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Monday, September 30, 2013
Does technology bring us closer together or tear us apart?
Many complain that our technology makes us more concerned with the virtual world rather than the world under our feet and in front of our face. Has technology torn us apart from each other or drawn us closer together?
I am very sorry to those "tech savvy" people out there, but I believe that technology is tearing us apart. I believe this because I have noticed on occasion that some people (when given free time in school) just sit around and listen to music with their friends within arms reach of each other. I too have noticed this with a few of my close personal friends. Therefore, technology is taking away the opportunity to communicate with their friends and other people. But, with this being said, technology also seems to bring people closer in a way. More and more I hear people talking about the new hip and trending technology and videogames... But, I'm kind of trailing off topic. By the way, the fact that people sometimes talk technology doesn't make up for the social barrier that technology is forming. -Donovan Billings
I believe technology both brings us together and tears us apart. Without technology we couldn't explore the Internet or communicate with each other with a press of a button. The Internet lets us have any kind of information we ever needed within a few seconds, way back then, people had to send letters that may have been weeks old by the time they made it to where they were going. We are updated with the most recent things that are going on in the world with one flip of the tv remote.
Technology is tearing us apart in ways of cyber bulling. People of all ages get on the Internet pretending to be someone else saying purposely mean things to bring other people down. The world never had this problem until technology started advancing, we didn't even know what social networks were 20 years ago.
Technology is also tearing us apart in ways of face to face communication. Some people have no idea how to make eye contact during a conversation due to always sending text messages or making phone calls.
You choose what technology does to your life, it can be helpful and bring us together, or it can be a terrible thing that tears us apart. There's really no right answer to this question... It's all on you how you chose to use technology. Casey Marshall
I don't know about other families but my family revolves very much around technology. We use our phones a lot, watch TV together, calling each other after school, skyping relatives in Kansas, when I take my trip to Europe this summer the only way I will be able to contact home will be through my phone. I personally believe that technology can bring us together. However it can also tear us apart. Whenever my family wants to "spend time together" it's usually watching a movie together. I think in situations like this technology is used as a barier. So it can tear us apart as well. ~Madison Whitman
People are supposed to be brought closer with social networking today. The only problem that occurs is that they only socialize with the same people and loose social skills. The point of social networking is to bring people closer together. What we don't notice is that they have trouble communicating with people who they just met. With kids today I notice that they only communicate with their friends. They tend to avoid any new people because they are obsessed with talking to their friends they don't try for new ones. Many of them loose social skills because of this. They do not know how to approach a conversation or properly communicate with those who don't converse with them often. I feel like social networking is good to an extent but you must be able to interact properly with others and be more involved with what goes on around you than your phone. When you limit the social networking it allows you to be more involved with those around you.
I must agree with the idea of of social media today bringing us closer buut also tearing us apart aswell. the things we have become addicted to in our everyday lives such as, smat phones internet, smart cars ect. not only bring us together but they destroy the art of physically cummunicating in person. -Will Shuffett
Me being the socially anxious person that I am, I believe that technology is actually bringing us together. Because of my social anxiety, I find it very difficult to communicate with anyone face-to-face. I even have trouble talking to my close friends. It is a lot easier for me to type a text message or email. There are a lot of people in society that have social anxiety. Without modern technology, every day would be excruciating for us. With cell phones and internet, our lives are simpler, and we have one less thing to worry about. As for what Donovan said about people preferring to listen to music over talking with their friends, I don't think he realizes that, sometimes, those people don't want to talk to anyone. I know that for me personally, there are times when all I want to do is put my headphones on and completely tune out the rest of the world. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that, and for some people, it is the only way to cope with the things going on in their lives. I could go on and on about this issue, but I think I've wasted enough of your time. ~Shelby McKinney
I have always been told by my father that getting a cellphone for my 12th birthday was the worst gift I was ever given. Maybe it's because I use it too much, or perhaps it's because technology really does create distance between you and the real world, because of what is on a screen. Personable skills gained through direct communication are crucial things to develop while you're in high school and still "growing". However with Instagram, Twitter, texting, Skype, Facebook, all in the palms of our hands, it's so much easier to just keep to yourself rather than live in the moment with the things surrounding you. Sure, all of those things previously mentioned are GREAT to communicate with people distanced from you. On the flip side though, too many people rely on those networks to develop the relationships a person needs IN PERSON. Technology is helpful; it is diligent, easy, effective, quick. But I believe that technology should be used for the necessities. I use technology to communicate, but I am still personable off the screen. I use technology to listen to music, to type, to submit school work, to email. It is an adequate way to get things done. When you think of branching away from the phone, computer, iPod, iPad, whatever, are you the same person? Do you "lol" and smile and carry on the same kinds of conversations you carry on a keyboard? The answer is no for the majority of people because technology DOES distance you from people around you. Social networking, makes you not-so-social in person. I completely agree that technology unites us in the "effective" ways. But when it comes to developing real relationships and real social skills, ditch the phone and talk to someone, out loud.
Technology has both brought people closer together and pushed others apart. It depends on how the technology is used really. Using something like Skype brings people closer together because they cant always physically see each other. Social media can bring people from all across the world closer together.
On the other hand technology has had some negative effects on people. It can distract the people who can physically be with each. Some people are always caught up in technology and when they have to talk to someone in the real world they don't have the social skills to do so.
There needs to be a balance of the two in order to get a positive outcome, fortunately most people manage to find that balance I think. I feel like I use technology too much personally, i play video games during most of my free time.
- Supreme Brigadier General Sir Robert Todd Cameron Bunyea The Third Duke of BUFFALOS
Technology has made us more connected to each other because we are always in contact with each other and we are literally never apart. The world is connected either by email, phone call, or text but these do have negative effects. Although I strongly believe in the use of new and advanced technology, I also agree with the negative effects it places on people. Regardless of being connected, too much technological exposure can be harmful. You can become dependant on technology. An example of technological dependancy is in math class, some people cannot do simple math without the help of a calculator. They've become dependant on an aspect of technology. Another con is addiction, just look at how many teenagers today are always on their phones or on the computer. Although it is a small form, it is addiction all the same. Life is going on all around us and we have to choose what we do in this life. There's more to life than technology. Even though it is a big part of our lives in this generation, it isn't everything. As Thoreau said in "Walden," "I did not wish to live what was not life," People in this generation are living what is not life; we are too absorbed in technology to see everything around us. Too much time on technology takes away from the experience of living life. ~Amanda LeMay
Technology has both brought us closer together, and has torn us apart. Texting and cell phones allow us to be in contact with anyone anywhere in the world, at any point in time. We can always reach somebody no matter how far they are away from us. Face time allows us to see each other long distance, and communicate as if you were together, even though you couldn’t reach each other. Technology also helps us undervalue face to face communication. When hanging out with friends, you constantly have the urge to see what everyone’s tweeting, what they are doing, instead of talking to your friend. Instead of having to meet someone to hold a conversation, you can simply push a button without ever leaving your house. People cannot go a day without using their phones, laptops, or tablets. We cannot even hold wars without threatening nuclear weapon technology. Technology has become our greatest ally and our greatest hindrance. It can open doors to opportunities never thought of before, and even solve problems that seem impossible. But it can also influence laziness, cheating and lack of motivation for quality work, because the motto of technology is ‘making it simpler is requiring less effort’.
In my opinion, many of the previous comments can be summed up in this: Technology is bringing us closer to those who are far, and distancing us from those who are close. Today’s world is a lot smaller than the world was 100 years ago. With the internet and texting we can reach China or Australia in what used to take weeks and months, this is exemplified in my own life where I have many international friends, with whom I still keep in touch with today. One great example of this is the use of Skype to physically see someone halfway across the world as said in Supreme Brigadier General Sir Robert Todd Cameron Bunyea the Third Duke of BUFFALOS’s comment. However, technology in my life has often pulled me apart from those I am close to and participating in the world around me. As Morgan Gay said, “When you think of branching away from the phone, computer, iPod, iPad, whatever, are you the same person?” I know in my life, I can be two very different people on screen and off. I concede that it is often easier to share your ideas and be your own person online. Many see this as a good thing; however, I disagree. In life we must all learn the courage to be ourselves, something I, and many others, are still learning how to do. Yes, it may be easier to hide behind a screen, but, in my opinion, you’re only cheating yourself of all the good you can by being yourself in real life, here and now.
Depending on the type of technology you use, it can bring you together.
Through the internet, many social anxious people are able to share their opinions and, sure they get judged, but they most likely don't care. They're actually able to talk to someone freely. There are also a lot of people that have many different interests than the things that others are into. A lot of my close friends are obsessed over anime, video games, and songs that I find offensive to me personally or I just have no interest in, but I never say it to their face for fear that they will give me "the look" and ignore me for quite some time. Or there are interests that no one else around you has heard of or your friends have absolutely no reason to get into it, and with the help of technology such as the internet, you can connect with people all over the world who like that one thing that you are fangirling/boying over and talk about it with them.
Sure, it can also bring you apart from your friends and close families, but that's not always a bad thing. I know many people who want to get away from their daily lives of acting like everything's perfect and always having to smile, and they just need some time to relax and chill and get away from all of their worries and troubles.
Does technology bring us closer together or tear us apart?
I myself can see where technology has brought us closer together but yet has torn us apart.
It has brought us closer together by letting us communicate with friends and family that live far away from us & that we rarely get to see. Now that we have things like Skype & FaceTime we can communicate face to face from technology which makes it nice when you have children or grandchildren or any family member that has moved away.
Even though technology has brought us closer together in many ways it has also torn us apart. Sometimes we are way to interested in what's behind the screen of our phone that we don't really spend much quality time with our family. Instead of actually having a conversation face to face with a family member we text them when they are just in the other room. Or when we sit at the dinner table and someone try's to have a conversation with you but you won't talk back because you're to busy using those thumbs of yours. This really tears us apart because we start to think that what's behind the phone screen is more important than having a nice quality conversation with our loved ones that mean the most to us.. It's like we start to shut them out of our lives. Miranda Gunn
People say that technology brings us together because we can use cellphones to call or interact with other people. But are you really interacting with them? Sure your conversing with them, but it's not face to face. You're not actually meeting them in person and really get to know them. Getting to know someone in person is the only way to make new friends. Now these days, teens only interact with this glass barrier in front of their faces called a "cellphone" that barrier is really just blocking them from the real world.Thats a shame really, because thats all i see now these days. So my side is on that technology is seperting us.
One one hand technology has definitely brought us together. In that we are just a call or a text away from each other, it also keeps us updated with the things happening around us. The ability to communicate with someone in another continent is just the amazing handy work of technology; keeping up with old friends who are in another state and you don't get to see them. It is used to show your personality to others on social medias and meet new people.
On the other hand technology has also taken us apart from each other. instead of spending time and physically communicating with our family, we either text them or call them on the phone. We don't spent time together anymore when can just text them. It has made us not able to share our ideas with each other and making are elves better; for example taking classes online, you can't share what you think someone else and also meet new people.
What has the ever growing and expanding world we live in come to? Every technological company that is based solely on a gadgets is competitively rushing to create the best new and improved edition of the first. So is technology bettering our lives or is it creating impermeable barriers? How do you decide which side of the question you believe in? Being a sixteen year old, and growing up with the ever increasing technology right along with me, it has left my life as little bit of delusion . I remember watching movies in my childhood and seeing teenagers actually having conversations in the cafeteria. There wasn't cellphones or a computer for every classroom let alone three or four. By the time I had entered fifth grade, I remember my peers writing to their parents for a cellphone, and the thing that blows my mind is that they were doing this writing project for a school assignment, granted it was a persuasive letter, but how do they learn to write a letter period when, they probably didn't understand the full impact a cell phone would have. With my parents I had a discussion with them, and really it was not a discussion on whether or not I could have one, it was clear statements like this, ''this is what it is'' and ''how it is going to be'', no if, ands, or buts. They made it clear that I would not have a cellphone and probably wouldn't in the near future. When I was younger I was disappointed greatly, looking back though, I'm thankful. To some this would seem a bit backwards, but how do I compare to others when I can actually have a decent conversation with any age group and not feel the social anxiety that others may feel when talking with another person. I don't talk unless I need to, my friends have learned this, when I need to answer I do, but I'm not going to go through the useless chatter that others have. I'm not shy at all, when I feel passionate about a topic I will express every detail until I'm through. People of today have come to realize they don't want to talk or none of their friends are around they immediately pull a device out. With this sentence I relate completely because let's face it when your bored, your bored and having anything to do helps pass the time. Sitting in the cafeteria in the morning I watch the social groups around me and notice that once a person has joined a group, the individuals there exchange pleasantries' and small talk for a minimum of two to three minutes and go right back to the enamored relationship of them and their device. How has society as a whole become the most socially inactive generation to be known? Henry David Thoreau, writes, ''We do not ride on the railroad; it rides upon us.'' This metaphor is so common today that it's almost irony. Through American history alone, we have covered the map with our success as a nation. What once took four to five years to build, now only takes six months to a year to complete. This example is a wonderful use of technology as a country. Getting back to a more personal level, the wide expansion of technology, I believe it is only weakening our feeble attempts to connect to people. The reason being is that with the wide varieties of communication it has eliminated the face to face interactions by a great deal.
When a person is given a way out they will take it, very few are willing to go the bumpy road instead they take the smooth path. On an earlier post, someone wrote, "Teens only interact with this glass barrier in front of their faces'' I completely agree because when a person is able to avoid the uncomfortable they search for a more comfortable situation. The situation being a unfeeling and man-made device that has no connection to the realities of our world. Since when has a cold piece of plastic become our comfort zone? I would much rather have a thoughtful and caring conversation with a living breathing person face-to-face then the user account they created over the web. This generation will become the most technologically advanced but the most socially awkward of humans since the dawn of time. Where is the line drawn for addiction? For alcohol it's the complete want of a substance beyond control. For gambling it's the constant pull for the chance of a life time, the thrill of being lucky. ''Men think that it is essential that the Nation have commerce, and export ice, and talk through a telegraph, and ride thirty miles an hour, without a doubt, whether they do or not'' ecerpt from Walden by Henry David Thoreau.
