To Plug in or Not to Plug in: Positive and Negative Effects of Technology in Our Lives
To Plug in or Not to Plug in
Do personal technologies like phones, iPods, and computers connect or disconnect us? The opinions vary from person to person and generation to generation. Two opinions that we’ll look at specifically are from Andrew Sullivan, a blogger and columnist for the Sunday Times of London, and Anna Akbari, a professor at New York University. When looked at briefly, Sullivan and Akbari’s views seem to be like the opposite sides of the same coin. Sullivan argues from a more personal standpoint that personal technology shuts us out from the world. Akbari, on the other hand, sees technology and our personal devices as a way to open the world up to us and provides facts and results from professional studies that show the connection between people and their happiness. It would seem it’s pretty straight forward; as different as black and white, which makes it easy to make the assumption that Sullivan’s writing, while riddled with sarcasm, is completely negative, and Akbari’s writing, having created this “guide to happiness” is completely positive. At first glance, they’d almost sound like the stereotypical pessimist and optimist. However, upon closer analyzing, we find that both Sullivan and Akbari speak about the positive and negative effects technology has on our lives. So while Sullivan’s writing is more on the negative side and Akbari’s on the positive side, we see places where these two extremes of the spectrum find a common ground and that technology has the ability to both disconnect and connect us, both based on opinion and factual study. The underlying message from both authors is to find a balance between reality and virtual reality, knowing when to plug in and tune out and when to unplug and go live. “Even without the white wires you can tell who they are. They walk down the street in their own MP3 cocoon, bumping into others, deaf to small social cues, shutting out anyone not in their bubble.” This is the way Sullivan
Do personal technologies like phones, iPods, and computers connect or disconnect us? The opinions vary from person to person and generation to generation. Two opinions that we’ll look at specifically are from Andrew Sullivan, a blogger and columnist for the Sunday Times of London, and Anna Akbari, a professor at New York University. When looked at briefly, Sullivan and Akbari’s views seem to be like the opposite sides of the same coin. Sullivan argues from a more personal standpoint that personal technology shuts us out from the world. Akbari, on the other hand, sees technology and our personal devices as a way to open the world up to us and provides facts and results from professional studies that show the connection between people and their happiness. It would seem it’s pretty straight forward; as different as black and white, which makes it easy to make the assumption that Sullivan’s writing, while riddled with sarcasm, is completely negative, and Akbari’s writing, having created this “guide to happiness” is completely positive. At first glance, they’d almost sound like the stereotypical pessimist and optimist. However, upon closer analyzing, we find that both Sullivan and Akbari speak about the positive and negative effects technology has on our lives. So while Sullivan’s writing is more on the negative side and Akbari’s on the positive side, we see places where these two extremes of the spectrum find a common ground and that technology has the ability to both disconnect and connect us, both based on opinion and factual study. The underlying message from both authors is to find a balance between reality and virtual reality, knowing when to plug in and tune out and when to unplug and go live. “Even without the white wires you can tell who they are. They walk down the street in their own MP3 cocoon, bumping into others, deaf to small social cues, shutting out anyone not in their bubble.” This is the way Sullivan
Cited: Akbari, Anna. "The Atlantic." The Atlantic. N.p., 7 Nov. 2011. Web. 6 Dec. 2013. . Myers, Courtney. "Are new technologies making us happier?." TNW Network All Stories RSS. N.p., 30 Oct. 2011. Web. 6 Dec. 2013. .