Technology Friend
Technology: Friend or Foe?
The majority of western culture seems to be reliant on technology, but does technology facilitate or hinder us? As a biased approach I would strongly suggest that technology improves our quality of life to the extent that if it were removed from our society, our quality of life would suffer dramatically. In my life I am aided by technology every day so I have chosen three of the most essential and life altering pieces of technology that affect me at present: Printers, word processors and the internet. I will put to you the detrimental effects that removing technology could cause for me, which can be applied to many others either in my situation or in the same frame of mind.
Considering the printer first, disregarding my course and interests, the printer as a whole has allowed life, particularly in western culture, to move at a much faster pace. Consider the expense and availability of books be it printers were removed. Disregard the time it takes for a person to write the original text, a book can now be printed within 48 hours [1] with little expense incurred. Assuming professional writers were to be employed; writing on average 60 words p/minute. An average book consists of approximately 90000 words; (90000wrds/ 60wrds p/m= 25hrs) so 25 hours of labour. £4.98(National Minimum wage 2012)*25 = £124.50 for each employee with at least 3 days to write, not taking into account the cost of paper, ink, binding and distribution. So on average, in order for publishers to make a profit, each book with cost approximately £200. £200 that I would not be able to pay for each of my course books, and I assume not many other students would either. So now university is retreating back to the older days where only the middle – higher class would be able to afford the additional fee’s that are incurred. Not to mention that a lot of the working class would not be able to afford books, reading would become a privileged skill that only the higher classes
The majority of western culture seems to be reliant on technology, but does technology facilitate or hinder us? As a biased approach I would strongly suggest that technology improves our quality of life to the extent that if it were removed from our society, our quality of life would suffer dramatically. In my life I am aided by technology every day so I have chosen three of the most essential and life altering pieces of technology that affect me at present: Printers, word processors and the internet. I will put to you the detrimental effects that removing technology could cause for me, which can be applied to many others either in my situation or in the same frame of mind.
Considering the printer first, disregarding my course and interests, the printer as a whole has allowed life, particularly in western culture, to move at a much faster pace. Consider the expense and availability of books be it printers were removed. Disregard the time it takes for a person to write the original text, a book can now be printed within 48 hours [1] with little expense incurred. Assuming professional writers were to be employed; writing on average 60 words p/minute. An average book consists of approximately 90000 words; (90000wrds/ 60wrds p/m= 25hrs) so 25 hours of labour. £4.98(National Minimum wage 2012)*25 = £124.50 for each employee with at least 3 days to write, not taking into account the cost of paper, ink, binding and distribution. So on average, in order for publishers to make a profit, each book with cost approximately £200. £200 that I would not be able to pay for each of my course books, and I assume not many other students would either. So now university is retreating back to the older days where only the middle – higher class would be able to afford the additional fee’s that are incurred. Not to mention that a lot of the working class would not be able to afford books, reading would become a privileged skill that only the higher classes