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Technology Debate
In this section, we will be trying out a new format. Instead of one of our writers spouting his or her own dogma without challenge, we will attempt to have a debate. Enjoy.
The Ironic Detachment of Technology By Zachary Borodkin
According to Wikipedia, the definition of technology is the collection of techniques, skills, methods and processes used in the production of goods or services or in the accomplishment of objectives, such as scientific investigation. Yet the words “collection of techniques” imply that people worked together to make these technological accomplishments possible. The catch however is that while the aim of technology is to bring us closer, it has driven us further apart. I am always excited for the next advancement, but also realize that I have to break away from my phone or my laptop and talk with my peers. In an academic setting, forging a human connection is vital in a time of great social change. While the exchange of information and data has increased in a short period of time, the exchange of ideas between people is the solid foundation to acquiring this information and data in the first place. In the course Managing Info and Technology, I called this an ironic detachment. iPods and iPhones have been available for over 10 years and yet technology as we know it is still
in its infancy. As technological breakthroughs continue, they will also continue to affect how we interact with each other. In walking around campus, I see so many people with headphones in their ears or their heads down looking at screens. They made the choice to embrace this technology, but it is only a matter of time before it consumes us. Technology is still in its early stages, but by the time we reach the age of our parents, technology will literally become part of us and products like Google Glass are illustrating this point. As Millennials continue to come of age, we should begin to question how we are raising the next generation. As we continue to look at our screens instead of our kids, for those of us that have them, we are making them socially awkward in a world that is only beginning to embrace anyone who is different. Technology will never stop and it shouldn’t, but teaching the future generations how to interact with people will determine the course of society. Seniors are also being faced with this reality as technology is now performing most of the care for them
instead of their own children. Implementing these new technologies will add to the costs of Social Security Medicare and Medicaid, which will substantially increase. According to the US Census, the population of Baby Boomers over 65 is projected to increase to 1 in 5 by 2035. These are dilemmas that we are faced with yet we are ignoring them under the impression that technology will solve them for us. Ironic, isn’t it? I am not asking that we go off the grid or even to put down our devices. I am simply saying that in continuing to embrace technology, we should also embrace the simple things through interaction such as learning to play an instrument or draw a picture. Teaching each other things like these will also help us discover things about ourselves that technology couldn’t have. We should continue to embrace human interaction before we become permanently desensitized. As the first tech-generation, we find ourselves at a crossroads and only through social interaction can we determine the path forward.
The “Detachment” of Technology By Jordan Raitses
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o begin with, I don’t see how the “main purpose of technology” is to bring people closer together. He claims this in his first paragraph, but does little to support it. If one considers the evolution of technology (and I mean all the way from pointy sticks), then the purpose of technology is not to bring about some conscious social goal, but to make life easier for the user. A pointy stick user is not attempting to become closer to a gazelle (except to consume it), he is simply seeing a need: “I cannot kill prey easily with my bare hands;” and filling it: “This sharpened stick makes it easier to kill prey.” A smart phone is used in much
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the same way. While we don’t throw our technology at prey anymore, we do still use it to fill a need. The need which smartphones fill is not one of practical necessity (most of the time), but one of intellectual desire. Yes, intellectual desire even includes snapchat. Socialzing via the internet grants individuals pleasure. This pleasure may not be quite the same as that which an in-theflesh interaction grants, but it accomplishes the same goal: stimulation. However, to debate Zachary on his own grounds, technology doesn’t detach individuals from one another, it merely detaches individuals from their physical limitations. Instead of going through the difficulty of finding
and communicating with like-minded individuals, one can post on a forum. Instead of being isolated from a distant friend, one can keep in touch over Facebook, increasing the number of connections, not decreasing them. Technology does not isolate individuals from one another it brings people more people together and thus closer together. While embracing the “simple things” has its merits, it is not inherently nor explicitly required. The “crossroads” that our “tech-generation” faces is the same one that our parents saw with the introduction of the telephone. There is change, but it is simply a new form of the same old technology: it fills a need.
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