MANILA, Philippines - In the era of technological advancements and the progression of science, an argument has come into view regarding the effect of technology to humanity and individualism. Many environmentalists and pro humans protested about the devastating effects that technology has caused the environment and humanity. They put the blame on such advancements. Humanity and individualism aren't sacrifice in this age of technology; in fact, technology has helped to develop a better world for individuals.
The world has come to the age of the future. The building blocks of tomorrow that once we called impossible are just a few steps away to obtain. The world we live in today is unimaginable without technology. Can somebody survive without the internet? Yes, maybe. But it is now part of our lives. The basic necessities to survive aren't limited to just food, clothes and shelter. The Internet or whatever technologically influenced materials we have around are becoming part of us whether we like it or not. And they help us grow up to live within the range of the today’s standard of living. The world is not going to move without technology. A machine is technology. And machines surround us. From the bag zippers to our cars, a machine is right there! Technology is right there! Technology feeds our dreams with fulfillment and success. Technology is undeniable! It is here and it’s here to live on.
The world depends on technology to keep going. Life as we know it depends on technology to survive. The current state of the world is no doubt a technology-dependent biosphere. The government today is very eager to establish a broadband network that can link government agencies in a rush. The world has adapted into this kind of trend. Having the fastest internet in the world, Korea is a wired country. Everything here is fast, internet-ready and convenient. This country proves that taking advantage of technology has proven to be a successful tactic in becoming progressive and wealthy. And the trend, if that’s what we call it, scattered worldwide in a speed as comparable to that of light. The world, the countries, and the people: all depends on technology.
Humans are created in a way that they can easily adapt to their environment. A proof is when people go out of the country to a place colder than theirs, wait a few months later, it seems like they feel hotter than ever in this colder place. You see, it is human nature to evolve, not as the way Charles Darwin had defined it though. Humans are naturally talented and curious. They tinker electronic gadgets, they invent futuristic machines, name it, the humans tried it!
Social networking is becoming very popular to humans. It has grown from zero to fully loaded. This is the result of humans’ eagerness to connect. Humans love to talk. Can you blame them for abusing telephones? Can you blame them for misusing keyboards? Can you blame them for overusing cell phones? The ability to use words is a good enough reason to accept the fact that humans are created to connect with one another. After all, even animals have their own ways to communicate, no one’s exempted. It is natural for human to use all the resources it can acquire to their full potential. It is human nature to adapt, response and change to everything that can go wrong or right.
Technology involves the use of the environment to meet human needs. The growth and expansion of several technologies within the last thousands of years of human history has been affected by the surroundings, civilizations, and science. And how did we end up having such advancements that we enjoy today? Most of us have seen a lot of summary of the evolution of technology with lengthy and tedious articles that keep us busy reading for a while before we actually see the timeline unfold before our eyes. So to make the long history of the evolution of digital age short, let’s make it simple and direct to the point. In 2400 BC, the abacus was invented in Babylonia. People these days depended on a very simple calculator which can take a couple of minutes to figure out. Even though this is a sign of a good technology, it is nothing compared to a button-cell powered calculator we have today. In 724, Liang Ling-Can invented the first fully mechanical clock. In 1609, the microscope was invented by Galileo Galilee. A technology we all should thank for. Here comes the year 1769 when steam engine was invented by James Watt. In 1816 the stethoscope was invented by Rene Theophile Hyacinthe Laennec. 1946, the microwave oven was invented by Percy Spencer. And most notably Tim Berners-Lee invered the World Wide Web in 1990. What’s the point of telling this? It’s simple. What we see is what we get. Without these inventions, how will the world be? Do you mind living in a cave without any laptop by your side? No thanks.
