Effects of Technology

By karina.g, Houston

The majority of people living in America use some sort of technology. Some of the most technological inventions include iPods, computers, and cell phones. This type of technology is said to be resourceful and helpful in meeting new people, and basically in developing social skills. However, I believe it does the opposite of what most technology users think. Although technology is resourceful, it is time consuming and it negatively undermines face-to-face social skills with family and friends.

Non-internet users have been tested to see how using the internet influenced their lives. According to Alfonso,”They also reported spending less time talking with their families, experiencing more daily stress, and feeling more lonely and depressed. These results occurred even though interpersonal communication was their most important reason for using the internet.” This experiment showed how much of a negative impact Internet had on their lives. The excessive usage of the Internet stocked up these people’s lives. Quality time was taken over by typing something to someone instead of talking to the person face-to-face and spending valuable time. According to Nie and Hillygus the difference of the time spent with family and friends between internet users and non-internet users is tremendous. The Internet is resourceful, but the time usage should be limited, because it consumes time that matters, when one should be doing more important things.

Another technological social blocker is the iPod. For example,”Oh, I was listening to my iPod. My bad” (Song 1). The truth is the moment one person places headphones in their ear, it is the moment they create a “don’t talk to me” bubble around themselves. It deteriorates conversation and social interactions that could have caused a good relationship. Instead of creating a relationship one chooses to listen to that special song that could be done on one’s own time.

Those for Internet usage believe,” The Internet can foster openness, and a greater sense of ease and comfort in dealing with others...can even provide opportunities by those who are too depressed to conduct a social life in the real world” (Coget, Yutaka 1). In my response, this isn’t completely true. If someone has low courage and they build this “relationship” on the Internet, when the time comes for in-person interaction, they would be extremely nervous. The reason for this is on the internet you don’t really see how one looks or how one responses to actions. Internet interaction don’t really mean much, those face-to-face interaction are the ones that count for something.

Several people believe that iPods bring people together more than anything. According to Harris,”Once a month, Playlist host iPod Dj nights at a London bar. On these nights, the guests are the entertainment...and make it a social event.” I believe this contains logical fallacies, selective sampling and hasty generalization. Not everyone goes to a bar and gets together jamming to the music from iPods. ONe of the main qualities about an iPod is one can listen to tunes with one’s self. When one does this in public places it limits social interactions, so iPods generally divide people more than bring them together.

In conclusion, although technology is resourceful, it is time consuming and it negatively undermines face-to-face social skills with family and friends. Overall computers and ipods waste valuable time. This is so important because technology detracts from important things in life, like family and friends relations, which are the most important things in a person’s life.