With these examples I would think it's quite clear that with any device it's easy to become addicted to the thrill of being able to know something before someone else, the thrill of beating a level, or waiting on a text. This addiction has wove itself into our life's and become tighter and stronger each day. We become so involved with a screen that is 5 by 7 that we often miss what is right in front of us. A recent example is with the crisis in Washington, an entire fleet of secret agents had a shootout with a woman inside of a vehicle, this crisis was right on the front lawn of our nation's capitol. The sad part of my story is that on the walkway of the white house a man was photographed. He was so distracted by the device in his hand, he walked right behind an agent on guard, completely missing the activity happening right in front of him. To make my point more clear he didn't even glance and wonder what the guard next to him was doing. Here is a link to the story. http://news.yahoo.com/story-behind-viral-photo-from-capitol-car-chase-174858002.html ''The nation itself, with all its so-called internal improvements, which, by the way are all external and superficial, is just such an unwieldy and overgrown establishment, cluttered with furniture and tripped up by its own traps, ruined by luxury and heedless expense, by want of calculation and a worthy aim, as the million households in the land; and the only cure for it, as for them, is in a rigid economy, a stern and more than Spartan simplicity of life and elevation of purpose.'' http://thoreau.eserver.org/walden02.html This excerpt from Walden by Henry David Thoreau, is a prime example of the reckless use of tehnology that is most common known in our culture.
To finish up, I don't completely disagree with the uses of technology. I have a twelve year old sister, she has multi disabilities and is unable to speak, she depends on the use of sign language. The school she attended last year, Westridge, was able to get an iPad for her to use as a quicker and better understanding communicator. This device stays with her at school and moves with her through out her school life, it is now with her at Bondurant. At home we use sign language and have created a system of understanding with signs she has yet to learn. This iPad helps her to speak with individuals that are not common to sign language. The device stays at school, so when we are out and she signs something we have to translate. My sister and I are very close and with only a few words we are able to understand and have an entire conversation. In just a few movements and nods. For my family technology has improved our lives, but when it's just us, we still rely on the basic face-to-face. I personal wouldn't want it any other way.
Technology is a great thing- It has allowed us to access more things than ever before. We can talk to people we don't get to see often, learn many things via internet, and keep up with the world on social media. It also allows us to quickly get ahold of people we cant have face to face contact with. It so convenient that we can just pick up the phone and call someone when we need something, just want to talk, or refresh our social media and see what is going on in the world. This also can bring a big inconvenience to us, as well. I don't know how many times I have been with my friends or family, and everyone just sits on their devices and engage in little conversation. In that since, technology is brining us apart. Because of all of the technology that is available to us, our social skills are slowing starting to lack. It has become easier to have a conversation with someone through technology, than it is face to face.
Because we can converse with people so easily with out having to talk to them face to face, it has made it extremely easy for people to become people they are not. It is easier to say things through messages than it is to say it to someone's face. I think this has killed our ability to confront and work out our problems with our peers, because we use our messaging ability as a crutch.
I think that as much as technology is helping us, it is also hurting us.
Technology has many ways of bringing us together and tearing us apart. Friday in the Socratic Seminar, we talked about how technology can bring us closer to those family members we have across the country, in another country, or even across the state. I believe as technology brings us closer, it tears us apart. At dinner, children use their phones to text someone instead of talking to their family. A movie I recently watched, called "Pulse" which came out in 2006 was about the downfall of technology. At the end of the movie, actress Kristen Bell says "The thing that was supposed to bring us closer together ended up tearing us apart." So I do believe that technology has its ups and downs based on the way the operator uses it.
It's quite paradoxical how technology works to improve and hamper communications and other things in our lives. We may now be able to now chat with an old friend or colleague hundreds of miles away, but we are unable to have a simple conversation with someone who is directly in front of you. We can no longer simply sit face to face with someone, look them in the eye, and converse. We have had a taste of what it feels like to talk behind the barrier that is a keyboard and screen, and we keep going back to it, as we don't have to worry about all the subtleties that go along with normal interaction, such as emotions.
Technology also tears us apart in the video game sense as well as the social networking sense. Gamers get caught up in the virtual world that they invest (and waste) so much time in, that they no longer feel the need to interact at all in the real world, with real people and real conversations. They delve into this world that isn't real, and it tears them apart from other people.
Technology has brought us a long way, but I think we're far from utilizing it to its fullest ability. I don't mean to sound like a harbinger of doom, but we're still early on in the technological era and it'll be years before we truly see the consequences of our actions.
Technology can both tear us apart and bring us together. In one way it brings us closer by allowing us to communicate freely with friends and family who don’t live near you but you don’t actually get the experience of being with them; you can hear them and talk to them but you don’t really get to interact with them. For example, I have family that lives in Pennsylvania and we used to go visit with them all of the time, at least once a year, and since cell phones and Skype have been invented we haven’t had the physical need to go see our family. We call them and are able to talk with them but we don’t get to do the fun stuff like going to Steelers games and hanging out around a fire, that we used to do when we went and visited with them. Technology allows us to communicate more often but caused the fun aspect to be lost.
Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Does technology bring us closer together or tear u...":
As stated in many of the previous comments, technology can help to bring people together, but it can also pull people apart. However, I do not believe that technology alone is responsible for the interactions, or the lack thereof, between people. Technology is just a tool. Therefore, what really decides whether or not technology brings us together or tears us apart is, in my opinion, one's own use of technology. How technology is used is up to the individual. One can use technology to become closer to others, especially when physical barriers prevent us from doing so face-to-face, but we can also choose to use technology to hide away from the rest of the world, or even to hide our faces as we say things that we would never say in person. I do concede that technology can make it easier for socially anxious people(myself included) to communicate with others and express their ideas, and I also think that it is hard not to become fully immersed in technology when it is almost constant in our lives today. However, I still feel that the influence that technology has over one's life, and whether or not it brings us together or pulls us apart, is ultimately decided by one's own choices in regards to the use of technology.
Will is right. “Technology is just a tool.” Whether or not technology tears you apart or brings you together all depends on how you use it. In all reality every person has probably experienced both sides of the argument. Take me for example. I met one of my really good friends at a conference and then I went back to Kentucky and he went back to Indiana. I’ve seen him a few times since then but those brief meetings aren’t what allowed me to get to know him. Texting, calling and FaceTiming him is what allowed me to get to really know him. Yet I know I have days where all I do is lay in my bed and play on my phone or watch TV instead of interacting with my family. Technology is just a tool, how you use it decides which side of the argument you fall on. Harper Jones
Technology brings us closer together with those who are distant, yet farther apart from those who surround us.
Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram are all tools created for the purpose of communicating not only with those involved in our daily lives, but also with those outside. Ideally with each, we are able to create posts relating to our current happenings to share with friends and family miles away, bringing joy & staying connected. However, out of the 200 or more friends & followers we each have on these networks, I'd say 20 or less are actually family & friends who are distant. With this, we are losing the ability to communicate face-to-face, because we rely on technology to communicate even with those who surround us. It often seems when we spend time with our friends, more time is spent communicating electronically with others, than interacting with those who are actually present with us.
Are these self proclaimed "social" networks, truly allowing us to grow socially? At an age where we should be focusing on our social & interpersonal skills it is imperative that we find a balance in our technology usage.
Technology can bring us closer together in many aspects but it also consumes so much of our time and money which can tear us apart.
There is a ton of new technology out there that helps us in gaining information and becoming more knowledgeable about us and our world. Advances in science, math, government, society, and etc. all help increase our ability to learn and teach upcoming generations. Another benefactor of technology is communication. Technology allows us to get in contact with anyone from anywhere at anytime. Phone calls, video chats and text messages all help military and overseas people stay in close contact with their families. Our new and always changing society relies on technology for an easier and simpler life.
On the total opposite side of my pervious statement, technology tears and is tearing our generation, society, and country apart. Because of cell phones we are able to hide our true selves and emotions behind a simple device, this causes a lot of cyber bullying in social networking cites such as Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. When I say technology may people just think of cell phones but I think of all technology as in TV, computers, X-box, and etc. All these things we allow to take over and control our lives. I feel that we as a country need to change this, we need go back to how it use to be with out all this advanced technology. Back in the day people got along fine without imessage and Netflix so I think we would turn out just as well.
Overall I think that although technology is a great tool for learning and communication, it lets our society become lazy people who care more about what's going on on Twitter than what's going on in the real world.
I personally think that technology brings all of us closer together. Technology lets us communicate with the people we can’t see every day. Technology also helps us communicate with each other globally. People would say that technology keeps us from seeing the immediate world around you. We cannot blame it on technology. It is not the technology that distracts us. It is the person who is distracted. In my opinion technology has really done nothing but help us.
I agree with Tariq, but I also feel that he is wrong about technology doing nothing but help us. Yes it has helped us communicate with people we can't see everyday, but i believe that technology pulls apart from the people we do see everyday.
All too often I see people that are across a room from eachother texting or playing on their phones, not paying attention to one another. Technology takes away from face to face contact, and destroys relationships that can only be developed by actual connection with other people.
Technology also creates an easy way to bully others. Horrible things are said on social networks, and crush friendships. I believe that many of the things said online would not be said in person because you can hide behind a computer screen, without seeing the effects of your doing.
So, I think that technology can bring us together, but it can also bring us apart.
I absolutely agree with Tariq. The positive benefits of technology are far more significant than the social hindrances it causes.
Being able to Skype with my sister in Seattle is such a great privilege, as is being able to quickly send her a picture of our cat from my phone.
The global unification that technology has produced has caused the global economy to skyrocket and allowed for tremendous economic progress in the developing world. Investors in Los Angeles can invest in a clean water system in Angola, through a company in Shanghai. The whole world knows about the problems facing every nation, and the world can now work together in ways no generation has seen. Take, for example, Malala Yousafzai, a young girl from a small town in Pakistan, who, by advocating for education and women's rights and surviving an assassination attempt by the Taliban, has become a worldwide symbol of freedom of expression and the courage of women under Sharia Law. Her story has been broadcast on every news outlet in the free world, and she may well receive the Nobel Peace Prize tomorrow. Her interview with Jon Stewart has been played over and over by thousands of people just today. Without advanced technology, Malala would have had no way to share her story.
As Tariq said, it is the person who is distracted. It is up to parents and those few youth who appreciate face-to-face interaction to teach others to put away their devices. Our culture is rarely able to handle the awesome power that new inventions give us (see: fast cars, Big Macs and guns), and technology is no exception. We aren't yet able to appropriately handle smartphones, and there is no training going on to teach kids (and adults) about proper etiquette. Until that happens, our culture is stuck behind the screen.
I can see how technology can get people closer together because it can allow things to be done that aren't natural or easy to do. For example, iPads can help people who have a speech disability to talk with other people because they are not capable of doing it themselves. On the other hand, the vast majority of us are being swallowed up in useless technology like social networking and cell phones. Recently, I signed up for Facebook. My rationale for doing this was to get updates on band events and to see the videos of out marching band shows. However, what actually happened was that I had connected myself to a piece of technology which gave me little of what I originally wanted, instead I got a load of useless images and "status" updates of things that I didn't care about, none of that is even useful toward the betterment of my education. Not even this blog is useful. Any question that is asked on this blog can be taken and make into an essay question with a seminar. This week during fall break my grandmother was visiting us from England after nine years, I still could not be away from the internet or computer games in order to spend some quality time with her because it has grown to be a habit that seems perfectly natural. Yes, I know that is a shameful thing, but that is what society has become. We have glued ourselves to the machine of our choice and ignored what actually matters in the real world.
As most everyone has already said, technology both brings us closer and tears us apart. With its benefits come its downsides. On the one hand, technology has many great uses, such as keeping in touch with friends and family, staying up to date with global news, and, of course, it has served as a great source of entertainment. It's improved education and business. We are quickly adapting to all these new forms of technology we're exposed to and it definitely does make our lives easier. However, technology has also led to a slew of problems. The younger generations especially have become overly attached to their portable devices. Many people do get too obsessed with social media and would rather substitute texting for social interaction. We are slowly losing our social skills due to our increasing dependence on technology. Also, people on the Internet are often exposed to cyber bullying, which was obviously unheard of in the days before we had Internet. In addition to all of that, too much screen time is bad for our eyes and sitting at a computer all day tends to ruin your posture, so there are some physical health problems associated with increased technology usage. In conclusion, while technology itself is wonderful, it's no substitute for face to face interaction and shouldn't be overused. As with many good things, it does have negative side effects and should be used in moderation.
I think that technology brings us together because, communication has grown from being something that you could on do in person to something that you can do half a world away. this has help to bring people who would have never got the chance to communicate with each other to be able to and sometimes these relationships develop into long lasting friendships that are beneficial to the people that use technology to communicate with others.
I can say that yes technology has brought us closer but also I agree it’s pulling us apart. We can communicate with friends, family and even teachers now with technology whether it is by telephone, email, or texting. We have gone beyond that though. Majority of the people in the world today think they can’t live without function without technology. I believe that technology is a good thing but it depends on how each person individually uses it.
Students can email, call or sometimes even text their teachers when they have questions about assignments rather than coming into class the next day clueless and unprepared. I think that having that connection with teachers makes students feel like their teachers are reliable and are always going to be there to help you (except maybe after ten o’clock haha). It also gives students that one on one learning scene with their teacher.
Technology is also pulling us apart. Last Fourth of July, my entire family of about 40 got together for lunch to celebrate. Instead of catching up with each other, everyone was sitting at the tables with their phones in their hand. Yes, I will admit I was one of them, but it was funny in a way because no one realized we were doing it until my grandma took a picture of us all on our phones.
I think that having technology pull us mostly effects the younger generations rather than the older generations. I noticed that at my family get together, my older family members sitting around talking, playing corn hole, and doing other Fourth of July activities while the younger people were on their elecetronics. Even the younger kids were playing on their Ipods, Kindles, Leapsters ect., instead of enjoying the day. Technology can be beneficial in communication with others, but it can also distract us from what’s going on in reality. It was fun comparing devices and learning new apps and games, but life is short and we should be spending what little time we have with our families and not our electronics.