Now that we have proved the effectiveness and benefits of technology in our lives, the real argument of this essay starts here. Are humanity and individualism sacrificed in the age of technology? No, they are not. The only thing we can say that are sacrificed in this digital age is nature, and I meant it to be literally the environment, the animals and the sea. People (or I must say those who are anti-technology who somehow depended from technology to survive) believed that technology is a bully which eats up the true implication of being a human. I have heard a couple of times that the internet, for example, has affected students in many ways that their social being is sacrificed. I believe that growing up in a digital world facilitates emerging thinking and intelligence. We may have heard widespread accounts and notions about how youngsters are becoming attached to the computers; becoming addicted to the internet; losing their attention span; and increasingly anxious, self-centered, and even harsh through internet interaction. While there is much that remains to be learned, and while there are substantial matters yet to be fixed, overall it would appear that the conventional understanding we are all fed upon is incorrect. Digital children are effectively learning the social skills which are necessary for an effective interaction in the digital economy. So this just proves that individualism and humanity are never sacrificed. After all, they are actually those who are benefiting in the emerging digital world.
A very basic example would be Facebook. It is an argument that Facebook does no good to anyone. The social networking site has been condemned for being a source of privacy obliteration that can also turn internet users into real social networking addicts. Pestering persons, hacking into accounts, getting too much involved with unidentified users and being deprived from the real world are some of the largely recognized undesirable effects of Facebook.
Additionally, many people believe that social networking sites cannot substitute real relationships. People don’t really connect with people online as they connect with real people whom they can feel and touch. However, if you think back, there have been times that real people were not available in times of others’ need, while online people were there and supported them; there has been a communication that made a big difference.
Should we blame the digital age for all these goings-on? Think again. Here’s a part of the article “The Benefits of Facebook "Friends:" Social Capital and College Students' Use of Online Social Network Sites” by Nicole B. Ellison, Charles Steinfield and Cliff Lampe of the Department of Telecommunication, Information Studies, and Media, Michigan State University “Recently, researchers have emphasized the importance of Internet-based linkages for the formation of weak ties, which serve as the foundation of bridging social capital. Because online relationships may be supported by technologies like distribution lists, photo directories, and search capabilities (Resnick, 2001), it is possible that new forms of social capital and relationship building will occur in online social network sites. Bridging social capital might be augmented by such sites, which support loose social ties, allowing users to create and maintain larger, diffuse networks of relationships from which they could potentially draw resources (Donath & boyd, 2004; Resnick, 2001; Wellman et al., 2001). Donath and boyd (2004) hypothesize that SNSs could greatly increase the weak ties one could form and maintain, because the technology is well-suited to maintaining such ties cheaply and easily.” The passage only proves that any weak ties we have with the world are bridged because of the social networking. That is why it call “social networking”, people create network in the internet that has something to do with society they are linked in.
Not everything is wrong about social networking or Facebook in particular. In a lot of cases, people find important information, catch up with old acquaintances, promote work and business, support important causes and get together with people who can be true friends in the process. What’s wrong with Facebook is the people’s habitual action that turns into addiction and violently deprives them from reality. This issue is personal and has got nothing to do with the digital age! As a matter of fact, the positive output of social networking has contributed a lot to humanity and individualism.
Another example I will give you is the effects of the video games. Video games have emerged in a rapid rate in the early 90’s that people lives were diverted into the digital world in an instant. These games that replaced the traditional ones we had at home were looked down upon by parents as time-wasters. The worse thing is that parents think that these games rot the brain. Also, brutal video games are blamed by the experts as the reason why some youth become aggressive and violent or commit extreme anti-social behavior But games are bad only if we spend our time just playing them. And we cannot blame such instances to the device itself but the human nature itself. Whether it is video gaming or not, like card games which have nothing to do with the technology, too much is bad.
Many researchers have learned that games have important educational value. They concluded that simulation and adventure games, where players make societies or construct their own houses, developed children's strategic view and developmental skills. These games are the most popular among teenagers. Players who frequently engage in video games showed some improvement in mathematics, reading and spelling. The analysis into the habits of children also revealed that playing games is far from a solitary activity. In fact, children preferred to play games in groups rather than by themselves.
