Technology Essay Example for Free

Technology Essay It is always a controversial issue whether technology separates and alienates people more than it serves to bring them together. From my point of view, technology has done more to bring people together than to separate or alienate them. Therefore, I disagree with the statement. Here are some reasons why. First of all, technology has brought about a revolution in the way we communicate with each other through the use of cellular phones and the Internet. Thanks to these new mediums of communication, people are brought closer together. With access to cellular phones or the Internet, I am now only seconds away from communicating with distant friends. With access to these devices, the geographical distance between acquaintances matters much less than it did in the past. I can still maintain close contact with my family and friends, even if they are on the other side of the world. Evidently, technology makes people become closer than ever. In addition, technology has given us the means to travel great distances in relatively short periods of time for a relatively cheap price. Imagine having to travel overseas to visit your parents had you all lived a mere hundred year ago. Think of both the time and money such a trip would have cost! Now compare the difficulties of this trip a century ago with the relative ease and comfort of the same trip today. The technical innovations in transportation, as well as in communication, have only served to bring us closer together. In summary, I strongly disagree with the worn-out idea that technology ultimately separates and alienates people more than it serves to bring them together. To the contrary, technology improves our ability to talk to each other. Also, it improves our ability to travel and see each other. Apparently, technological innovations in both transportation and in communication that were noted in the preceding paragraphs unite people in different locations. Technology ultimately separates and alienates people more than it serves to bring them together. There have been many debates regarding the impacts of technology on people’s relationships. While many people argue that technology obviously separates and alienates people, some of others hold a belief that technology brings people together. As far as I am concerned, I strongly agree with the latter point of view, but I think that those who hold the former belief have their own sound evidence. Admittedly, proponents to this claim may argue that new technologies, such as the Internet, televisions, or computers, destroy humans’ relationships. Lots of people around the world have /been getting/BECOME/ addicted to watching televisions, playing online games, surfing and wandering AROUND the Internet, to name but a few. This has proveN to be very detrimental to their relationships. For example, in my country, Vietnam, many children, at the age of 8 to 14, are very interested in playing online games. They spend most of their free time sitting in front of their computers screen and doing something separately. This may result in the lack of socializing and contacting with others. On the other hand, technology has been a wonderful aid that can bring people together, or, in many cases, back together. To bolster this claim, I can say that I have connected with quite a few people all over the world via email, and some of them I have never known before. Furthermore, thanks to modern technologies such as the Internet or mobile phone, I can contact with my friends and relations living in other countries, far away from my homeland, very easily and conveniently. Giving and receiving a call, or chatting via Skype or Yahoo Messenger are some common ways that people often make use of, in order to keep contact with one another, as well as maintain and strengthen their relationships. Another way that technologies support people in socializing with each other is through the so-called ‘virtual worlds’ in the Internet. There are many such virtual worlds in the Internet, such as Facebook, Twitter, and a great numbers of forums and websites, in which people can share their common interests and make contacts with one another. Such contacts may be ephemeral, but they can be A great source of information and amusement. as well. For example, I have joined in English-test.net Forum and enjoyed many relationships in here. It CAN not only can make me feel relaxed, but also can ALSO bring me many benefits in terms of study. In sum, it seems clear to me that technology has done more to bring people together than to isolate them. If they use technologies appropriately, they can gain many benefits from them. Technology ultimately separates and alienates people more than it serves to bring them together. The question in hand it to determine if Technology separates and alienates people more than it serves to bring them together As with many issues related to technology, we cannot say that it is fully true or false, but both the perspectives can co-exist. In my opinion, technology does more to bring people together than to alienate them. The primary reason of my opinion is a look at history. A century ago, people in America did not interact with the Asians the way they do today. Neither did they interact with their own countrymen to the extent they do today. The technological advances in communication made it possible for the world to shrink into a global village. The internet explosion of the late 1990s especially lead to a networked world, where there is a very strong business relationship between various parts of the world. With this business relationship and a subsequent personal relationship, people are now more closely knit than they ever were. Today, an American gets his leather jacket, with its raw material coming from Myanmar, manufacturing done in China and branding done in Europe. This one chain has linked people from various nations. The second reason I base my opinion on is the advances in travel technology. It took people 77 days to go around the