In my opinion technology tears us apart more than it brings us together. We focus so much time on our electronics and the technology we have gained over the years. We become absorbed in Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Video Games, etc. Though we may get the chance to communicate with people we haven't seen in a while but truly we never get the same experience from online chatting as we would by seeing them in person. Technology has only made society crawl back into our shells. As the saying goes in our generation we are crying from outside begging to get inside were as in our parents time they were crying inside begging to get outside. We spent so much time adsorbed in technology we no longer look at life the same, we don't focus on what is truly in important and what we are blessed with everyday. Ashton Chaney
Technology tears us apart and brings us closer together. Technology tears us apart by eliminating the physical and personal business and social interactions. For example my families business loses personal interactions and overall sales because people can just go online and order furniture, instead of coming in the store and picking it out. Technology is oftened used as a tool to hide behind, we often pick up our phones when we don't want to engage in a conversation with an unfamiliar person. This mask that we hide behind holds people back from attempting to make long lasting relationships and learn things from others.
Technology brings us closer together by allowing and creating new ways to communicate, these ways are often faster. Technology also creates ways for families to see there love ones without actually being in the same room. These new ways of communication help to fuel our future and make it even easier to communicate with others. Technology benfits us by helping us keep up with our own lives. ~Taylor Gilbert (:
Although technology may be tearing up face-to-face communication, it is also bringing people who cannot be face to face closer. For example: I lived in Florida until the summer after 4th grade. Although it wasn’t that long ago, children in elementary school did not have Facebook or a cell phone anything… we wrote letters. From about 5th grade until 7th grade I had no way of contacting any of my friends in Florida, I felt lost. Yeah, I could have written letters, but I thought that was lame. My friendships drifted. I tried email, but that didn’t faze well. In fact, without technology, my friendships disintegrated. Still to this day, I find people that I went to school with and wonder if they remember me. This brings up Aristotle, “Distance does not break off the friendship absolutely, but only the activity of it. But if the absence is lasting, it seems actually to make men forget their friendships: hence the saying ‘out of sight, out of mind’.” He is saying that with distance, you can still stay “friends”, you just won’t act like friends. The longer you are apart from that person or those people, friendships tend to be forgotten about. With technology, I am able to reconnect those friendships that were forgotten about rather than just let them hang. Through technology, you may learn that those people have completely changed since you remember them. Don’t we all change from the time we are in elementary school a little bit? From there you can decide whether the friendship is worth reviving. Thus, in this case: Technology is good and is bringing people closer together.
When it comes to face-to-face interaction, I believe that technology is tearing us apart. It is hard to have an actual conversation when someone is buried in their phone all the time. There are certain times that are appropriate for using your phone and other times where it should just be put away. For example: What makes it okay to bring out your phone and use it during awkward situations? Talk. Make a new acquaintance. Settle differences. I can say that I’m guilty of hiding behind my phone, but it’s something I can work on.
I think that technology has definitely helped bring us closer together more than tear us apart. It has made it much easier to communicate and keep in touch with anyone in the world. You can talk to a relative who lives nowhere close to you, share something instantly with your friends, and countless other possibilities provided by technology.
Of course, there can be instances where technology tears people apart. I don't think you can put the blame on technology itself, though. If a person gets addicted to Facebook or Twitter, it's the person's fault. Technology should be viewed as a tool that helps you communicate with the others (well at least as far as texting and social networking sites go). You shouldn't depend on technology for all your social interaction. In moderation, technology is a great thing to use and it is up to us to not become too reliant on it.
I believe that technology is bringing us closer together but also tearing us apart. Our lives are revolving around our cell phones, tablets, and laptops. Companies keep coming out with new versions and people feel like they need to have it when what they have right now isn't much different. Where technology is coming more advanced, it is bringing some families closer but is making others distant.
Technology brings some families closer. A lot of smart phones have face time or Skype. When you have family or friends overseas or just far away, you are able to see them and talk without actually being there. It makes keeping in touch easier.
Although it brings some people closer, it tears people apart. If people aren't using technology for contacting others far away, they are completely absorbed and distracted by them. Most phones and tablets have an app store where you can download all sorts of things to keep busy. People do text others and sometimes call people but I think that most are consumed by games and other apps like Candy Crush Saga, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Some families eat dinner together and have rules that they aren't allowed to have phones at the table so they can enjoy time as a family but some may not have that rule. So parents may be trying to have dinner while the kid sits there on their phone not being social. When people go out to dinner I usually see most people on their phones even when their meal is there. I'm guilty of this and so is most of my family. There may be some side comments but not full out conversations like we should have.
If people are uncomfortable they may use their phone to keep themselves entertained and not seem awkward. My family usually has reunions and there aren't really kids my age so I just sit there on my phone and let my parents do all the talking since they are the ones who know them.
So to sum it up, I believe that while technology brings some people together if they live farther away but they tear us apart from the people who are right in front of us. ~Ashleigh Johnson~
There's going to be a group of people who abuse technology. This is natural. It's just like anything else really.
Take books for example, a lot of people read books, but there might be a few people that spend all of their time reading books. The people that spend all of their time reading will be torn away from a social life.
People have been developing bad habits/addictions for ages. Technology isn't to blame for tearing families apart or thanked for bringing them together. The positive or negative effects of technology are based solely on the Human using it.
When it comes to technology it has both positive and negative results. It brings us together in ways that weren't even imaginable 20 years ago. Technology today has served as a positive impact in the world around us. Now within seconds we can communicate with someone millions of miles away. Information can be shared and obtained in a blink of an eye. Technology allows us to stay connected with the world around us.
Technology, however, has its downfall. Today in our generation our lives revolve around social media, because we are so consumed by texting and social media it has caused a lack in social skills that we desperately need in life. More and more people have problems with having a face to face conversation now days because we're so used to having conversations over text messaging.
I believe that technology had equally torn us apart but also brought us together. Whitley Bardroff
I agree with Whitley. The way our generation is using social media is lacking our social skills that we need in our life. People are so comfortable with saying things over text, but when it comes to real life, they are really shy and don't talk but when they do it's like a completely different human being in person.
First off, I am in love with technology. I am always messing around with my phone, laptop, etc. Just like most people, I am very in between. Technology can be just awful. Sometimes my phone makes me so mad I just want to throw it against a wall. But I can honestly say, if I didn't have my phone, I probably wouldn't have a lot of the friends I do today. I have also lost, gotten into arguments with, and just completely been hurt by a few "friends." If I didn't have a phone, I feel like I would still have some of my old friends today. However, I probably wouldn't spend time with my current friends as much because I wouldn't be able to get a hold of or plan fun activities with them. I think a lot of people from our generation just hate how it's taking over everything because as 90's kids, we grew up with dolls, toys, art sets, etc. I just find it extremely odd how toddlers know how to work an iPad better than I do. When I was little, I use to draw and paint pictures and I was so creative and I use to take art classes all the time as a kid. When I was in 6th grade I got my first phone, and ever since then, I just completely stopped drawing and coloring and painting. I still draw every now and then but I have to be extremely bored in order for me to take a paper and pencil and start drawing. I mean, I paint my nails all the time and I like to think of myself as being creative when I do them, but it takes a whole lot less effort for me to do my nails than for me to paint the sky. I sometimes wonder where I would be (artistic wise) if I never even got a phone. Technology also brought us to social networks. I really don't want to get into the whole cyber-bullying because I'm sure most people already know the situation on that and I just got sick of that sort of stuff coming up in a conversation or discussion, because then it just leads to an argument. I do however, think technology (such as the internet as well) has given us so much information. I can't even express how much you can learn by typing a single word into a search engine. Heck, Pinterest taught me more about crafts, cosmetology, and just everything pretty much; than I ever learned in school. I am really in the midst of it. There are a large amount of excellent pros and cons to technology. But at the end of the day, I am pretty satisfied with it and how it's the next big thing in this world. Hannah Hyatt
I mentioned this in class when we discussed the topic, to me it's all a matter of the person using it. One person can use it to connect with their friends, and another can use technology to pry themselves away from society. Its a matter of the individual, how they themselves use it. Technology is made for the express purpose of making our lives simpler and easier, though there are plenty of people who use technology to exclude themselves from society and to make their lives more difficult. Technology is not good or bad, people are.
Being a teenage girl who had once used technology to be on all the social media networks that my friends were on, like; Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. To a teenage girl forced to abandon all social media because of cyber bullying, I have experienced both pros and cons of technology.
Now obviously we can all agree that it is so much easier these days to Google something we don't know about rather go read about it in a book from the library. When you think about it though, using technology like Google simply tears us apart too- not just social media. Now, these days I wouldn't even know how to go to the library to find a book to get information on something, like people used to do 20 years ago. As helpful as Google is, it has- in my opinion- brought us apart because you don't really see "study groups" or "library study dates" anymore. On the flip side however, being someone who uses Google everyday for simple stuff, it is very effective and it does its job. We can share videos and websites with our friends and connect with each other that way.
Now, social media. So many arguments could be made for and against social networking. Some people may give positive statements saying that social media brings us together with friends and family we have in different states or countries. Or that it gives us a chance to open up to people in those awkward teenage years that gives us the confidence to try new things at school or meet new people you usually wouldn't talk to. But I say all those "positive statements" are really negative. When it comes to connecting with loved ones far away from us, it is obviously faster to get on the computer and just see for yourself what they are doing. But what ever happened to writing a letter? To me, handwritten letters are so much more meaningful than "liking" a post on Facebook. Also, social media always hurts somebody in the end.
Like I said in the beginning of my argument, I am someone who has been extremely affected by cyber bullying, which lead to my accounts being shut down because the cyber bullying was so terrible. Now being a teenage girl with absolutely no social networks anymore, it is so much stress off of my back! When I did have social media I never realized how "into" the drama you can be, without even being a person involved in the situation. If there is drama between people on instagram, twitter or facebook about who is mad at who and your reading it, you might as well be in the drama yourself. Now I don't have worry about other peoples business or drama and just live life! So I would support anyone's decision to give up social media, and if you think you can't give it up, I challenge you to try it for one day and see how much different you feel and then go from there.
Now we all aren't going to come to an agreement on this topic. Technology can bring us together and tear us apart, there will never be one set in stone answer. But it is how we act with technology that makes it good or bad, and I hope we can all agree to that?
Technology brings us together and tears us apart. It brings us together by things in the medical field and its equipment. Also if you have family that is far away then through face time and other technology you can stay in touch. But it also tears us apart because we are distracted by all the things our smartphone and Ipads can give us in a moment’s notice. Even when we are sitting with friends, our smartphones are attached to our hands and we are ignoring each other. Even if only a few people are on their phones you could feel like you are being talking about or just feel excluded. Most of you don’t even talk that much to each other, too busy using twitter or snap chat. We are ruining our friendships and pushing each other farther away. You can’t just spend time with people without multitasking on our phone or texting someone else. We also have trouble interacting face-to-face and need to work on our social skills. Rachel Wallace
There is a time and place for technology- when a person uses that privilege inappropriately thats when technology tears us apart instead of brining us together. People don't realize that technology is a privilege it's not something that every person on this planet has and I think people have lost perspective of what they have. Using your phone or electronic device at the dinner table when your eating with your family is unacceptable in my opinion because you are choosing to ignore the fact there are human beings infront of you and you would rather look at your phone or iPad etc. When you lose the face to face connect and social skills is when technology interferes with brining people together. I understand that technology brings people together by allowing long distance relationships and communication with people who may not live where you live- again that is a privilege. When people don't understand that technology is a privilege and misuse it that's when it tears us apart. -Bailey Bishop
I find that technology has more so brought me closer than torn me apart from others. Speaking from a larger standpoint, I believe as a world it has brought us closer and torn us apart. For me the internet and technology as a whole has become a huge part of my life. I go to lots of conventions and conferences over the summer and the only way to keep in touch with a lot of the people that I meet is through the internet. Also, I am a person whose true self shows more through the internet than in reality. This is the case for a lot of people, and it is something that brings those people closer to others like them. YouTube is another big part of my life. The people that I watch and aspire to be like earn their living through the internet. Even though I haven’t truly met these people I feel like I have, and so technology has brought me close to these people that I wouldn’t know otherwise. Technology has torn us apart because people sitting right across the room from each other that have known each other for years become immediate strangers as soon as you put a cell phone or ipad in front of their face, but even though that may be disconnecting them from those people, it may be connecting them to others. I also believe that those people who don’t communicate when technologies at hand have some type of reason, it may not be very valid, but I’m sure they do and if they really wanted to talk to each other then they would! I don’t think it’s fair for us to blame the lack of communication on technology. I think it really all depends on if you show a truer version of yourself while you’re on or offline whether it brings you closer or farther apart from others. •Caroline Cunningham•
I find that technology has more so brought me closer than torn me apart from others. Speaking from a larger standpoint, I believe as a world it has brought us closer and torn us apart. For me the internet and technology as a whole has become a huge part of my life. I go to lots of conventions and conferences over the summer and the only way to keep in touch with a lot of the people that I meet is through the internet. Also, I am a person whose true self shows more through the internet than in reality. This is the case for a lot of people, and it is something that brings those people closer to others like them. YouTube is another big part of my life. The people that I watch and aspire to be like earn their living through the internet. Even though I haven’t truly met these people I feel like I have, and so technology has brought me close to these people that I wouldn’t know otherwise. Technology has torn us apart because people sitting right across the room from each other that have known each other for years become immediate strangers as soon as you put a cell phone or ipad in front of their face, but even though that may be disconnecting them from those people, it may be connecting them to others. I also believe that those people who don’t communicate when technologies at hand have some type of reason, it may not be very valid, but I’m sure they do and if they really wanted to talk to each other then they would! I don’t think it’s fair for us to blame the lack of communication on technology. I think it really all depends on if you show a truer version of yourself while you’re on or offline whether it brings you closer or farther apart from others. •Caroline Cunningham•
I am split on this topic, along with many others. Technology can be such a powerful tool, and on the other hand can be destructive.
Technology has allowed me to connect with people I do not see much at all. you can hold friendships with people in other states, and even across the world. Technology has brought us together in this way. Technology also allows us to learn more, as it is a helpful tool to students. You can literally find anything you want on the internet, but with this being said there have to be some downsides of technology.
Technology has brought addiction, and increased bullying. With social media it has became alot easier for one to bully, or get bullied on the internet. You feel as if you won't get in trouble if you bully across the internet. I know multiple people who have been bullied on the internet, and have seen many news stories in which people have killed themselves over being bullied on the internet. Also, the internet has made people become addicted to alot of things. I have heard of many people getting help for their addiction to video games, Facebook, etc.
Technology can be a helpful tool, but can also be destructive.
i think that technology helps us, expecially to keep in touch with our peers. if i didnt have a twitter i wouldnt know a lot of the things that are going on at school with sporting events or homecoming themes. social media i think is just an easier way to communicate with everyone.
