Technology revolutionized our world, giving access to more information than ever before. While technology’s advancement certainly benefits society, how far is too far?
Toyota is the latest car manufacturer to introduce driverless cars to the road, promised to be operating by 2020. Toyota is not alone in this innovation; Nissan promised to have an automated car on the market by 2016, with Google and Tesla following close behind, testing their automatic cars on the roads now.
Technology spawned revolutionary developments, like the automobile itself, but all the while destroying our ability to think for ourselves, ruining the notion of childhood adventure, playing outside and our ability of proper social interaction.
Intelligent machines are running rampant in our society, and it may prove more harmful than beneficial. For instance, Japan now has robotic dogs to keep them company.
Pretty soon, we’ll all be living like the Jetsons in a futuristic society operated primarily by machines, with a robot maid to do all the chores deemed trivial by push-button conveniences built into our homes. Who knows, maybe we’ll end up with a one-hour-a-day, two-days-a-week work week like George Jetson.
Americans can’t get enough of the latest gadgets like the Apple Watch and other wearable mobile devices, but such reliance on technology can be detrimental if we forget how to do things for
ourselves. Another downside to computer operated machines is that anything run by a computer can be hacked or crash, not to mention the loss of privacy that comes with being online.
This new technology begs the question of whether technological innovation has gone too far, becoming a breeding ground for laziness and mindlessness. Are humans losing the ability to interact with one another?
Waiting tables, I see dozens of couples sit down to eat dinner together and neither of them put down their phones for the entire meal. We should be able to share a meal with our friends without twitching for our phones, constantly wondering what we’re missing out on.
Gone are the days of concerts with lighters up. Now it is the generation of cell phones up, taking videos they are probably never going to share instead of enjoying the music in the moment.
The need to always be “plugged in” causes members of society to drift further away from one another while promoting the idea of connectedness. People are distracted and so concerned with instant gratification they forget to live in the moment.
Don’t get me wrong, I am as guilty of this as the next person, but I fear for future generations as we are the last who will remember dial-up internet or Nokia phones. We are the last generation who will play outside until the street lights come on, returning home to a family dinner free from the distractions of technology.
Technological innovation gave society a gift- a gift of vast and readily available information, the ability to connect with those across the world, the power to create a vehicle operated by a computer. Technology is a blessing, but if we are not careful it will increasingly become a curse. So put down your cell phone, close your laptop and go outside – feel the fresh air and stop to smell the roses. I guarantee it is more fulfilling than burying your nose in your iPhone.
Mariah Manuel is a 22-year-old mass communication senior from Lake Charles, Louisiana. You can reach her on Twitter @mariah_manuel.