earth a century ago, but today this can be done in less than 2 days. The tourist population of the world is at its historic high now. When people go to a new land, they get an opportunity to interact with the natives of that land. On the flip side, there is a limited human-to-human personal interaction in many developed nations due to these technological advances. A survey in the US points out that a typical teenager spends more time to watch television than to talk to his parents. This situation would not have been there a century ago. Infact the Amish people who live in Pennsylvania and Ohio states of the US do not have any televisions in their houses because they believe that it breaks up the family. They also have limited technology in their houses for having their families more closely knit. In conclusion, technology has been of tremendous help in bringing people across the world together, but it has made the smallest units of the society like the family less closely knit. Technology ultimately separates and alienates people more than it serves to bring them together. Technology and Humane touch, in most cases donot gel together. It is indeed, a complex issue. One school of thought says, it is the ultimate tool to stay connected with people which otherwise is not possible.Technology comes as a rescue to the users, which they would find it difficult without it. At the same time, the division and the alienation which it brings along with it, has brought a negative reputation. However in my opinion, technology if placed at the right time and right place, it is the most effective tool to bring in smiles between scattered people over the globe. Let take a step further at the analysis of both sides. What was started as a communication tool, internet was not welcomed in the initial stages, or it was used only for military purposes. Today, with the changing times and the various needs of the people, it is slowly taking over the other medium of communication. Though there is always some issues with the implementation of it, speed, connection, network issues etc, it has to be accepted that it had made the world look smaller than what it was in one decade ago. Having said that, if noticed, internet also brings in some kind of alienation and it has its own disadvantages. It sometimes disturbs the privacy of the people and in turn it discourages the users from further usage. Whenever there is a system of new technology introduced in a society, it is always welcomed with some opposition and finally it works well. Even though technology needs some kind of additional knowledge of how to use, and other issues, with proper guidance it could turn into a great tool of communication and therefore it would connect people with humane touch, which is the differentiator point. Todays generation is more active and keep changing places instead of those times where they would stick to one place and one job. With these changing times and needs, technology is the only solution which bring back smiles over the people and nothing else. Therefore with the above analysis, and with humane differentiator, technology if used at the right place and right time, it would bring in more smiles to the users. Technology ultimately separates and alienates people more than it serves to bring them together. The opinion that technology separates people more than it serves to bring them together is one that is causing much debate. The issue is of even greater importance at this point in time as technology has become a crucial part of our everyday functions. The strongest supporters of the above claim argue that technology has provided instruments that have facilitated separation, however in saying so they overlook the ways in which technology has brought people closer together. In this essay I will put forward arguments that illustrate how technology has brought people together. Firstly, lets consider how technology has brought people closer together by providing better means of communications. The telephone, internet, mobile phone and other modern telecommunications wonders are all important delvelopements that have allowed people to communicate with each other. This access to different and convienient modes of communcating has brought a feeling of closeness. As we head towards the future further technological advancements such as video conferencing will further facilitate bringing people closer together. Additionally, technology has allowed those people to interact with each of that could not have with technology, thus reducing their feeling of alienation. Take for example the residents of a rural village in India. Without technological advancements this group of people were separated and alienated from the rest of world. However with advances in transporation and communication this village can now feel closer to the rest of its global neighbours. In this case technology has facilitated the connecting various separated and isolated people. Further, looking from the perspective of social alienation and separation, that is when various people in a society feel that they are separated from society because of their financial status, or lack of oppurtunity. Consider a family living below the poverty line, its members so not have access to resources or opportunites and this often leads to a feeling of being alienated. Technology allows us to take steps to reduce this social separatness and alienation by providing better opportunities, by providing cheaper access to information, greater acecss to opportunities. Without technology people needed to have money to buy expensive Encyclopedias to access valuable information, however the internet now allows acces to information at a fraction of the cost. Therefore, it can be seen from the above examples that technology has played a powerful role in bringing people together socially, economically and in spirit. Although technology may allow ways to work in isolation it will continue to provides ways in which alienation and the feeling of separatness is further reduced.