As I'm sure has been expressed multiple times here, it could really go either way. On the one hand, it brings people together and helps people keep in touch over long distances. It can also aid in education. Not too long ago, if a classroom had to do research, they had to book a computer lab and drop a day of instruction in the classroom. Now, though, students can just do research as needed without leaving the classroom on their smartphones. However, technology has it's downsides too. With the advent of social gaming and Xbox Live/PlayStation Network, online communications become ugly. A lot of people (certainly not all or even a majority, but a lot) talking trash, making threats, all over video games. That's mainly because they can hide behind their TV screen and keep their anonymity. Also, when people use technology too much, it can end up affecting their real lives. Such as when people play video games too long (again, a minority of players, but some), they can lose touch with their real life friends and possibly develop problems with their people skills. In summary, there are good and bad points, but you could say that the good outweighs the bad for most people in everyday life. -Evan Hatter
I think technology is definitely tearing us apart. By sheilding ourselves from human interaction with our smartphones and tablets, we loose personal and meaningful connections with those closest to us. Since we discussed this in class, I've begun to take notice that there are more people than you would think, playing on their phones at a dinner table. just the other night I glanced around the restaurant I was in and counted 8 people on their phones. And its not just teenagers! people of all ages; moms, dads, even grandparents! So while checking your facebook or twitter might connect you to your friends or others that aren't near you, it's tearing you away from the most improtant relationship of family. - Courtnie Carr
I am definitely in the middle when it comes to this topic. Technology is something that we all use in our daily lives and I don't know what we would do without it. Without technology, I wouldn't be anywhere as close as I am with friends that do not live near me. For example, one of my best friends moved away a couple years ago, but this weekend he got to come down to Frankfort and spend a couple days with me. Without the use of my cell phone, I would've never known he was coming down and he probably wouldn't have ended up staying with me. I think that with situations like I just provided, technology in fact brings us closer, although I won't say that technology doesn't push us away from each other either. Our generation feels the need to have our cell phones literally everywhere we go. We use them on our free time, school, and now, dinner. Whenever me and my friends are hanging out, I feel like half the time we are just sitting on our phones instead of socializing with each other. Cell phones have made our generation's social skills very poor. I know a lot of people that don't know how to talk in person, but are very outgoing via social media. Overall, I think that technology is very useful in today's society and it helps us talk to one another more efficiently.
Along with several other people I agree that technology brings us closer to those that are further away and distances us from those closest to us. Technology also benefits us greatly by keeping us "in the know" of what is going on in the world around us. I personally am not a huge fan of watching the news but by being apart of twitter I am always updated on what's going on.
I think many teens take for granted the use of technology. Even I, myself, can hardly go through a whole dinner with my family without picking up my phone checking any new texts, tweets, and Instagram. What used to be considered "family time" is now simply all of us gathered around a table stuck in our own technology world.
I think that its both bringing people together and tearing people apart. The reason I say this is technology can be very good for entertainment and social purposes. Such as if you need to get in contact with someone then you wont have to wait days to send them a letter then wait for a reply . You can simply send them a text and then get a reply a few minutes later. Also when texting there is a lot more things that you are willing to say then if you were in person. But thats not always good say for instance if you were in an argument and end up saying things you will regret. So it can give you courage but can also take away courage away, like say being truthful in front of other people. Almost like a split personality so you never really know if people are being honest with you. But it also helps you connect with the world in a more broader way than just reading a text book. You can watch the news and learn things you probably would never know without technology. So it can keep you better informed and in a way it shapes you be who you are. Which is kinda ridiculous in my opinion but never the less true. I mean doesn't it sound slightly weird to say without technology you would not be the person you are? Without technology I wouldn't know about anything then what people close to me and what I learn from school teach me.
Technology breaks apart our personal connections between the people that we spend the most time with. I remember when family nights use to be us gathering around the table and making a craft or playing a board game. Now I find myself sitting on the couch with an IPad on my lap, my phone set beside me too my right, and the TV on in the background. Our family nights have been reduced to putting a movie on the TV, while all of us sit spread out across the living room, all on our own electronic devices. Over the years we have lost what matters most between family members. We have lost personal interaction due to technology. -Madison Wallace
The topic of technology destroying interpersonal communication can be argued both ways. I'd say it's certain that our society has evolved into a society that relies nearly entirely on technology. It impacts our lives in almost every way and we never give it a second thought. However, I don't think it will cause face to face interactions to cease from our culture.
Our generation is stereotyped against more than any other in history. Our elders claim we have lost touch with the essentials of life like family and friends through face to face communication. I have to disagree with these claims. Our generation is fully capable of maintaining a relationship while in the presence of the other. Many people forget that when we were children, learning how the world worked when our minds were most vulnerable, there were no Xboxes, iPhones, etc. we were raised like our parents would describe as "normal and without surrender to technology". We simply conformed to the rapidly advancing society we were members of. While it is true that most of our generation is glued to a screen for too long daily, we were still raised on the morals and values of interpersonal connections with those around us. The choice belongs solely to the individual whether they will succumb to the grip of technology induced social removal, or whether they will act on the values that were instilled within us before technology became such a controlling factor of pur lives.
As previously stated in multiple posts and in class, Technology does in fact tear us apart and bring us together depending on how we use it.
While many people use technology as a distraction from the real world, some people rely on technology to communicate with the rest of the world. Take Stephen Hawking for example, Arguably one of the greatest Physicists/Cosmologists that the world has ever seen. He is Paralyzed from the neck down, and without his Intel tablet and communications system, he would not be capable of sharing his great ideas with the world.
One example lies right in front of all of us, and is quite obvious yet overlooked. We are all communicating on a blog, where we use technology to share our ideas and converse about worldly topics. Most would argue that this is bringing us together as a class, allowing us to share ideas when we cannot meet due to the 55 minute limitation we face every weekday in the classroom. I believe that technology can be used positively much like it is right now, if there is some form of positive structure or motive to it.
As a teenager where smart phones are dictating how we communicate, I see many people using their phones to avoid social interaction, or even stop it. I would say that it is becoming a problem so severe that many people lack the communication skills that young people had back when there were no phones. People were given no other choice but to interact by talking, or not interact at all.
I do not have a possible solution to this conundrum, other than to encourage a self moderation or sorts. Ultimately—the choice is yours to make.
(On another note, I'm glad to see I am not the only Procrastinator)
Technology is a wonderful tool to connect people to each other and information. When used properly, technology is quite possibly the most useful tool ever created. On the other hand, technology has caused our society, specifically the younger generations to become disconnected from personal face-to-face communication, as well as the art of letter writing. I think a balance between personal interaction and email, Twitter, Instagram, texting, etc. is the smart way to approach life, even as new technology emerges every day.
As countless numbers if people have said in the above comments, technology is just a tool. Depending on how you and when you use it, it can either bring us closer to each other or consequently tear us apart.
The use of texting, email, Skype, or any other communications application can connect us to friends, family, and virtually anyone across the world. We can share stories instantly, we can talk about our day with the touch of a button, we can see live feed of other people as if they are right in front of us. Technology has evolved into what can be an amazing thing when used appropriately, but then again when used the wrong way can break us apart.
When we abuse technology it can tear us apart from even the people sitting right beside us. We constantly are checking our phones, even with no reason to do so. We are almost physically attached to them now, it is becoming a big problem all across the world. Technology was designed to help us, but with the overuse of it is beginning to hurt us in some ways; especially in the social aspects of our lives. We are so engulfed in technology that we sometimes forget the joy that the people around us give us, we sometimes loose the connection with the people we see everyday. If we cannot control our personal use of technology it will soon run our lives.
Technology definitely has its benefits, there is no doubt of that, but it also has its downfalls. It is up to us individually to control how it effects our lives.
I believe that technology both tears us apart and brings us closer together. For example, my grandparents, who live in Florence, can easily call me or email me and it's like we're standing right next each other. However, when we went out to eat with them yesterday, it was almost dead silent before we got our food, my grandparents sat there eating their appetizer while my dad and I were both in our phones.
I also believe that technology makes us all cowards. Since phones and computers we have all discovered that it is easier to tell someone something they don't like if they don't see their emotional reaction.
It’s hard to say whether we are coming closer in the world with new advance technology or if we are disconnecting with our family, friends, and just living creatures because of it. I can see both the good and the bad of technology for humans. The good I see is when this technology is helping the ill regain strength to get well again. Or more efficient ways that technology doesn’t hurt the earth. These are all ways that technology can have its good side and bad sides with so many other reasons that I could think of. But what I see is that when something new comes out, there is always bad to come with it. There are going to be people that find that new technology can be helpful to the individual while others will see the bad and wish it never came to human contact.
I think your opinion on technology depends on how you use it and how it's used towards you. The pros on technology is that it allows you to connect with families all across the world, from my personal experience I've been able to keep in touch with my parents' friends for them in Cambodia and I've met so many couisns that I was able to go on vacation with over the summer. I would've never known them and been able to plan all that without technology. Cons, as everyone would be fimilar with- cyberbulling is bigger and getting worse by every minute. More people are willing to say things because it's all behind a computer screen. But then again, if you let yourself be put in that position (social media- twitter, facebook, instagram, ask.fm) then you were aware of the consquences before.
Technology has brought us closer together but apart at the same time. It's brought us closer togehter by socal media and news sites. It lets us associate with people daily lifes and see the latest news trends without having access to a TV. It makes us grow apart by not having interaction with each other face to face. As if people will say something over social media rather than to your face. -Sierra Smith
i think it works both ways. technology has had its advantages and disadvantages. when it comes to communicating world wide, technology has for sure brought the countries and people closer together. but, as individuals between friends or family i think its been both as well. like sidney said in class the other daily, most people hide themselves behind their phone screens instead of chatting with someone at the dinner table. but when it comes to forgetting something at home or at schools all you have to do is text your friend to get it. Sidney Sell
Technology brings those who want to be together, together. When I am not with someone I want to be then I use technology to communicate with them. However when I am with people that I don't want to communicate with, then I use technology as a way to talk to those who I do want to communicate with. If people use technology when they are out in public with there friends or family then technology in that case can be harmful to those around them. There is a fine line between the time or appropriate technology use and inappropriate technology use. Crossing that line is what pulls people apart. Emily Evans
Technology over the years has sky rocketed into one of the highest demands from people. It is both a good and a bad thing, bringing us closer together but at the same time pushing us farther apart. Simple things like eating dinner together around a table, having nothing to do at a friends house but play simple games, or even carrying books to read are all examples of the way our lives have changed over the years and not in a good way. We as people are beginning to depend on our technology for everything! At the same time technology has changed the way we can now do things for the better like school, ways of communication, and in general making our daily lives easier. There is a time and a place for technology and appropriate ways for it to be used, and that's not always how we are using it. -Brooke Spaulding
I believe that technology is connecting people that cannot communicate face to face, but at the same time we let it distance us from those that are in the same room. With technology I have managed to keep friendships with people I don't get to see on a regular basis. Right now I'm on vacation visiting a friend I haven't physically seen since 2011 but through texting, phone calls, Facebook and FaceTime we are just as close as the friends I see everyday. Without technology this friendship wouldn't be the same. But, on the other hand when we are with our friends we allow technology distances us. We are so consumed in our devices we miss what's going on in the moment. We have an addiction to technology and that's what causes the distance. With an alcoholic, people blame the substance but when really the problems and the addiction lies in the hands of the abuser. The problem isn't technology, it is us allowing ourselves to become consumed by it.
Technology is definitely tearing us apart but at the same time, its bringing us closer. Almost every single person uses technology in their every day life wether its your iphone, ipad, computer, projectors and so much more. Most people today, couldnt go 24 hours without some use of technology. Its ruining our real life communication skills, people are becoming socially awkward. Most ways we communicate with one another is text or email. Its making us dumb, we rely on calculators do to everything. We expect google to know all the answers to our problems. We are becoming so lazy.
Technology I believe is also helping us come together, every day scientist are discovering new ways to do things, cures to diseases and so much more. Its furthering our education while bringing it down. Our computer is an awesome way to learn new things, being faster and more reliable. -Lauren Knarr
I believe that technology both brings us together and tears us apart. It has positive and negative effects on all sorts of age groups.
Technology brings us together by keeping us connected with friends/family across the US or even on the other side of the world. I use technology for these purposes daily to keep in touch with friends and family in over 10 different states. In these ways it brings us together.
Technology pulls us apart through cyber bullying and the excessive amounts of daily usage. Almost everywhere you go you see multiple people using some form of technology. Technology is anywhere from the hands of the person you are eating dinner with to the doctors office you visit for health care. To keep the use of technology under control my family and I DO NOT ever have our phones or anything out at the dinner table no matter if we are at home or out to eat somewhere. I also have "phoneless fun" with friends/family members by agreeing to put away all forms of technology while we play a game or just hang out.
Technology does seem to be consuming almost everybody's lives but there is ways to control it and to use it in proper forms. ~Kali Whitaker
I believe that technology has brought us closer together because of all the social media nowadays. With all the technology that we have these days, people can communicate with long lost friends, family members or anybody really. Technology has better improved our way of communicating as well as shopping, reading, music etc.; technology has just improved all of our lives and made them much better.
I am very sorry to those "tech savvy" people out there, but I believe that technology is tearing us apart. I believe this because I have noticed on occasion that some people (when given free time in school) just sit around and listen to music with their friends within arms reach of each other. I too have noticed this with a few of my close personal friends. Therefore, technology is taking away the opportunity to communicate with their friends and other people. But, with this being said, technology also seems to bring people closer in a way. More and more I hear people talking about the new hip and trending technology and videogames... But, I'm kind of trailing off topic. By the way, the fact that people sometimes talk technology doesn't make up for the social barrier that technology is forming.
ReplyDelete-Donovan Billings
I believe technology both brings us together and tears us apart. Without technology we couldn't explore the Internet or communicate with each other with a press of a button. The Internet lets us have any kind of information we ever needed within a few seconds, way back then, people had to send letters that may have been weeks old by the time they made it to where they were going. We are updated with the most recent things that are going on in the world with one flip of the tv remote.
ReplyDeleteTechnology is tearing us apart in ways of cyber bulling. People of all ages get on the Internet pretending to be someone else saying purposely mean things to bring other people down. The world never had this problem until technology started advancing, we didn't even know what social networks were 20 years ago.