The digital age is a proof of human’s wonderful minds. Individualism and humanity have been benefiting in so many ways that it is considered non-sense to say that they are not being prioritized. What we need in the future are more powerful technological advancements that can help people understand technology. Technology doesn't bring us apart, it brings us close together. So, it is a must for humans to understand the consequences of their actions. We need a better world, where humans working together in harmony, and technology making life so much easier, so we can spend more time with our loved ones.
So, are humanity and individualism really sacrificed in this age of technology? Think again.
Call Me Jed™ (cc) 2013. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Philippines License.
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The world depends on technology to keep going. Life as we know it depends on technology to survive. The current state of the world is no doubt a technology-dependent biosphere. The government today is very eager to establish a broadband network that can link government agencies in a rush. The world has adapted into this kind of trend. Having the fastest internet in the world, Korea is a wired country. Everything here is fast, internet-ready and convenient. This country proves that taking advantage of technology has proven to be a successful tactic in becoming progressive and wealthy. And the trend, if that’s what we call it, scattered worldwide in a speed as comparable to that of light. The world, the countries, and the people: all depends on technology.
Humans are created in a way that they can easily adapt to their environment. A proof is when people go out of the country to a place colder than theirs, wait a few months later, it seems like they feel hotter than ever in this colder place. You see, it is human nature to evolve, not as the way Charles Darwin had defined it though. Humans are naturally talented and curious. They tinker electronic gadgets, they invent futuristic machines, name it, the humans tried it!
Social networking is becoming very popular to humans. It has grown from zero to fully loaded. This is the result of humans’ eagerness to connect. Humans love to talk. Can you blame them for abusing telephones? Can you blame them for misusing keyboards? Can you blame them for overusing cell phones? The ability to use words is a good enough reason to accept the fact that humans are created to connect with one another. After all, even animals have their own ways to communicate, no one’s exempted. It is natural for human to use all the resources it can acquire to their full potential. It is human nature to adapt, response and change to everything that can go wrong or right.
Technology involves the use of the environment to meet human needs. The growth and expansion of several technologies within the last thousands of years of human history has been affected by the surroundings, civilizations, and science. And how did we end up having such advancements that we enjoy today? Most of us have seen a lot of summary of the evolution of technology with lengthy and tedious articles that keep us busy reading for a while before we actually see the timeline unfold before our eyes. So to make the long history of the evolution of digital age short, let’s make it simple and direct to the point. In 2400 BC, the abacus was invented in Babylonia. People these days depended on a very simple calculator which can take a couple of minutes to figure out. Even though this is a sign of a good technology, it is nothing compared to a button-cell powered calculator we have today. In 724, Liang Ling-Can invented the first fully mechanical clock. In 1609, the microscope was invented by Galileo Galilee. A technology we all should thank for. Here comes the year 1769 when steam engine was invented by James Watt. In 1816 the stethoscope was invented by Rene Theophile Hyacinthe Laennec. 1946, the microwave oven was invented by Percy Spencer. And most notably Tim Berners-Lee invered the World Wide Web in 1990. What’s the point of telling this? It’s simple. What we see is what we get. Without these inventions, how will the world be? Do you mind living in a cave without any laptop by your side? No thanks.
Now that we have proved the effectiveness and benefits of technology in our lives, the real argument of this essay starts here. Are humanity and individualism sacrificed in the age of technology? No, they are not. The only thing we can say that are sacrificed in this digital age is nature, and I meant it to be literally the environment, the animals and the sea. People (or I must say those who are anti-technology who somehow depended from technology to survive) believed that technology is a bully which eats up the true implication of being a human. I have heard a couple of times that the internet, for example, has affected students in many ways that their social being is sacrificed. I believe that growing up in a digital world facilitates emerging thinking and intelligence. We may have heard widespread accounts and notions about how youngsters are becoming attached to the computers; becoming addicted to the internet; losing their attention span; and increasingly anxious, self-centered, and even harsh through internet interaction. While there is much that remains to be learned, and while there are substantial matters yet to be fixed, overall it would appear that the conventional understanding we are all fed upon is incorrect. Digital children are effectively learning the social skills which are necessary for an effective interaction in the digital economy. So this just proves that individualism and humanity are never sacrificed. After all, they are actually those who are benefiting in the emerging digital world.
