Has Technology Made Us Lazier - Coursework Example

Has Technology Made Us Lazier? Introduction The term technology and progress is almost synonymous in today’s world. One cannot think of technology without deliberating on the positive impacts that it has shown on mankind right from the time of its conception. Now, the first question that pervades our mind as we read this article is, ‘What exactly is technology?’ Technology can be summarily defined as “the ability, inherent to man, to change nature in accordance with his goals...this ability of man is inborn has its origin in nature of the consciousness and represents one of natural human potencies” (Beck, cited in Koslowski, 2001, 74). New age technology which we apprehend in the twenty-first century, has completely changed the way we perceive life. Not only is life much simpler in certain aspects, but life now has a marked demeanour which was completely unconceivable even a 100 years back. One very important and very perceivable wonder that technology has achieved in recent times is the envisaging of globalisation, where the world has visibly shrunk, in terms other than referring to the earth’s size. Today technology, in a literal sense, has managed to place the entire world within the palms of a human hand. This is however just the glorious part in the chapter on technology, and a closer look will reveal that the entire story is not so rosy, after all. There is also a darker vista that remains hidden behind all the pomp and glory that is typically portrayed, a dark facet that shows a technology dependent human mind becoming useless. Too much reliance on technology also tends to make man lazier, thus he becomes physically incompetent too, and which is now quite prominent in the rising cases of child and adult obesity problems, that we see all around us. So we stand at a crossroad, where we will have to decide and the take the reins of our future into our own hands. We will have to take decision as to whether technology should be allowed to take over our lives, completely. This article will examine both the positive and negative effects of technology on our lives, and will discuss what our future will looks like if indeed we allow technology to become our master. It will explore the possibilities as to whether technology is actually making us suffer from obesity, both mentally and physically. Body A brief history of technology: “From the beginnings of human society on earth, human beings have struggled to survive and flourish, and they have used technology as an aid in the struggle” (Ferkiss, 1993, 1). The first man made technological innovation was fire, which was predominantly used, in the pre historic era, to scare away wild animals; however, some scholars opine that a very crudely created hand axe use for hunting animals is probably the first technological invention of man. All early civilisations have shown various types of technological creations, but these were mostly concerned with warfare and thus were mainly of a masculine domain. However it was the period of the Renaissance and the Reformation in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, that actually heralded the coming of the new age thinking and technology. During the wake of the Industrial Revolution during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, technology reached new pinnacles of success and along with it mankind also took the giant leap forwards into the new age modernism, which we see around us in the twenty first century, in an even more adduced form. Are we losing touch? What were the lives of the people when technology had not taken over, to this extent? From what we read in books and hear from our parents, none of those around us were connected to their cell phones, I-pods or laptops, 24x7 hours. People led simple lives, had to work hard as there were fewer technologies to help them, and socialised a lot, to keep in touch with those around. In today’s world however, we cannot imagine life without any sort of technology incorporated into it, which makes living easier, more efficient and even more effortless. We keep in contact through everyday chats on the net, via the various social networking groups like Facebook, Twitter or Orkut, or we speak via the SMS services in our mobile handset. Why go out and socialise when we can do the same thing through various technologies, sitting within the comforts of our own home? However this complete dependence on technology may lead to certain undesired consequences, where we stop leading a normal life, and become unsocial and de-humanised. This may in turn lead to not only mental and physical obesity of an individual, but there will arise various psychological complexities and problems associated with living a lonely and sedentary life. So seemingly, though we may be in touch with innumerable people all around us, we are actually losing touch with the reality and with our inner selves. Man and Technology: Right from a very young age, technology is now taking over our lives. Even a newborn baby is put in front of a television without any compunction. Parents have discovered that there is no baby sitter like that of a TV, so we are now seeing a situation where the values in a child are being instilled by the media, rather than from parents or other relations. So now “Television is a central part of life for many babies and toddlers, with many parents relying on it as an electronic babysitter and a third of families leaving the TV on nearly all the time” (Kornblum, 2006). A very strange set up where children are more wired to the TV sets in front of them, than with their own parents or friends. Going out to play, having direct face to face interactions with friends, and also talking or chatting with parents or siblings, are certain aspects which are necessary for an all round development of a child. The modern age children are missing out on these very basic necessities. As Kornblum reports “Paediatricians dont know whether watching is harmful, but they do know that certain factors, such as having a TV in the bedroom or having a TV on in the house all the time, can be detrimental. Television in the bedroom, for instance, is associated with increased aggression and poor performance in school, Dan Anderson says. He and others add that TV can be detrimental for another reason: A child watching TV isnt playing physically and may tend to become more obese” (Kornblum, 2006). The child, who grows up sitting in front of the TV, becomes increasingly lazy, as there is no physical activity involved in the whole process. Watching TV and eating unhealthy junk food produces obese children, who all are physically unfit, and also mentally dim-witted, owing to the lack of human interaction, and other related activities that increases one’s intellectual power, like reading books. “TV viewing takes away the time that your child needs to develop important skills like language, creativity, motor, and social skills.  These skills are developed in the kids’ first two years (a critical time for brain development) through play, exploration, and conversation.  