Technology is also tearing us apart in ways of face to face communication. Some people have no idea how to make eye contact during a conversation due to always sending text messages or making phone calls.
You choose what technology does to your life, it can be helpful and bring us together, or it can be a terrible thing that tears us apart. There's really no right answer to this question... It's all on you how you chose to use technology.
Casey Marshall
I don't know about other families but my family revolves very much around technology. We use our phones a lot, watch TV together, calling each other after school, skyping relatives in Kansas, when I take my trip to Europe this summer the only way I will be able to contact home will be through my phone. I personally believe that technology can bring us together.
ReplyDeleteHowever it can also tear us apart. Whenever my family wants to "spend time together" it's usually watching a movie together. I think in situations like this technology is used as a barier. So it can tear us apart as well.
~Madison Whitman
People are supposed to be brought closer with social networking today. The only problem that occurs is that they only socialize with the same people and loose social skills.
ReplyDeleteThe point of social networking is to bring people closer together. What we don't notice is that they have trouble communicating with people who they just met. With kids today I notice that they only communicate with their friends. They tend to avoid any new people because they are obsessed with talking to their friends they don't try for new ones.
Many of them loose social skills because of this. They do not know how to approach a conversation or properly communicate with those who don't converse with them often.
I feel like social networking is good to an extent but you must be able to interact properly with others and be more involved with what goes on around you than your phone.
When you limit the social networking it allows you to be more involved with those around you.
Davis Nesselrode
I must agree with the idea of of social media today bringing us closer buut also tearing us apart aswell. the things we have become addicted to in our everyday lives such as, smat phones internet, smart cars ect. not only bring us together but they destroy the art of physically cummunicating in person. -Will Shuffett
DeleteMe being the socially anxious person that I am, I believe that technology is actually bringing us together.
ReplyDeleteBecause of my social anxiety, I find it very difficult to communicate with anyone face-to-face. I even have trouble talking to my close friends. It is a lot easier for me to type a text message or email.
There are a lot of people in society that have social anxiety. Without modern technology, every day would be excruciating for us. With cell phones and internet, our lives are simpler, and we have one less thing to worry about.
As for what Donovan said about people preferring to listen to music over talking with their friends, I don't think he realizes that, sometimes, those people don't want to talk to anyone. I know that for me personally, there are times when all I want to do is put my headphones on and completely tune out the rest of the world. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that, and for some people, it is the only way to cope with the things going on in their lives.
I could go on and on about this issue, but I think I've wasted enough of your time.
~Shelby McKinney
I have always been told by my father that getting a cellphone for my 12th birthday was the worst gift I was ever given. Maybe it's because I use it too much, or perhaps it's because technology really does create distance between you and the real world, because of what is on a screen.
ReplyDeletePersonable skills gained through direct communication are crucial things to develop while you're in high school and still "growing". However with Instagram, Twitter, texting, Skype, Facebook, all in the palms of our hands, it's so much easier to just keep to yourself rather than live in the moment with the things surrounding you. Sure, all of those things previously mentioned are GREAT to communicate with people distanced from you. On the flip side though, too many people rely on those networks to develop the relationships a person needs IN PERSON.
Technology is helpful; it is diligent, easy, effective, quick. But I believe that technology should be used for the necessities. I use technology to communicate, but I am still personable off the screen. I use technology to listen to music, to type, to submit school work, to email. It is an adequate way to get things done. When you think of branching away from the phone, computer, iPod, iPad, whatever, are you the same person? Do you "lol" and smile and carry on the same kinds of conversations you carry on a keyboard? The answer is no for the majority of people because technology DOES distance you from people around you. Social networking, makes you not-so-social in person.
I completely agree that technology unites us in the "effective" ways. But when it comes to developing real relationships and real social skills, ditch the phone and talk to someone, out loud.
Morgan Gay
Technology has both brought people closer together and pushed others apart. It depends on how the technology is used really. Using something like Skype brings people closer together because they cant always physically see each other. Social media can bring people from all across the world closer together.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand technology has had some negative effects on people. It can distract the people who can physically be with each. Some people are always caught up in technology and when they have to talk to someone in the real world they don't have the social skills to do so.
There needs to be a balance of the two in order to get a positive outcome, fortunately most people manage to find that balance I think.
I feel like I use technology too much personally, i play video games during most of my free time.
- Supreme Brigadier General Sir Robert Todd Cameron Bunyea The Third Duke of BUFFALOS
Technology has made us more connected to each other because we are always in contact with each other and we are literally never apart. The world is connected either by email, phone call, or text but these do have negative effects. Although I strongly believe in the use of new and advanced technology, I also agree with the negative effects it places on people. Regardless of being connected, too much technological exposure can be harmful. You can become dependant on technology. An example of technological dependancy is in math class, some people cannot do simple math without the help of a calculator. They've become dependant on an aspect of technology. Another con is addiction, just look at how many teenagers today are always on their phones or on the computer. Although it is a small form, it is addiction all the same. Life is going on all around us and we have to choose what we do in this life. There's more to life than technology. Even though it is a big part of our lives in this generation, it isn't everything. As Thoreau said in "Walden,"
ReplyDelete"I did not wish to live what was not life,"
People in this generation are living what is not life; we are too absorbed in technology to see everything around us. Too much time on technology takes away from the experience of living life.
~Amanda LeMay
Technology has both brought us closer together, and has torn us apart. Texting and cell phones allow us to be in contact with anyone anywhere in the world, at any point in time. We can always reach somebody no matter how far they are away from us. Face time allows us to see each other long distance, and communicate as if you were together, even though you couldn’t reach each other.
ReplyDeleteTechnology also helps us undervalue face to face communication. When hanging out with friends, you constantly have the urge to see what everyone’s tweeting, what they are doing, instead of talking to your friend. Instead of having to meet someone to hold a conversation, you can simply push a button without ever leaving your house. People cannot go a day without using their phones, laptops, or tablets. We cannot even hold wars without threatening nuclear weapon technology.
Technology has become our greatest ally and our greatest hindrance. It can open doors to opportunities never thought of before, and even solve problems that seem impossible. But it can also influence laziness, cheating and lack of motivation for quality work, because the motto of technology is ‘making it simpler is requiring less effort’.
Erin Chapman
In my opinion, many of the previous comments can be summed up in this: Technology is bringing us closer to those who are far, and distancing us from those who are close. Today’s world is a lot smaller than the world was 100 years ago. With the internet and texting we can reach China or Australia in what used to take weeks and months, this is exemplified in my own life where I have many international friends, with whom I still keep in touch with today. One great example of this is the use of Skype to physically see someone halfway across the world as said in Supreme Brigadier General Sir Robert Todd Cameron Bunyea the Third Duke of BUFFALOS’s comment.
ReplyDeleteHowever, technology in my life has often pulled me apart from those I am close to and participating in the world around me. As Morgan Gay said, “When you think of branching away from the phone, computer, iPod, iPad, whatever, are you the same person?” I know in my life, I can be two very different people on screen and off. I concede that it is often easier to share your ideas and be your own person online. Many see this as a good thing; however, I disagree. In life we must all learn the courage to be ourselves, something I, and many others, are still learning how to do. Yes, it may be easier to hide behind a screen, but, in my opinion, you’re only cheating yourself of all the good you can by being yourself in real life, here and now.
Sidney Cobb
Depending on the type of technology you use, it can bring you together.
ReplyDeleteThrough the internet, many social anxious people are able to share their opinions and, sure they get judged, but they most likely don't care. They're actually able to talk to someone freely.
There are also a lot of people that have many different interests than the things that others are into. A lot of my close friends are obsessed over anime, video games, and songs that I find offensive to me personally or I just have no interest in, but I never say it to their face for fear that they will give me "the look" and ignore me for quite some time.
Or there are interests that no one else around you has heard of or your friends have absolutely no reason to get into it, and with the help of technology such as the internet, you can connect with people all over the world who like that one thing that you are fangirling/boying over and talk about it with them.
Sure, it can also bring you apart from your friends and close families, but that's not always a bad thing. I know many people who want to get away from their daily lives of acting like everything's perfect and always having to smile, and they just need some time to relax and chill and get away from all of their worries and troubles.
Aurora Strider
Does technology bring us closer together or tear us apart?
ReplyDeleteI myself can see where technology has brought us closer together but yet has torn us apart.
It has brought us closer together by letting us communicate with friends and family that live far away from us & that we rarely get to see. Now that we have things like Skype & FaceTime we can communicate face to face from technology which makes it nice when you have children or grandchildren or any family member that has moved away.
Even though technology has brought us closer together in many ways it has also torn us apart. Sometimes we are way to interested in what's behind the screen of our phone that we don't really spend much quality time with our family. Instead of actually having a conversation face to face with a family member we text them when they are just in the other room. Or when we sit at the dinner table and someone try's to have a conversation with you but you won't talk back because you're to busy using those thumbs of yours. This really tears us apart because we start to think that what's behind the phone screen is more important than having a nice quality conversation with our loved ones that mean the most to us.. It's like we start to shut them out of our lives. Miranda Gunn
People say that technology brings us together because we can use cellphones to call or interact with other people. But are you really interacting with them? Sure your conversing with them, but it's not face to face. You're not actually meeting them in person and really get to know them. Getting to know someone in person is the only way to make new friends. Now these days, teens only interact with this glass barrier in front of their faces called a "cellphone" that barrier is really just blocking them from the real world.Thats a shame really, because thats all i see now these days. So my side is on that technology is seperting us.
ReplyDelete-Nick Raymond
One one hand technology has definitely brought us together. In that we are just a call or a text away from each other, it also keeps us updated with the things happening around us. The ability to communicate with someone in another continent is just the amazing handy work of technology; keeping up with old friends who are in another state and you don't get to see them. It is used to show your personality to others on social medias and meet new people.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand technology has also taken us apart from each other. instead of spending time and physically communicating with our family, we either text them or call them on the phone. We don't spent time together anymore when can just text them. It has made us not able to share our ideas with each other and making are elves better; for example taking classes online, you can't share what you think someone else and also meet new people.
Nerisia Ngum
What has the ever growing and expanding world we live in come to? Every technological company that is based solely on a gadgets is competitively rushing to create the best new and improved edition of the first. So is technology bettering our lives or is it creating impermeable barriers? How do you decide which side of the question you believe in?
ReplyDeleteBeing a sixteen year old, and growing up with the ever increasing technology right along with me, it has left my life as little bit of delusion . I remember watching movies in my childhood and seeing teenagers actually having conversations in the cafeteria. There wasn't cellphones or a computer for every classroom let alone three or four. By the time I had entered fifth grade, I remember my peers writing to their parents for a cellphone, and the thing that blows my mind is that they were doing this writing project for a school assignment, granted it was a persuasive letter, but how do they learn to write a letter period when, they probably didn't understand the full impact a cell phone would have. With my parents I had a discussion with them, and really it was not a discussion on whether or not I could have one, it was clear statements like this, ''this is what it is'' and ''how it is going to be'', no if, ands, or buts. They made it clear that I would not have a cellphone and probably wouldn't in the near future.
When I was younger I was disappointed greatly, looking back though, I'm thankful. To some this would seem a bit backwards, but how do I compare to others when I can actually have a decent conversation with any age group and not feel the social anxiety that others may feel when talking with another person.
I don't talk unless I need to, my friends have learned this, when I need to answer I do, but I'm not going to go through the useless chatter that others have. I'm not shy at all, when I feel passionate about a topic I will express every detail until I'm through. People of today have come to realize they don't want to talk or none of their friends are around they immediately pull a device out. With this sentence I relate completely because let's face it when your bored, your bored and having anything to do helps pass the time. Sitting in the cafeteria in the morning I watch the social groups around me and notice that once a person has joined a group, the individuals there exchange pleasantries' and small talk for a minimum of two to three minutes and go right back to the enamored relationship of them and their device.
How has society as a whole become the most socially inactive generation to be known? Henry David Thoreau, writes, ''We do not ride on the railroad; it rides upon us.'' This metaphor is so common today that it's almost irony. Through American history alone, we have covered the map with our success as a nation. What once took four to five years to build, now only takes six months to a year to complete. This example is a wonderful use of technology as a country. Getting back to a more personal level, the wide expansion of technology, I believe it is only weakening our feeble attempts to connect to people. The reason being is that with the wide varieties of communication it has eliminated the face to face interactions by a great deal.
Post 1
*Mikka*
When a person is given a way out they will take it, very few are willing to go the bumpy road instead they take the smooth path. On an earlier post, someone wrote, "Teens only interact with this glass barrier in front of their faces'' I completely agree because when a person is able to avoid the uncomfortable they search for a more comfortable situation. The situation being a unfeeling and man-made device that has no connection to the realities of our world. Since when has a cold piece of plastic become our comfort zone? I would much rather have a thoughtful and caring conversation with a living breathing person face-to-face then the user account they created over the web. This generation will become the most technologically advanced but the most socially awkward of humans since the dawn of time.
ReplyDeleteWhere is the line drawn for addiction? For alcohol it's the complete want of a substance beyond control. For gambling it's the constant pull for the chance of a life time, the thrill of being lucky. ''Men think that it is essential that the Nation have commerce, and export ice, and talk through a telegraph, and ride thirty miles an hour, without a doubt, whether they do or not'' ecerpt from Walden by Henry David Thoreau.
Post 2
*Mikka*
With these examples I would think it's quite clear that with any device it's easy to become addicted to the thrill of being able to know something before someone else, the thrill of beating a level, or waiting on a text. This addiction has wove itself into our life's and become tighter and stronger each day. We become so involved with a screen that is 5 by 7 that we often miss what is right in front of us. A recent example is with the crisis in Washington, an entire fleet of secret agents had a shootout with a woman inside of a vehicle, this crisis was right on the front lawn of our nation's capitol. The sad part of my story is that on the walkway of the white house a man was photographed. He was so distracted by the device in his hand, he walked right behind an agent on guard, completely missing the activity happening right in front of him. To make my point more clear he didn't even glance and wonder what the guard next to him was doing. Here is a link to the story.
