity. Globalization is obviously going to increase people’s reliance on technology, and therefore reduce physical human interaction.
sehauser replied:
I think you are right on many points, technology has many drawbacks. But as with any invention/idea/creation you need to weigh the benefits vs the drawbacks and technology has such great benefits that the drawbacks are often over looked. I do think we spent a great deal of time talking about technology but it really is one of the main reasons there is globalization. With the passage of time things are bound to change but I do agree right now there is a lack of physical human interaction. I personally don’t want to spend my day sitting at a computer either but technology is just a way of life.
October 27, 2006 at 8:31 pm. Permalink.
sharpine replied:
It seams to me that the area inn which we’re loosing most direct contacts (in exchange for more, and a greater diversity of contacts is in the work environment. Less and less do we have communities like Hershey, Pennsylvania where everyone who lives together works together as well; making it harder to for community building.
However, I think that one factor that is being left out of the idea that society becoming an isolated place is that, as has already been pointed out, most people will resist this. Yes, you could hibernate in your room, but chances are that you won’t because it’s not a very fulfilling way to spend your time, and an innate human yearning for interaction simply will not stomach it. During the industrial revolution the dislocation of the family caused mass political chaos and resistance – but technology, which caused the dislocation of the family, also allowed for the creation of a the telephone, and the automobile, and all the things which in the modern age tend to keep families together – the family regrouped and survived, albeit in a very different form, arguably better or worse. Before the industrial revolution we had closer extended families, but also a culture that saw the extended family as enough, often allowing for abuse to live on unchecked, indeed, it was from the burden of cold technology in which people began to form new extended families through unions.
Likewise, it is undeniable that are communities are changing, and while I agree that a lack of true human interaction will cause I problem, I also believe that the human race will adapt and be able to find interaction off the net. At the same time, not all on-line interaction is low quality, valuable interaction can be gained on-line that would not have existed at all except through technology. For instance, on-line note passing (hopefully) might not eliminate a class discussion, but simply add another facet to it.
October 30, 2006 at 2:38 pm. Permalink.
Martha replied:
I agree with the last commenter–the emergence of technology in our lives doesn’t have to represent a loss of human interaction or an overall devaluing of personal relationships. Instead, the kinds of technology we’re dealing with may offer *new* opportunities for interaction and new ways of exploring relationships.
I value the way in which computer technology has expanded my understanding of the world. Fundamentally, I actually believe that our use of computers has the potential to alter the ways in which our brains work (there’s past evidence of this happening, by the way, when new technologies were introduced in history), and my fascination with this potential is why I do what I do for a living.
That said, I don’t love my cell phone, and I relish the opportunities I have to get out into nature and hike, camp, and canoe.
As with all things in life, our use of technology needs to strike a balance. We need to find ways to use technology to add value to our lives–while still being true to our need for personal connection and the natural world.
October 30, 2006 at 10:35 pm. Permalink.