As
society continues to grow technology has become a vital aspect of an
individual’s everyday lives. Everywhere people are surrounded by technology.
Whether it is computers, smartphones or even in cars there is no escape from
the pressing need for technology. Modern day technology provides several
benefits but it is also associated with many social risks. Many factors
attribute to these social risks such as: lack of face to face communication,
cyber bullying and texting while driving.
The fall out of communication technology has attributed to many social
repercussions which in turn have harmed society.
Whether it is a social gathering
or out for a walk in the park people will see individuals glued to their
smartphones. They believe that their world will fall apart if they lose that
connection. Warren Adler who wrote on the Huffington post recounts a particular
Thanksgiving: It was Thanksgiving evening and my
entire family had gathered together for supper. While at supper it was
completely silent. Everyone was checking their phones and it was as if my
family members were irrelevant to one another (Alder). Thanksgiving is
meant to be a time when families come together and give thanks. It’s a time where
a family gets together to talk about what’s going on in their lives. For some it
might be one of the rare occasions where they are united as one family. In
Adler’s case, rather than his family talking to one another they were too
distracted and feared not being connected. The smartphone technology creates a social
barrier, which limits face to face interaction.
Even in the day to day business world cellular usage has taken
over. A CNN reporter went around and
interviewed various people about cell phone addiction: “Bud Kleppe, a 32-year-old
real estate agent in St. Paul, Minnesota, said he can't be away from his
BlackBerry for any amount of time. He's more likely to sell a home, he said, if
he responds to client’s e-mails within 20 minutes and to texts instantly.”
(Sutter) People live in an age
where if they need to find out information all it takes is a few clicks of a
button. No longer are people required to read through books or flip through
newspapers. Society wants information and they want it now. While it might be
quicker and easier to find a house on the internet it lacks the physical face
to face interaction. Pictures can only show so much about a house. Real estate
agents trying to sell the house will deter from showing parts of a house that
might otherwise change one’s mind. Whereas, if one was physically present at
the house they would see the problems with the house and they might be more
likely to think things over. Many individuals have trouble separating work from
leisure time. Much of their vacation time is spent on their cell phones
checking and responding to emails. A man while on a vacation with his family
freaked out when he lost his phone:
Jared, a 42 year-
old business man, lost his work cellphone while on a family vacation in the
snowy mountains and got really grumpy, then difficult to be around, then
panicky. This went on for the whole day, with arguing and fighting between him
and his wife about what he had to do to replace the phone, which involved
leaving early and driving immediately to the phone store.... Jared was so
worked up that he was convinced that he'd lost all of his contact information,
many work related emails, and some important files. (Rosen 47-48)
Like Jared, many people
need technology in order to function. Without it they transform into something
that they’re not. The phone was found by his daughter, she feared the
repercussions from her father in giving the phone back to him. It just goes to
show how much individuals rely on their technology to get them through their
day. Individuals may need to stay connected but at what cost they may ask
themselves?
As society’s need to
communicate increases, social media has become one of the most popular ways of communicating,
particularly social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook. As these
forums of media continue to grow, younger kids are embracing this technology. This
in turn makes children more susceptible to bullying:
Because kids spend so much time communicating to their peers
online, they may be losing social skills needed for real interactions with
others. According to this view, the internet makes friendships seem more like
abstractions or commodities than real human relationships. These circumstances,
cyber bullies can regard their behavior as a casual thing that doesn’t have
consequences in the real world. (Cyberbullying)
Since communicating through social networking has become a valid
form of communication many kids use it to talk with their peers online.
However, unlike in the classroom there is no one to stand up for these
children, making it easier for the bully. In such cases since there is no face
to face communication, it’s easier to say something online and get away with it:
“In a recent study carried out by Microsoft 1 out of 10 teenagers said they had
been bullied online.” (Engdahl 136) This study represents a growing trend and society must act
before it is too late. The laws are only
beginning to catch up with cyber bullying: A mother created a fake Facebook account
and bullied a friend of her daughters, which resulted in this girl committing suicide.
No punishment was handed out. (Thomas 158-159)
At the time of the girl’s death there were no laws against
cyberbullying. Even though laws were later passed to ensure that this would
never happen again the mother could not be punished. Had there been laws
preventing cyberbullying perhaps that young girl would still be alive today. Once
something has been posted online there is no way of taking it back: “Once the comments are released to a worldwide
audience at the click of "send” it's next to impossible to delete them and
therefore there is no escape for the victim." (Rosen 136) These words will
forever haunt them. The question one must ask themselves at the end of the day
is, how does society prevent this technology from causing further harm?
One of the fastest
growing epidemics hitting the road ways today is texting while driving.
Alarmingly according to a recent poll done by Harris: ”60% of drivers use cell
phones while driving.” (Harris Poll)
This not only compromises the safety of the drivers themselves but also
innocent bystanders. In a study recently carried out by the Pew Research it
said:
The Pew Internet and American life project
published a 2009 report that focused specifically on teens and distracted
driving. Among their findings were that nearly 75% of those ages 12 to 17 years
old owned a cell phone. Of these, 34% admit to texting while driving.
Additionally 48% of teens say they were passengers in the car when a driver was
texting. Of these, 40% felt that sometimes cell phone use compromise safety of
themselves or the safety of others. (Texting while driving)
Today it has become the
social norm to text while driving. It is common to think nothing of texting
while driving. It goes to show how much communication technology has taken
over. Pew Research Study talks about how 40 percent of teenagers were passenger
while the driver was texting and they felt their safety was compromised.