ReplyDeletehttp://news.yahoo.com/story-behind-viral-photo-from-capitol-car-chase-174858002.html
''The nation itself, with all its so-called internal improvements, which, by the way are all external and superficial, is just such an unwieldy and overgrown establishment, cluttered with furniture and tripped up by its own traps, ruined by luxury and heedless expense, by want of calculation and a worthy aim, as the million households in the land; and the only cure for it, as for them, is in a rigid economy, a stern and more than Spartan simplicity of life and elevation of purpose.'' http://thoreau.eserver.org/walden02.html This excerpt from Walden by Henry David Thoreau, is a prime example of the reckless use of tehnology that is most common known in our culture.
To finish up, I don't completely disagree with the uses of technology. I have a twelve year old sister, she has multi disabilities and is unable to speak, she depends on the use of sign language. The school she attended last year, Westridge, was able to get an iPad for her to use as a quicker and better understanding communicator. This device stays with her at school and moves with her through out her school life, it is now with her at Bondurant. At home we use sign language and have created a system of understanding with signs she has yet to learn. This iPad helps her to speak with individuals that are not common to sign language. The device stays at school, so when we are out and she signs something we have to translate. My sister and I are very close and with only a few words we are able to understand and have an entire conversation. In just a few movements and nods.
For my family technology has improved our lives, but when it's just us, we still rely on the basic face-to-face. I personal wouldn't want it any other way.
Post 3
*Mikka*
Technology is a great thing- It has allowed us to access more things than ever before. We can talk to people we don't get to see often, learn many things via internet, and keep up with the world on social media. It also allows us to quickly get ahold of people we cant have face to face contact with. It so convenient that we can just pick up the phone and call someone when we need something, just want to talk, or refresh our social media and see what is going on in the world. This also can bring a big inconvenience to us, as well. I don't know how many times I have been with my friends or family, and everyone just sits on their devices and engage in little conversation. In that since, technology is brining us apart. Because of all of the technology that is available to us, our social skills are slowing starting to lack. It has become easier to have a conversation with someone through technology, than it is face to face.
ReplyDeleteBecause we can converse with people so easily with out having to talk to them face to face, it has made it extremely easy for people to become people they are not. It is easier to say things through messages than it is to say it to someone's face. I think this has killed our ability to confront and work out our problems with our peers, because we use our messaging ability as a crutch.
I think that as much as technology is helping us, it is also hurting us.
Torey Hawkins
Technology has many ways of bringing us together and tearing us apart. Friday in the Socratic Seminar, we talked about how technology can bring us closer to those family members we have across the country, in another country, or even across the state. I believe as technology brings us closer, it tears us apart. At dinner, children use their phones to text someone instead of talking to their family. A movie I recently watched, called "Pulse" which came out in 2006 was about the downfall of technology. At the end of the movie, actress Kristen Bell says "The thing that was supposed to bring us closer together ended up tearing us apart." So I do believe that technology has its ups and downs based on the way the operator uses it.
ReplyDeleteEvan Montgomery
It's quite paradoxical how technology works to improve and hamper communications and other things in our lives. We may now be able to now chat with an old friend or colleague hundreds of miles away, but we are unable to have a simple conversation with someone who is directly in front of you.
ReplyDeleteWe can no longer simply sit face to face with someone, look them in the eye, and converse. We have had a taste of what it feels like to talk behind the barrier that is a keyboard and screen, and we keep going back to it, as we don't have to worry about all the subtleties that go along with normal interaction, such as emotions.
Technology also tears us apart in the video game sense as well as the social networking sense. Gamers get caught up in the virtual world that they invest (and waste) so much time in, that they no longer feel the need to interact at all in the real world, with real people and real conversations. They delve into this world that isn't real, and it tears them apart from other people.
Technology has brought us a long way, but I think we're far from utilizing it to its fullest ability. I don't mean to sound like a harbinger of doom, but we're still early on in the technological era and it'll be years before we truly see the consequences of our actions.
Cam Newton
Technology can both tear us apart and bring us together. In one way it brings us closer by allowing us to communicate freely with friends and family who don’t live near you but you don’t actually get the experience of being with them; you can hear them and talk to them but you don’t really get to interact with them. For example, I have family that lives in Pennsylvania and we used to go visit with them all of the time, at least once a year, and since cell phones and Skype have been invented we haven’t had the physical need to go see our family. We call them and are able to talk with them but we don’t get to do the fun stuff like going to Steelers games and hanging out around a fire, that we used to do when we went and visited with them. Technology allows us to communicate more often but caused the fun aspect to be lost.
ReplyDeleteTaylor Moreland
Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Does technology bring us closer together or tear u...":
ReplyDeleteAs stated in many of the previous comments, technology can help to bring people together, but it can also pull people apart. However, I do not believe that technology alone is responsible for the interactions, or the lack thereof, between people. Technology is just a tool. Therefore, what really decides whether or not technology brings us together or tears us apart is, in my opinion, one's own use of technology. How technology is used is up to the individual. One can use technology to become closer to others, especially when physical barriers prevent us from doing so face-to-face, but we can also choose to use technology to hide away from the rest of the world, or even to hide our faces as we say things that we would never say in person. I do concede that technology can make it easier for socially anxious people(myself included) to communicate with others and express their ideas, and I also think that it is hard not to become fully immersed in technology when it is almost constant in our lives today. However, I still feel that the influence that technology has over one's life, and whether or not it brings us together or pulls us apart, is ultimately decided by one's own choices in regards to the use of technology.
Will Grasch
Will is right. “Technology is just a tool.” Whether or not technology tears you apart or brings you together all depends on how you use it. In all reality every person has probably experienced both sides of the argument. Take me for example. I met one of my really good friends at a conference and then I went back to Kentucky and he went back to Indiana. I’ve seen him a few times since then but those brief meetings aren’t what allowed me to get to know him. Texting, calling and FaceTiming him is what allowed me to get to really know him. Yet I know I have days where all I do is lay in my bed and play on my phone or watch TV instead of interacting with my family. Technology is just a tool, how you use it decides which side of the argument you fall on.
DeleteHarper Jones
Technology brings us closer together with those who are distant, yet farther apart from those who surround us.
ReplyDeleteFacebook, Twitter, and Instagram are all tools created for the purpose of communicating not only with those involved in our daily lives, but also with those outside. Ideally with each, we are able to create posts relating to our current happenings to share with friends and family miles away, bringing joy & staying connected. However, out of the 200 or more friends & followers we each have on these networks, I'd say 20 or less are actually family & friends who are distant. With this, we are losing the ability to communicate face-to-face, because we rely on technology to communicate even with those who surround us. It often seems when we spend time with our friends, more time is spent communicating electronically with others, than interacting with those who are actually present with us.
Are these self proclaimed "social" networks, truly allowing us to grow socially? At an age where we should be focusing on our social & interpersonal skills it is imperative that we find a balance in our technology usage.
Grace Higgs
Technology can bring us closer together in many aspects but it also consumes so much of our time and money which can tear us apart.
ReplyDeleteThere is a ton of new technology out there that helps us in gaining information and becoming more knowledgeable about us and our world. Advances in science, math, government, society, and etc. all help increase our ability to learn and teach upcoming generations. Another benefactor of technology is communication. Technology allows us to get in contact with anyone from anywhere at anytime. Phone calls, video chats and text messages all help military and overseas people stay in close contact with their families. Our new and always changing society relies on technology for an easier and simpler life.
On the total opposite side of my pervious statement, technology tears and is tearing our generation, society, and country apart. Because of cell phones we are able to hide our true selves and emotions behind a simple device, this causes a lot of cyber bullying in social networking cites such as Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. When I say technology may people just think of cell phones but I think of all technology as in TV, computers, X-box, and etc. All these things we allow to take over and control our lives. I feel that we as a country need to change this, we need go back to how it use to be with out all this advanced technology. Back in the day people got along fine without imessage and Netflix so I think we would turn out just as well.
Overall I think that although technology is a great tool for learning and communication, it lets our society become lazy people who care more about what's going on on Twitter than what's going on in the real world.
Lexie Richardson
I personally think that technology brings all of us closer together. Technology lets us communicate with the people we can’t see every day. Technology also helps us communicate with each other globally. People would say that technology keeps us from seeing the immediate world around you. We cannot blame it on technology. It is not the technology that distracts us. It is the person who is distracted. In my opinion technology has really done nothing but help us.
ReplyDeleteTariq Onodu
I agree with Tariq, but I also feel that he is wrong about technology doing nothing but help us. Yes it has helped us communicate with people we can't see everyday, but i believe that technology pulls apart from the people we do see everyday.
DeleteAll too often I see people that are across a room from eachother texting or playing on their phones, not paying attention to one another. Technology takes away from face to face contact, and destroys relationships that can only be developed by actual connection with other people.
Technology also creates an easy way to bully others. Horrible things are said on social networks, and crush friendships. I believe that many of the things said online would not be said in person because you can hide behind a computer screen, without seeing the effects of your doing.
So, I think that technology can bring us together, but it can also bring us apart.
Hannah Webber
I absolutely agree with Tariq. The positive benefits of technology are far more significant than the social hindrances it causes.
ReplyDeleteBeing able to Skype with my sister in Seattle is such a great privilege, as is being able to quickly send her a picture of our cat from my phone.
The global unification that technology has produced has caused the global economy to skyrocket and allowed for tremendous economic progress in the developing world. Investors in Los Angeles can invest in a clean water system in Angola, through a company in Shanghai. The whole world knows about the problems facing every nation, and the world can now work together in ways no generation has seen. Take, for example, Malala Yousafzai, a young girl from a small town in Pakistan, who, by advocating for education and women's rights and surviving an assassination attempt by the Taliban, has become a worldwide symbol of freedom of expression and the courage of women under Sharia Law. Her story has been broadcast on every news outlet in the free world, and she may well receive the Nobel Peace Prize tomorrow. Her interview with Jon Stewart has been played over and over by thousands of people just today. Without advanced technology, Malala would have had no way to share her story.
As Tariq said, it is the person who is distracted. It is up to parents and those few youth who appreciate face-to-face interaction to teach others to put away their devices. Our culture is rarely able to handle the awesome power that new inventions give us (see: fast cars, Big Macs and guns), and technology is no exception. We aren't yet able to appropriately handle smartphones, and there is no training going on to teach kids (and adults) about proper etiquette. Until that happens, our culture is stuck behind the screen.
Andrew Bates
I can see how technology can get people closer together because it can allow things to be done that aren't natural or easy to do. For example, iPads can help people who have a speech disability to talk with other people because they are not capable of doing it themselves. On the other hand, the vast majority of us are being swallowed up in useless technology like social networking and cell phones. Recently, I signed up for Facebook. My rationale for doing this was to get updates on band events and to see the videos of out marching band shows. However, what actually happened was that I had connected myself to a piece of technology which gave me little of what I originally wanted, instead I got a load of useless images and "status" updates of things that I didn't care about, none of that is even useful toward the betterment of my education. Not even this blog is useful. Any question that is asked on this blog can be taken and make into an essay question with a seminar.
ReplyDeleteThis week during fall break my grandmother was visiting us from England after nine years, I still could not be away from the internet or computer games in order to spend some quality time with her because it has grown to be a habit that seems perfectly natural. Yes, I know that is a shameful thing, but that is what society has become. We have glued ourselves to the machine of our choice and ignored what actually matters in the real world.
Simon Holden
As most everyone has already said, technology both brings us closer and tears us apart. With its benefits come its downsides.
ReplyDeleteOn the one hand, technology has many great uses, such as keeping in touch with friends and family, staying up to date with global news, and, of course, it has served as a great source of entertainment. It's improved education and business. We are quickly adapting to all these new forms of technology we're exposed to and it definitely does make our lives easier.
However, technology has also led to a slew of problems. The younger generations especially have become overly attached to their portable devices. Many people do get too obsessed with social media and would rather substitute texting for social interaction. We are slowly losing our social skills due to our increasing dependence on technology. Also, people on the Internet are often exposed to cyber bullying, which was obviously unheard of in the days before we had Internet. In addition to all of that, too much screen time is bad for our eyes and sitting at a computer all day tends to ruin your posture, so there are some physical health problems associated with increased technology usage.
In conclusion, while technology itself is wonderful, it's no substitute for face to face interaction and shouldn't be overused. As with many good things, it does have negative side effects and should be used in moderation.
Diana Rudic
I think that technology brings us together because, communication has grown from being something that you could on do in person to something that you can do half a world away. this has help to bring people who would have never got the chance to communicate with each other to be able to and sometimes these relationships develop into long lasting friendships that are beneficial to the people that use technology to communicate with others.
ReplyDeleteDrew Dearborn
I can say that yes technology has brought us closer but also I agree it’s pulling us apart. We can communicate with friends, family and even teachers now with technology whether it is by telephone, email, or texting. We have gone beyond that though. Majority of the people in the world today think they can’t live without function without technology. I believe that technology is a good thing but it depends on how each person individually uses it.
ReplyDeleteStudents can email, call or sometimes even text their teachers when they have questions about assignments rather than coming into class the next day clueless and unprepared. I think that having that connection with teachers makes students feel like their teachers are reliable and are always going to be there to help you (except maybe after ten o’clock haha). It also gives students that one on one learning scene with their teacher.
Technology is also pulling us apart. Last Fourth of July, my entire family of about 40 got together for lunch to celebrate. Instead of catching up with each other, everyone was sitting at the tables with their phones in their hand. Yes, I will admit I was one of them, but it was funny in a way because no one realized we were doing it until my grandma took a picture of us all on our phones.
I think that having technology pull us mostly effects the younger generations rather than the older generations. I noticed that at my family get together, my older family members sitting around talking, playing corn hole, and doing other Fourth of July activities while the younger people were on their elecetronics. Even the younger kids were playing on their Ipods, Kindles, Leapsters ect., instead of enjoying the day.
Technology can be beneficial in communication with others, but it can also distract us from what’s going on in reality. It was fun comparing devices and learning new apps and games, but life is short and we should be spending what little time we have with our families and not our electronics.
Hannah Smith
In my opinion technology tears us apart more than it brings us together. We focus so much time on our electronics and the technology we have gained over the years. We become absorbed in Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Video Games, etc. Though we may get the chance to communicate with people we haven't seen in a while but truly we never get the same experience from online chatting as we would by seeing them in person. Technology has only made society crawl back into our shells. As the saying goes in our generation we are crying from outside begging to get inside were as in our parents time they were crying inside begging to get outside. We spent so much time adsorbed in technology we no longer look at life the same, we don't focus on what is truly in important and what we are blessed with everyday.
