Before It's Too Late
Alex Messbarger April 15, 2013 Essay #2 Before It 's Too Late
Page 1
As technology continues to grow at the speed of light, our society continues to take a huge hit, as we are being impacted greatly by all of the constant, never-ending changes, transforming us into what is now the “norm”. Postman (1985), is entirely convinced that the impacts of technology on today 's society are very negative, and it is to no surprise that even now, up to twenty eight years after Amusing Ourselves to Death was written, many people still find an agreence on this particular point of view- that we are continuing on a steady downward slope with our intellect and social well-being steadily decreasing as technology increases. Postman (1985), holds a very strong opinion with his idea that the steady invention of new technologies limit and handicap our capacities to think, and we have now become obsessed and nearly dependent on making things easier for ourselves, which may not seem like such a terrible thing, however, when technologies crash, we find ourselves scrambling in a panic, trying to blindly put the pieces back together because we have become so adapted to the convenience, we no longer know how to function as a whole without them. It may be simple things like new inventions such as the Keurig that now limit one 's needs to learn how to make a basic cup of coffee to larger and more profound consequences such as no longer even having the necessity to read a book or listen to a speech, because we now depend entirely on Google for answers to everything, or even becoming so attached to an iPad to perform calculations and work-duties, that when it crashes or dies, we can no longer do our job. In this sense, our minds have become synced to these devices, making us almost as disposable as the technologies we use. The device
Page 2 dies, and in the very same moment, our mind goes blank. Postman is not alone on these thoughts, however, and Oak (2012), widens this horizon by
Page 1
As technology continues to grow at the speed of light, our society continues to take a huge hit, as we are being impacted greatly by all of the constant, never-ending changes, transforming us into what is now the “norm”. Postman (1985), is entirely convinced that the impacts of technology on today 's society are very negative, and it is to no surprise that even now, up to twenty eight years after Amusing Ourselves to Death was written, many people still find an agreence on this particular point of view- that we are continuing on a steady downward slope with our intellect and social well-being steadily decreasing as technology increases. Postman (1985), holds a very strong opinion with his idea that the steady invention of new technologies limit and handicap our capacities to think, and we have now become obsessed and nearly dependent on making things easier for ourselves, which may not seem like such a terrible thing, however, when technologies crash, we find ourselves scrambling in a panic, trying to blindly put the pieces back together because we have become so adapted to the convenience, we no longer know how to function as a whole without them. It may be simple things like new inventions such as the Keurig that now limit one 's needs to learn how to make a basic cup of coffee to larger and more profound consequences such as no longer even having the necessity to read a book or listen to a speech, because we now depend entirely on Google for answers to everything, or even becoming so attached to an iPad to perform calculations and work-duties, that when it crashes or dies, we can no longer do our job. In this sense, our minds have become synced to these devices, making us almost as disposable as the technologies we use. The device
Page 2 dies, and in the very same moment, our mind goes blank. Postman is not alone on these thoughts, however, and Oak (2012), widens this horizon by
Cited: Postman, N. (2005). Amusing ourselves to death. Public discourse in the age of show business. New York, NY: Penguin Books. Oak, M. (n.d.). What is the impact of technology on our society?. (2012). Retrieved from http://www.buzzle.com/articles/what-is-the-impact-of-technology-on-our-society.html Corkern, A. (n.d.). The negative effects of advancing technology on society. (2009). Retrieved from http://www.articleonlinedirectory.com/128143/the-negative-effects-of-advancingtechnology-on-