However, they did not act they just allowed the driver to continue to
jeopardize their safety. “Five seconds is the average time your eyes are off
the road while texting. When traveling at 55 mph, that's enough, time to cover
the length of a football field.” (VTTI) During that time frame a lot could go
wrong. A person could lose control of their car, hit a person or animal.
Shockingly, it states on the Edgar Snyder Law Attorneys website: “According to the
Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, texting while driving kills 11 teens
each day.” (Snyder) That means 4,015
teenager die each year, due to careless distracted driving, which could’ve
easily been prevented, had they been paying attention to the road. Individuals
must ask themselves at the end of each and every day is a single text worth a
life?
The Nelson article exams the positive
impact that technology has had on society. While there are some benefits to
technology there argument had several flaws. One aspect they look at is speed:
Technology has amplified the rate at which we communicate with the
world around us. Developments like email, instant messaging, texting, cell
phones, twitter; social networking sites like Facebook and Myspace, and video
conferencing have allowed us to connect with each other at breakneck speeds.
This has helped us in some ways by allowing us to get in touch with each other
quickly for both business and emergency needs. (Nelson)
As
important as speed is when communicating in everyday lives this has caused
people to become reckless. When people are mad they will tend to send nasty
emails to another person that they may later regret. The worst part about this
is the fact that there is no taking this back. A permanent digital record will
be stored which may come back to haunt individuals in the future. The article
also states that people can communicate more efficiently through emails:
Instead of having to have a long conversation with a client about
his kids and home life before asking a quick question about an order, a brief
and to-the-point email can be sent to accomplish the same task.” (Nelson)
While it
might be quicker and easier to send a quick message it lacks social skills. In
life people will not always have the ability to hide behind a device. When it
comes to applying for a job, people need to be able to communicate to the
employer about what their strengths and weakness are. If individuals don’t have
the ability to communicate one to one, then they won’t get hired.
John Sutter a reporter for CNN wrote an article that
examined smartphones and their impact on people lives. He goes on to explain
how technology has had an impact on his life. He then goes on to interviewed
different people about their different experiences. One man recounts an entire
hour where he was glued to his phone and had complete disregard of what was
going on around him:
I'm just out of touch with reality sometimes
because of my phone -- I can just look at all the apps and stuff like that and
just dream about the iPad and whatever -- wishing my screen was bigger -- and
without realizing it, well, I haven't said anything to my wife for an hour.
It's not that great." (Sutter)
This goes to show
peoples addiction with technology. People who are plugged in are in a trance
and as technology becomes more prominent in their lives the further they will
fall into it. Another person commented about how he has to carry his phone in
his hands at all times. Otherwise it’s too risky and he may lose the
opportunity to take a picture. (Sutter) This man cannot keep his phone in his
pocket. He has to have it in his hands all the time. It’s like his security
blanket. The question society must ask themselves has the use of technology
gone too far?
Today as individuals
head out into the world they are surrounded by the ever changing technology.
While technology has allowed them to stay connected to the global economy it
has come with a cost. As people head out into the world today they should ask
themselves the following questions:
1. When at a restaurant with friends or family do they constantly check their
phone?
2. Have they ever sent or posted something online that was offensive or made
fun of another person?
3. When driving down the highway have
they ever glanced over to the car next to them and saw the driver texting?
If individuals were
able to answer yes to any of the above, they must realize that communication technology
accompanies consequences that can cause harm to others. Whether to connect or
disconnect society must find a happy medium.
Works Cited
Adler, Warren. "The Smart
Phone Addiction." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 02
Dec.
2011. Web. 17 Mar. 2014
Cyberbullying." Opposing Viewpoints
Online Collection. Detroit: Gale, 2012. Opposing
Viewpoints in Context. Web. 23 March. 2014.
Engdahl, Sylvia. Online Social Networking. Farmington Hills, MI:
Greenhaven, 2007. 136. Print
Jacobs, Thomas A. Teen Cyberbullying Investigated:
Where Do Your Rights End and
Consequences Begin? Minneapolis, MN: Free Spirit Pub., 2010. 158-59. Print
Nelson, Lauren. "How Does
Technology Impact Communication?" EHow. Demand Media, 30 Apr. 2010.
Web. 14 Apr. 2014.
Strauss, Susan. Sexual Harassment and Bullying: A Guide to Keeping Kids
Safe and Holding Schools Accountable. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield,
2012. 85-86. Print
Sutter, John D. "Smartphones: Our National
Obsession." CNN. Cable News Network, 18 Oct.
2010. Web. 29 Apr.
2014.
Snyder, Edgar.
"Statistics on Texting & Cell Phone Use While Driving." Edgarsnyder.com.
Law Offices of
Edgar Snyder,
n.d. Web. 12 Apr. 2014
Rosen, Larry D., Nancy A. Cheever, and L. Mark.
Carrier. IDisorder: Understanding Our
Obsession
with Technology and Overcoming Its Hold on Us. New York: Palgrave
Macmillan,
2012. 47-48. Print.
"Texting While Driving." Opposing
Viewpoints Online Collection. Detroit: Gale, 2012.
Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 23 March. 2014
VTTI, and Harris Polls.
"Stop the Texts. Stop the Wrecks." Texting and Driving Prevention.
Ad Council,
n.d. Web. 10
Apr. 2014.