ReplyDeleteAshton Chaney
Technology tears us apart and brings us closer together. Technology tears us apart by eliminating the physical and personal business and social interactions. For example my families business loses personal interactions and overall sales because people can just go online and order furniture, instead of coming in the store and picking it out. Technology is oftened used as a tool to hide behind, we often pick up our phones when we don't want to engage in a conversation with an unfamiliar person. This mask that we hide behind holds people back from attempting to make long lasting relationships and learn things from others.
ReplyDeleteTechnology brings us closer together by allowing and creating new ways to communicate, these ways are often faster. Technology also creates ways for families to see there love ones without actually being in the same room. These new ways of communication help to fuel our future and make it even easier to communicate with others. Technology benfits us by helping us keep up with our own lives.
~Taylor Gilbert (:
Although technology may be tearing up face-to-face communication, it is also bringing people who cannot be face to face closer. For example: I lived in Florida until the summer after 4th grade. Although it wasn’t that long ago, children in elementary school did not have Facebook or a cell phone anything… we wrote letters. From about 5th grade until 7th grade I had no way of contacting any of my friends in Florida, I felt lost. Yeah, I could have written letters, but I thought that was lame. My friendships drifted. I tried email, but that didn’t faze well. In fact, without technology, my friendships disintegrated. Still to this day, I find people that I went to school with and wonder if they remember me.
ReplyDeleteThis brings up Aristotle, “Distance does not break off the friendship absolutely, but only the activity of it. But if the absence is lasting, it seems actually to make men forget their friendships: hence the saying ‘out of sight, out of mind’.” He is saying that with distance, you can still stay “friends”, you just won’t act like friends. The longer you are apart from that person or those people, friendships tend to be forgotten about. With technology, I am able to reconnect those friendships that were forgotten about rather than just let them hang. Through technology, you may learn that those people have completely changed since you remember them. Don’t we all change from the time we are in elementary school a little bit? From there you can decide whether the friendship is worth reviving. Thus, in this case: Technology is good and is bringing people closer together.
When it comes to face-to-face interaction, I believe that technology is tearing us apart. It is hard to have an actual conversation when someone is buried in their phone all the time. There are certain times that are appropriate for using your phone and other times where it should just be put away. For example: What makes it okay to bring out your phone and use it during awkward situations? Talk. Make a new acquaintance. Settle differences. I can say that I’m guilty of hiding behind my phone, but it’s something I can work on.
Shannon McCutcheon
I think that technology has definitely helped bring us closer together more than tear us apart. It has made it much easier to communicate and keep in touch with anyone in the world. You can talk to a relative who lives nowhere close to you, share something instantly with your friends, and countless other possibilities provided by technology.
ReplyDeleteOf course, there can be instances where technology tears people apart. I don't think you can put the blame on technology itself, though. If a person gets addicted to Facebook or Twitter, it's the person's fault. Technology should be viewed as a tool that helps you communicate with the others (well at least as far as texting and social networking sites go). You shouldn't depend on technology for all your social interaction. In moderation, technology is a great thing to use and it is up to us to not become too reliant on it.
Ethan Aldridge
I believe that technology is bringing us closer together but also tearing us apart. Our lives are revolving around our cell phones, tablets, and laptops. Companies keep coming out with new versions and people feel like they need to have it when what they have right now isn't much different. Where technology is coming more advanced, it is bringing some families closer but is making others distant.
ReplyDeleteTechnology brings some families closer. A lot of smart phones have face time or Skype. When you have family or friends overseas or just far away, you are able to see them and talk without actually being there. It makes keeping in touch easier.
Although it brings some people closer, it tears people apart. If people aren't using technology for contacting others far away, they are completely absorbed and distracted by them. Most phones and tablets have an app store where you can download all sorts of things to keep busy. People do text others and sometimes call people but I think that most are consumed by games and other apps like Candy Crush Saga, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Some families eat dinner together and have rules that they aren't allowed to have phones at the table so they can enjoy time as a family but some may not have that rule. So parents may be trying to have dinner while the kid sits there on their phone not being social. When people go out to dinner I usually see most people on their phones even when their meal is there. I'm guilty of this and so is most of my family. There may be some side comments but not full out conversations like we should have.
If people are uncomfortable they may use their phone to keep themselves entertained and not seem awkward. My family usually has reunions and there aren't really kids my age so I just sit there on my phone and let my parents do all the talking since they are the ones who know them.
So to sum it up, I believe that while technology brings some people together if they live farther away but they tear us apart from the people who are right in front of us.
~Ashleigh Johnson~
There's going to be a group of people who abuse technology. This is natural. It's just like anything else really.
ReplyDeleteTake books for example, a lot of people read books, but there might be a few people that spend all of their time reading books. The people that spend all of their time reading will be torn away from a social life.
People have been developing bad habits/addictions for ages. Technology isn't to blame for tearing families apart or thanked for bringing them together. The positive or negative effects of technology are based solely on the Human using it.
-Coleman Williams
When it comes to technology it has both positive and negative results. It brings us together in ways that weren't even imaginable 20 years ago. Technology today has served as a positive impact in the world around us. Now within seconds we can communicate with someone millions of miles away. Information can be shared and obtained in a blink of an eye. Technology allows us to stay connected with the world around us.
ReplyDeleteTechnology, however, has its downfall. Today in our generation our lives revolve around social media, because we are so consumed by texting and social media it has caused a lack in social skills that we desperately need in life. More and more people have problems with having a face to face conversation now days because we're so used to having conversations over text messaging.
I believe that technology had equally torn us apart but also brought us together.
Whitley Bardroff
I agree with Whitley. The way our generation is using social media is lacking our social skills that we need in our life. People are so comfortable with saying things over text, but when it comes to real life, they are really shy and don't talk but when they do it's like a completely different human being in person.
Delete-Ling Lo
First off, I am in love with technology. I am always messing around with my phone, laptop, etc. Just like most people, I am very in between. Technology can be just awful. Sometimes my phone makes me so mad I just want to throw it against a wall. But I can honestly say, if I didn't have my phone, I probably wouldn't have a lot of the friends I do today. I have also lost, gotten into arguments with, and just completely been hurt by a few "friends." If I didn't have a phone, I feel like I would still have some of my old friends today. However, I probably wouldn't spend time with my current friends as much because I wouldn't be able to get a hold of or plan fun activities with them. I think a lot of people from our generation just hate how it's taking over everything because as 90's kids, we grew up with dolls, toys, art sets, etc. I just find it extremely odd how toddlers know how to work an iPad better than I do. When I was little, I use to draw and paint pictures and I was so creative and I use to take art classes all the time as a kid. When I was in 6th grade I got my first phone, and ever since then, I just completely stopped drawing and coloring and painting. I still draw every now and then but I have to be extremely bored in order for me to take a paper and pencil and start drawing. I mean, I paint my nails all the time and I like to think of myself as being creative when I do them, but it takes a whole lot less effort for me to do my nails than for me to paint the sky. I sometimes wonder where I would be (artistic wise) if I never even got a phone. Technology also brought us to social networks. I really don't want to get into the whole cyber-bullying because I'm sure most people already know the situation on that and I just got sick of that sort of stuff coming up in a conversation or discussion, because then it just leads to an argument. I do however, think technology (such as the internet as well) has given us so much information. I can't even express how much you can learn by typing a single word into a search engine. Heck, Pinterest taught me more about crafts, cosmetology, and just everything pretty much; than I ever learned in school. I am really in the midst of it. There are a large amount of excellent pros and cons to technology. But at the end of the day, I am pretty satisfied with it and how it's the next big thing in this world.
ReplyDeleteHannah Hyatt
I mentioned this in class when we discussed the topic, to me it's all a matter of the person using it. One person can use it to connect with their friends, and another can use technology to pry themselves away from society. Its a matter of the individual, how they themselves use it. Technology is made for the express purpose of making our lives simpler and easier, though there are plenty of people who use technology to exclude themselves from society and to make their lives more difficult.
ReplyDeleteTechnology is not good or bad, people are.
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ReplyDeleteBeing a teenage girl who had once used technology to be on all the social media networks that my friends were on, like; Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. To a teenage girl forced to abandon all social media because of cyber bullying, I have experienced both pros and cons of technology.
ReplyDeleteNow obviously we can all agree that it is so much easier these days to Google something we don't know about rather go read about it in a book from the library. When you think about it though, using technology like Google simply tears us apart too- not just social media. Now, these days I wouldn't even know how to go to the library to find a book to get information on something, like people used to do 20 years ago. As helpful as Google is, it has- in my opinion- brought us apart because you don't really see "study groups" or "library study dates" anymore. On the flip side however, being someone who uses Google everyday for simple stuff, it is very effective and it does its job. We can share videos and websites with our friends and connect with each other that way.
Now, social media. So many arguments could be made for and against social networking. Some people may give positive statements saying that social media brings us together with friends and family we have in different states or countries. Or that it gives us a chance to open up to people in those awkward teenage years that gives us the confidence to try new things at school or meet new people you usually wouldn't talk to. But I say all those "positive statements" are really negative. When it comes to connecting with loved ones far away from us, it is obviously faster to get on the computer and just see for yourself what they are doing. But what ever happened to writing a letter? To me, handwritten letters are so much more meaningful than "liking" a post on Facebook. Also, social media always hurts somebody in the end.
Like I said in the beginning of my argument, I am someone who has been extremely affected by cyber bullying, which lead to my accounts being shut down because the cyber bullying was so terrible. Now being a teenage girl with absolutely no social networks anymore, it is so much stress off of my back! When I did have social media I never realized how "into" the drama you can be, without even being a person involved in the situation. If there is drama between people on instagram, twitter or facebook about who is mad at who and your reading it, you might as well be in the drama yourself. Now I don't have worry about other peoples business or drama and just live life! So I would support anyone's decision to give up social media, and if you think you can't give it up, I challenge you to try it for one day and see how much different you feel and then go from there.
Now we all aren't going to come to an agreement on this topic. Technology can bring us together and tear us apart, there will never be one set in stone answer. But it is how we act with technology that makes it good or bad, and I hope we can all agree to that?
-Amber Booth
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ReplyDeleteTechnology brings us together and tears us apart. It brings us together by things in the medical field and its equipment. Also if you have family that is far away then through face time and other technology you can stay in touch. But it also tears us apart because we are distracted by all the things our smartphone and Ipads can give us in a moment’s notice. Even when we are sitting with friends, our smartphones are attached to our hands and we are ignoring each other. Even if only a few people are on their phones you could feel like you are being talking about or just feel excluded. Most of you don’t even talk that much to each other, too busy using twitter or snap chat. We are ruining our friendships and pushing each other farther away. You can’t just spend time with people without multitasking on our phone or texting someone else. We also have trouble interacting face-to-face and need to work on our social skills.
ReplyDeleteRachel Wallace
There is a time and place for technology- when a person uses that privilege inappropriately thats when technology tears us apart instead of brining us together. People don't realize that technology is a privilege it's not something that every person on this planet has and I think people have lost perspective of what they have. Using your phone or electronic device at the dinner table when your eating with your family is unacceptable in my opinion because you are choosing to ignore the fact there are human beings infront of you and you would rather look at your phone or iPad etc. When you lose the face to face connect and social skills is when technology interferes with brining people together.
ReplyDeleteI understand that technology brings people together by allowing long distance relationships and communication with people who may not live where you live- again that is a privilege. When people don't understand that technology is a privilege and misuse it that's when it tears us apart.
-Bailey Bishop
I find that technology has more so brought me closer than torn me apart from others. Speaking from a larger standpoint, I believe as a world it has brought us closer and torn us apart.
ReplyDeleteFor me the internet and technology as a whole has become a huge part of my life. I go to lots of conventions and conferences over the summer and the only way to keep in touch with a lot of the people that I meet is through the internet. Also, I am a person whose true self shows more through the internet than in reality. This is the case for a lot of people, and it is something that brings those people closer to others like them. YouTube is another big part of my life. The people that I watch and aspire to be like earn their living through the internet. Even though I haven’t truly met these people I feel like I have, and so technology has brought me close to these people that I wouldn’t know otherwise.
Technology has torn us apart because people sitting right across the room from each other that have known each other for years become immediate strangers as soon as you put a cell phone or ipad in front of their face, but even though that may be disconnecting them from those people, it may be connecting them to others. I also believe that those people who don’t communicate when technologies at hand have some type of reason, it may not be very valid, but I’m sure they do and if they really wanted to talk to each other then they would! I don’t think it’s fair for us to blame the lack of communication on technology.
I think it really all depends on if you show a truer version of yourself while you’re on or offline whether it brings you closer or farther apart from others.
•Caroline Cunningham•
I find that technology has more so brought me closer than torn me apart from others. Speaking from a larger standpoint, I believe as a world it has brought us closer and torn us apart.
ReplyDeleteFor me the internet and technology as a whole has become a huge part of my life. I go to lots of conventions and conferences over the summer and the only way to keep in touch with a lot of the people that I meet is through the internet. Also, I am a person whose true self shows more through the internet than in reality. This is the case for a lot of people, and it is something that brings those people closer to others like them. YouTube is another big part of my life. The people that I watch and aspire to be like earn their living through the internet. Even though I haven’t truly met these people I feel like I have, and so technology has brought me close to these people that I wouldn’t know otherwise.
Technology has torn us apart because people sitting right across the room from each other that have known each other for years become immediate strangers as soon as you put a cell phone or ipad in front of their face, but even though that may be disconnecting them from those people, it may be connecting them to others. I also believe that those people who don’t communicate when technologies at hand have some type of reason, it may not be very valid, but I’m sure they do and if they really wanted to talk to each other then they would! I don’t think it’s fair for us to blame the lack of communication on technology.
I think it really all depends on if you show a truer version of yourself while you’re on or offline whether it brings you closer or farther apart from others.
•Caroline Cunningham•
I am split on this topic, along with many others. Technology can be such a powerful tool, and on the other hand can be destructive.
ReplyDeleteTechnology has allowed me to connect with people I do not see much at all. you can hold friendships with people in other states, and even across the world. Technology has brought us together in this way. Technology also allows us to learn more, as it is a helpful tool to students. You can literally find anything you want on the internet, but with this being said there have to be some downsides of technology.
Technology has brought addiction, and increased bullying. With social media it has became alot easier for one to bully, or get bullied on the internet. You feel as if you won't get in trouble if you bully across the internet. I know multiple people who have been bullied on the internet, and have seen many news stories in which people have killed themselves over being bullied on the internet. Also, the internet has made people become addicted to alot of things. I have heard of many people getting help for their addiction to video games, Facebook, etc.