A very basic example would be Facebook. It is an argument that Facebook does no good to anyone. The social networking site has been condemned for being a source of privacy obliteration that can also turn internet users into real social networking addicts. Pestering persons, hacking into accounts, getting too much involved with unidentified users and being deprived from the real world are some of the largely recognized undesirable effects of Facebook.
Additionally, many people believe that social networking sites cannot substitute real relationships. People don’t really connect with people online as they connect with real people whom they can feel and touch. However, if you think back, there have been times that real people were not available in times of others’ need, while online people were there and supported them; there has been a communication that made a big difference.
Should we blame the digital age for all these goings-on? Think again. Here’s a part of the article “The Benefits of Facebook "Friends:" Social Capital and College Students' Use of Online Social Network Sites” by Nicole B. Ellison, Charles Steinfield and Cliff Lampe of the Department of Telecommunication, Information Studies, and Media, Michigan State University “Recently, researchers have emphasized the importance of Internet-based linkages for the formation of weak ties, which serve as the foundation of bridging social capital. Because online relationships may be supported by technologies like distribution lists, photo directories, and search capabilities (Resnick, 2001), it is possible that new forms of social capital and relationship building will occur in online social network sites. Bridging social capital might be augmented by such sites, which support loose social ties, allowing users to create and maintain larger, diffuse networks of relationships from which they could potentially draw resources (Donath & boyd, 2004; Resnick, 2001; Wellman et al., 2001). Donath and boyd (2004) hypothesize that SNSs could greatly increase the weak ties one could form and maintain, because the technology is well-suited to maintaining such ties cheaply and easily.” The passage only proves that any weak ties we have with the world are bridged because of the social networking. That is why it call “social networking”, people create network in the internet that has something to do with society they are linked in.
Not everything is wrong about social networking or Facebook in particular. In a lot of cases, people find important information, catch up with old acquaintances, promote work and business, support important causes and get together with people who can be true friends in the process. What’s wrong with Facebook is the people’s habitual action that turns into addiction and violently deprives them from reality. This issue is personal and has got nothing to do with the digital age! As a matter of fact, the positive output of social networking has contributed a lot to humanity and individualism.
Another example I will give you is the effects of the video games. Video games have emerged in a rapid rate in the early 90’s that people lives were diverted into the digital world in an instant. These games that replaced the traditional ones we had at home were looked down upon by parents as time-wasters. The worse thing is that parents think that these games rot the brain. Also, brutal video games are blamed by the experts as the reason why some youth become aggressive and violent or commit extreme anti-social behavior But games are bad only if we spend our time just playing them. And we cannot blame such instances to the device itself but the human nature itself. Whether it is video gaming or not, like card games which have nothing to do with the technology, too much is bad.
Many researchers have learned that games have important educational value. They concluded that simulation and adventure games, where players make societies or construct their own houses, developed children's strategic view and developmental skills. These games are the most popular among teenagers. Players who frequently engage in video games showed some improvement in mathematics, reading and spelling. The analysis into the habits of children also revealed that playing games is far from a solitary activity. In fact, children preferred to play games in groups rather than by themselves.
The digital age is a proof of human’s wonderful minds. Individualism and humanity have been benefiting in so many ways that it is considered non-sense to say that they are not being prioritized. What we need in the future are more powerful technological advancements that can help people understand technology. Technology doesn't bring us apart, it brings us close together. So, it is a must for humans to understand the consequences of their actions. We need a better world, where humans working together in harmony, and technology making life so much easier, so we can spend more time with our loved ones.
So, are humanity and individualism really sacrificed in this age of technology? Think again.
Call Me Jed™ (cc) 2013. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Philippines License.