Your kid’s language skills, for example, do not improve by passively listening to the TV.  It is developed by interacting with people, when talking and listening is used in the context of real life” (The Good and Bad Effects of TV on Your Kid, 2008). Often children may develop other physical problems, as for example a study found out that “children who spend hours in front of the television are at greater risk of developing asthma than those who are more active...”(Sample, 2009). So, this is where too much of technology in our lives are leading us to; physically sick individuals and a lack of intellect. The world is fast coming to an age where children may soon start reading books through a Sony e-book reader or through the Google books section, again a technological marvel of the recent times. At just a click of a button it is now possible to access millions of digitised books stored in a virtual library, via the Google scholar or Google books. Much as the process helps to spread knowledge and enlightenment to all and sundry, one thing is for sure, modern man need not to go real libraries any more. The minimum labour that was required earlier to walk to the nearest library to get a book is being now replaced by the process where an individual just needs to sit in front of a laptop and read that very book. So technology is definitely making man lazier. One can even browse books and place an order online to buy it; there is no need to go to any bookshop. So with each endeavour technology aims to make life easier, while man becomes even lazier, by the day. So with each passing day as technology progresses, we find that it is preventing human beings “from exercising initiative, being intellectually challenged, thinking analytically, and using…imagination” (The Good and Bad Effects of TV on Your Kid, 2008). Instead of going out to play, children prefer to stay indoors and play video games or games on the internet. “Television, video games and computers have had a major impact on children’s activities: a considerable amount of time is spent in front of a screen...the main adverse effects are reduced exercise levels, reduced communication levels within the family, and an increased tendency to violence...” (Bellman and Kennedy, 2000, 17) while an average male adult in UK spends almost 20 hours a week as a couch potato watching TV, compared to only about 13 minutes per week of outdoor exercises (Else, 51). Lack of interaction with nature and other humans, will soon create a generation that will be lazy, and mentally feeble with various psychological disorders. When an individual wakes up in the morning it is to the music of an alarm clock. He goes for breakfast that is pre cooked or frozen and just needs to be re-heated in the microwave. Coffee is ready made, in a percolator that can start working even before one wakes up. News can be checked online or even through a mobile phone. Cars that are gearless and automatic have made driving quite easy and effortless. Shopping is very easily done via the internet and with a credit card. So the need to go out for shopping can be dispensed off with. One need not visit parents, relatives or friends physically, as it is much easier to connect through the virtual world, via the internet chat. Life has become one easy journey, and seemingly so effortless, where almost everything can be done with the press of a button. Everything appears just like out of a science fiction story, that was once only found in the fertile imagination of writers. There is also another dark side to this story, besides rising obesity and other mental disorder problems. It is the fear of sophisticated technological terrorism, which is now being used quite often to unleash a reign of terror, worldwide. Just the press of a button and hundreds will die at the whim of a maniac. Often the very information necessary to make these sophisticated weapons, which can kill so many, are also downloaded from the internet itself, another technological marvel. Here one thing is very clear. In the hands of a misguided person all the wondrous inventions can be made to put to wrong use. No one in their right mind can deny that technology is not required, or technology is useless. Technology is indeed an integral part of human lives. We will only have to be wary as to how we use it. Parents will have to consciously regulate as to how much time a child spends in front of the TV or computer. Adults will have to consciously go for more physical exercises and other outdoor activities. Shopping is an outdoor activity and must be kept so, unless it is an absolutely emergency and one must shop online. Conclusion There is no doubt that technology is a boon in our modern day lives. There is also the dark side where too much dependency on technology is making children and adults fat and mentally feeble. As a whole, as technology advances further, we are becoming lazier by the day. We cannot but agree with Smith when he says “modern technology let loose a thoroughgoing totalitarianism that inevitable alienates man from Nature, Being and his own essence...the end is anything but utopian; it is a dystopian in the extreme”(Smith, 2007, 167). However, here one thing is to be mentioned very clearly. It is not technology which is at fault entirely. Humans also have a major role in the downward spiralling of the average mental health and physical fitness. It is we, humans, who have behaved in an irresponsible manner, by allowing technology to take over and become our masters. Now as we stand at the crossroads, it is our choice as to which way we wish to walk. Whether we choose to ride into the glorious sunshine where there is a perfect amalgamation of the richness of various technological inventions, along with perfectly intelligent minds and agile bodies, or, we choose to enter a dark future where technology becomes the master, and turns us humans into slaves with feeble minds and disabled bodies, is entirely at our discretion. Bibliography Bellman, M, and Kennedy, N., 2000. Paediatrics and Child Health: A Textbook for the DCH. Philadelphia: Elsevier Health Sciences. 17. Else, D., 2009. Lonely Planet England. Lonely Planet, 51. Ferkiss, V., 1993. Nature, Technology, and Society: The Cultural Roots of the Current Environmental Crisis. New York: NYU Press, 1. Kornblum, J. 24th May 2006. “Study: More Parents use TV as an Electronic Babysitter.” USA Today. 24 May 2006. Accessed at http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2006-05-24-kids-media_x.htm Koslowski, P., 2001. Nature and Technology in the World Religions. Dordrecht: Springer, 74. Sample, I., 3rd March 2009. Children who spend hours in front of the TV are more likely to get asthma. Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2009/mar/03/asthma-television-tv-children Smith, G., 2007. Martin Heidegger: paths taken, paths opened. Plymouth: Rowman & Littlefield, 167. The Good and Bad Effects of TV on Your Kid. 16th November 2008. Raise Smart Kid. Accessed at http://www.raisesmartkid.com/articles/the-good-and-bad-effects-of-tv-on-your-kid.html Read More