Technology can be a helpful tool, but can also be destructive.
- Dallas Taylor
i think that technology helps us, expecially to keep in touch with our peers. if i didnt have a twitter i wouldnt know a lot of the things that are going on at school with sporting events or homecoming themes. social media i think is just an easier way to communicate with everyone.
ReplyDeleteAnnie Cunningham
As I'm sure has been expressed multiple times here, it could really go either way. On the one hand, it brings people together and helps people keep in touch over long distances. It can also aid in education. Not too long ago, if a classroom had to do research, they had to book a computer lab and drop a day of instruction in the classroom. Now, though, students can just do research as needed without leaving the classroom on their smartphones. However, technology has it's downsides too. With the advent of social gaming and Xbox Live/PlayStation Network, online communications become ugly. A lot of people (certainly not all or even a majority, but a lot) talking trash, making threats, all over video games. That's mainly because they can hide behind their TV screen and keep their anonymity. Also, when people use technology too much, it can end up affecting their real lives. Such as when people play video games too long (again, a minority of players, but some), they can lose touch with their real life friends and possibly develop problems with their people skills. In summary, there are good and bad points, but you could say that the good outweighs the bad for most people in everyday life.
ReplyDelete-Evan Hatter
I think technology is definitely tearing us apart. By sheilding ourselves from human interaction with our smartphones and tablets, we loose personal and meaningful connections with those closest to us. Since we discussed this in class, I've begun to take notice that there are more people than you would think, playing on their phones at a dinner table. just the other night I glanced around the restaurant I was in and counted 8 people on their phones. And its not just teenagers! people of all ages; moms, dads, even grandparents! So while checking your facebook or twitter might connect you to your friends or others that aren't near you, it's tearing you away from the most improtant relationship of family.
ReplyDelete- Courtnie Carr
I am definitely in the middle when it comes to this topic. Technology is something that we all use in our daily lives and I don't know what we would do without it. Without technology, I wouldn't be anywhere as close as I am with friends that do not live near me. For example, one of my best friends moved away a couple years ago, but this weekend he got to come down to Frankfort and spend a couple days with me. Without the use of my cell phone, I would've never known he was coming down and he probably wouldn't have ended up staying with me. I think that with situations like I just provided, technology in fact brings us closer, although I won't say that technology doesn't push us away from each other either. Our generation feels the need to have our cell phones literally everywhere we go. We use them on our free time, school, and now, dinner. Whenever me and my friends are hanging out, I feel like half the time we are just sitting on our phones instead of socializing with each other. Cell phones have made our generation's social skills very poor. I know a lot of people that don't know how to talk in person, but are very outgoing via social media. Overall, I think that technology is very useful in today's society and it helps us talk to one another more efficiently.
ReplyDeleteAlong with several other people I agree that technology brings us closer to those that are further away and distances us from those closest to us. Technology also benefits us greatly by keeping us "in the know" of what is going on in the world around us. I personally am not a huge fan of watching the news but by being apart of twitter I am always updated on what's going on.
ReplyDeleteI think many teens take for granted the use of technology. Even I, myself, can hardly go through a whole dinner with my family without picking up my phone checking any new texts, tweets, and Instagram. What used to be considered "family time" is now simply all of us gathered around a table stuck in our own technology world.
-Heather Fry
I think that its both bringing people together and tearing people apart. The reason I say this is technology can be very good for entertainment and social purposes. Such as if you need to get in contact with someone then you wont have to wait days to send them a letter then wait for a reply . You can simply send them a text and then get a reply a few minutes later. Also when texting there is a lot more things that you are willing to say then if you were in person. But thats not always good say for instance if you were in an argument and end up saying things you will regret. So it can give you courage but can also take away courage away, like say being truthful in front of other people. Almost like a split personality so you never really know if people are being honest with you. But it also helps you connect with the world in a more broader way than just reading a text book. You can watch the news and learn things you probably would never know without technology. So it can keep you better informed and in a way it shapes you be who you are. Which is kinda ridiculous in my opinion but never the less true. I mean doesn't it sound slightly weird to say without technology you would not be the person you are? Without technology I wouldn't know about anything then what people close to me and what I learn from school teach me.
ReplyDelete-Random Strung Thoughts by Sharon Hockensmith
Technology breaks apart our personal connections between the people that we spend the most time with. I remember when family nights use to be us gathering around the table and making a craft or playing a board game. Now I find myself sitting on the couch with an IPad on my lap, my phone set beside me too my right, and the TV on in the background. Our family nights have been reduced to putting a movie on the TV, while all of us sit spread out across the living room, all on our own electronic devices. Over the years we have lost what matters most between family members. We have lost personal interaction due to technology.
ReplyDelete-Madison Wallace
The topic of technology destroying interpersonal communication can be argued both ways. I'd say it's certain that our society has evolved into a society that relies nearly entirely on technology. It impacts our lives in almost every way and we never give it a second thought. However, I don't think it will cause face to face interactions to cease from our culture.
ReplyDeleteOur generation is stereotyped against more than any other in history. Our elders claim we have lost touch with the essentials of life like family and friends through face to face communication. I have to disagree with these claims. Our generation is fully capable of maintaining a relationship while in the presence of the other. Many people forget that when we were children, learning how the world worked when our minds were most vulnerable, there were no Xboxes, iPhones, etc. we were raised like our parents would describe as "normal and without surrender to technology". We simply conformed to the rapidly advancing society we were members of. While it is true that most of our generation is glued to a screen for too long daily, we were still raised on the morals and values of interpersonal connections with those around us. The choice belongs solely to the individual whether they will succumb to the grip of technology induced social removal, or whether they will act on the values that were instilled within us before technology became such a controlling factor of pur lives.
Chris Hughes
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteAs previously stated in multiple posts and in class, Technology does in fact tear us apart and bring us together depending on how we use it.
ReplyDeleteWhile many people use technology as a distraction from the real world, some people rely on technology to communicate with the rest of the world. Take Stephen Hawking for example, Arguably one of the greatest Physicists/Cosmologists that the world has ever seen. He is Paralyzed from the neck down, and without his Intel tablet and communications system, he would not be capable of sharing his great ideas with the world.
One example lies right in front of all of us, and is quite obvious yet overlooked. We are all communicating on a blog, where we use technology to share our ideas and converse about worldly topics. Most would argue that this is bringing us together as a class, allowing us to share ideas when we cannot meet due to the 55 minute limitation we face every weekday in the classroom. I believe that technology can be used positively much like it is right now, if there is some form of positive structure or motive to it.
As a teenager where smart phones are dictating how we communicate, I see many people using their phones to avoid social interaction, or even stop it. I would say that it is becoming a problem so severe that many people lack the communication skills that young people had back when there were no phones. People were given no other choice but to interact by talking, or not interact at all.
I do not have a possible solution to this conundrum, other than to encourage a self moderation or sorts. Ultimately—the choice is yours to make.
(On another note, I'm glad to see I am not the only Procrastinator)
- Parker Buckley
Technology is a wonderful tool to connect people to each other and information. When used properly, technology is quite possibly the most useful tool ever created. On the other hand, technology has caused our society, specifically the younger generations to become disconnected from personal face-to-face communication, as well as the art of letter writing. I think a balance between personal interaction and email, Twitter, Instagram, texting, etc. is the smart way to approach life, even as new technology emerges every day.
ReplyDeleteAs countless numbers if people have said in the above comments, technology is just a tool. Depending on how you and when you use it, it can either bring us closer to each other or consequently tear us apart.
ReplyDeleteThe use of texting, email, Skype, or any other communications application can connect us to friends, family, and virtually anyone across the world. We can share stories instantly, we can talk about our day with the touch of a button, we can see live feed of other people as if they are right in front of us. Technology has evolved into what can be an amazing thing when used appropriately, but then again when used the wrong way can break us apart.
When we abuse technology it can tear us apart from even the people sitting right beside us. We constantly are checking our phones, even with no reason to do so. We are almost physically attached to them now, it is becoming a big problem all across the world. Technology was designed to help us, but with the overuse of it is beginning to hurt us in some ways; especially in the social aspects of our lives. We are so engulfed in technology that we sometimes forget the joy that the people around us give us, we sometimes loose the connection with the people we see everyday. If we cannot control our personal use of technology it will soon run our lives.
Technology definitely has its benefits, there is no doubt of that, but it also has its downfalls. It is up to us individually to control how it effects our lives.
Keenan Jones
I believe that technology both tears us apart and brings us closer together. For example, my grandparents, who live in Florence, can easily call me or email me and it's like we're standing right next each other. However, when we went out to eat with them yesterday, it was almost dead silent before we got our food, my grandparents sat there eating their appetizer while my dad and I were both in our phones.
ReplyDeleteI also believe that technology makes us all cowards. Since phones and computers we have all discovered that it is easier to tell someone something they don't like if they don't see their emotional reaction.
Todd Stetler
ReplyDeleteIt’s hard to say whether we are coming closer in the world with new advance technology or if we are disconnecting with our family, friends, and just living creatures because of it. I can see both the good and the bad of technology for humans. The good I see is when this technology is helping the ill regain strength to get well again. Or more efficient ways that technology doesn’t hurt the earth. These are all ways that technology can have its good side and bad sides with so many other reasons that I could think of. But what I see is that when something new comes out, there is always bad to come with it. There are going to be people that find that new technology can be helpful to the individual while others will see the bad and wish it never came to human contact.
Victoria Word
I think your opinion on technology depends on how you use it and how it's used towards you. The pros on technology is that it allows you to connect with families all across the world, from my personal experience I've been able to keep in touch with my parents' friends for them in Cambodia and I've met so many couisns that I was able to go on vacation with over the summer. I would've never known them and been able to plan all that without technology. Cons, as everyone would be fimilar with- cyberbulling is bigger and getting worse by every minute. More people are willing to say things because it's all behind a computer screen. But then again, if you let yourself be put in that position (social media- twitter, facebook, instagram, ask.fm) then you were aware of the consquences before.
ReplyDelete-Ling Lo
Technology has brought us closer together but apart at the same time. It's brought us closer togehter by socal media and news sites. It lets us associate with people daily lifes and see the latest news trends without having access to a TV. It makes us grow apart by not having interaction with each other face to face. As if people will say something over social media rather than to your face.
ReplyDelete-Sierra Smith
i think it works both ways. technology has had its advantages and disadvantages. when it comes to communicating world wide, technology has for sure brought the countries and people closer together. but, as individuals between friends or family i think its been both as well. like sidney said in class the other daily, most people hide themselves behind their phone screens instead of chatting with someone at the dinner table. but when it comes to forgetting something at home or at schools all you have to do is text your friend to get it.
ReplyDeleteSidney Sell
Technology brings those who want to be together, together. When I am not with someone I want to be then I use technology to communicate with them. However when I am with people that I don't want to communicate with, then I use technology as a way to talk to those who I do want to communicate with. If people use technology when they are out in public with there friends or family then technology in that case can be harmful to those around them. There is a fine line between the time or appropriate technology use and inappropriate technology use. Crossing that line is what pulls people apart.
ReplyDeleteEmily Evans
Technology over the years has sky rocketed into one of the highest demands from people. It is both a good and a bad thing, bringing us closer together but at the same time pushing us farther apart.
ReplyDeleteSimple things like eating dinner together around a table, having nothing to do at a friends house but play simple games, or even carrying books to read are all examples of the way our lives have changed over the years and not in a good way. We as people are beginning to depend on our technology for everything!
At the same time technology has changed the way we can now do things for the better like school, ways of communication, and in general making our daily lives easier. There is a time and a place for technology and appropriate ways for it to be used, and that's not always how we are using it.
-Brooke Spaulding
I believe that technology is connecting people that cannot communicate face to face, but at the same time we let it distance us from those that are in the same room. With technology I have managed to keep friendships with people I don't get to see on a regular basis. Right now I'm on vacation visiting a friend I haven't physically seen since 2011 but through texting, phone calls, Facebook and FaceTime we are just as close as the friends I see everyday. Without technology this friendship wouldn't be the same. But, on the other hand when we are with our friends we allow technology distances us. We are so consumed in our devices we miss what's going on in the moment. We have an addiction to technology and that's what causes the distance. With an alcoholic, people blame the substance but when really the problems and the addiction lies in the hands of the abuser. The problem isn't technology, it is us allowing ourselves to become consumed by it.
ReplyDeleteCourtney Woodyard
Technology is definitely tearing us apart but at the same time, its bringing us closer. Almost every single person uses technology in their every day life wether its your iphone, ipad, computer, projectors and so much more. Most people today, couldnt go 24 hours without some use of technology. Its ruining our real life communication skills, people are becoming socially awkward. Most ways we communicate with one another is text or email. Its making us dumb, we rely on calculators do to everything. We expect google to know all the answers to our problems. We are becoming so lazy.
ReplyDeleteTechnology I believe is also helping us come together, every day scientist are discovering new ways to do things, cures to diseases and so much more. Its furthering our education while bringing it down. Our computer is an awesome way to learn new things, being faster and more reliable.
-Lauren Knarr
I believe that technology both brings us together and tears us apart. It has positive and negative effects on all sorts of age groups.
ReplyDeleteTechnology brings us together by keeping us connected with friends/family across the US or even on the other side of the world. I use technology for these purposes daily to keep in touch with friends and family in over 10 different states. In these ways it brings us together.
Technology pulls us apart through cyber bullying and the excessive amounts of daily usage. Almost everywhere you go you see multiple people using some form of technology. Technology is anywhere from the hands of the person you are eating dinner with to the doctors office you visit for health care. To keep the use of technology under control my family and I DO NOT ever have our phones or anything out at the dinner table no matter if we are at home or out to eat somewhere. I also have "phoneless fun" with friends/family members by agreeing to put away all forms of technology while we play a game or just hang out.
Technology does seem to be consuming almost everybody's lives but there is ways to control it and to use it in proper forms.
~Kali Whitaker
I believe that technology has brought us closer together because of all the social media nowadays.
ReplyDeleteWith all the technology that we have these days, people can communicate with long lost friends, family members or anybody really. Technology has better improved our way of communicating as well as shopping, reading, music etc.; technology has just improved all of our lives and made them much better.
Ian Teasley