Helping or Hindering? Essay

Thanks to technology we vex never been more attached-or alienated. Have you ever noticed when there is a family gathering the majority of the while the family members are authoriseing their time using technology rather than socializing? One will notice that almost e rattling person will be using technology whether it is cell phones, iPods, t competentts or the television. After reading Sherry Turkles Can You Hear Me Now essay it got me thinking, is technology the one to blame for us bring so alienated? Sherry Turkle is a professor who teaches the Social Studies of Science and technology at MIT.In her essay I feel she focuses mainly on the negative points of technology, such as how it alienates us. She does not refer to the positive points of living in a world of technology. Although I agree with Sherry Turkle that we have never been more connected or alienated, Turkle fails to sop up the benefits of technology. To support her argument, Turkle contends that everyone is mainly virtually connected. According to Turkle, Consultants used to talk to one another as they waited to give presentations now they spend that time doing emails. (271). this is an example of how technology has changed society.In society I think heap are trying to escape reality. To accomplish that one plays online games, such as Sims, City Ville, Farmville, and other virtual games. In online games one can have a completely different life. One can have the biggest house, the outstrip job, and the best cars. I believe that by playing all these virtual games it makes people lose their social skills. I feel that it makes one forget how to socially act with other people. engine room definitely poses a threat to the upcoming generations. Now people are always using their phones while driving whether it is texting, Face mental reservation or changing the music.According to USATODAY Robert Sanchez, the train operator, was texting while driving a train, which later that day crashed. It was proven that the crash was caused by the train operators negligence. He was texting while operating the train. The California law states, one cannot use a cell phone while driving, unless one is using a manpower free device that does not involve them taking their concentration of the road. Aside from texting and driving, there are other scenarios were technology is life threating. It can come spate to being bullied over the internet, which would fall under cyber bully.There are many cases that talked about children being cyber bullied. The story that really touched my heart is the Megan Meiers story. In this story a thirteen year old girl named Megan committed suicide in October of 2006 due to cyber bullying. Megan committed suicide because there was a boy, twit Evans, on the internet who was calling her very hurtful names such as slut, or he would call her fat. After Megans suicide the the true came out about boy. The boy was really a mother of one of Megans ex friends. The mo ther claims she only did it because her daughter was being picked on.Although this issue may seem trivial to some, it is in fact crucial because there are children taking their live ons due to cyber bullying. This story took place in Missouri. In Missouri cyber bullying laws state that if a person twenty-one years or older commits cyber bullying crimes on a person seventeen years or junior they are faced with a class D felony. The mother now has a class D felony on her record. Turkle, like many other people may argue that technology alienates us. Although I agree with Turkle, I also believe it keeps us very connected. One should recognize that it helps us to stay connected with our education and finances.It is very beneficial for us because technology helps us to stay globally connected with the news and advertisements. Although it is important to stay connected globally. It is also very important to realize technology also helps to stay connected with ones relatives. It is impor tant to stay connected with ones job because some jobs require traveling around the world. So if one has to be in a meeting in Japan for work but they are stuck in the United States, one can simply use a source of technology like video chatting. Then they are at the meeting, yet they never left the place they started off from. Technology also helps with school work.Today everything for school is done over the internet. Now some teachers give you the option of turning your assignments via email. In college people actually have the option to take their classes online. Technology I believe is beneficial for ones jobs and also for educational purposes. Being globally connected can also refer to intentional what is going on in the world. For instance when the Colorado shooting happened the entire country knew about it and all the schools were doing preoperational drills in case anything happened. Without technology it would have taken more than a week to get the news to the entire cou ntry.There are also advertisements that happen all over the world. I have discovered that on New Years Eve they do a televised advertisement of the celebration. Without technology the entire world would not be able to be seeing the other countries when their New Years begins. As one can observe they will notice technology is very valuable in circumstances such as the ones stated above. Technology also helps a lot when one needs to communicate with someone from their family in other countries. I greet from my own personal experience technology helps out a lot when I need to talk to a family member that does not live around me.Such as my cousins that live Mexico, Arizona, Texas, Florida, and with my cousin that was stationed it Iraq. It helps when you can get on Facebook or video chat with family that you do not get to see every day. Technology also helps in cases of emergencies. For instance when my aunt passed away it was very important to get ahold of my family members. Without t echnology I would not have been able to get ahold of them as quickly. After I read Turkles essay on technology it persuaded me to write my own views on technology. Ultimately what is at endorse here is the risk of everyone relying on technology.Although technology is very beneficial to my generation, I also believe it is important for us to know how to function without it. What would someone from my generation do if there was a black out and no ones phones worked? How would they get ahold of someone? What would they do if there was not any reference of internet? How would they communicate with family? What would they do if video chatting did not exist and could not do work in other countries? Although technology helps with a wide compass of situations, I believe it would be very beneficial for everyone to know how to do things the old fashioned way.A question came to my mind does anyone from my generation still know how to use a phonebook or write a handwritten letter and take it to the post office to be sent? To conclude my views on technology I do believe technology connects us, but most definitely alienates us.? Work Cited Authorities Engineer texting on day of calf. Train destroy USATODAY. com. USATODAY, 18 September 20087. web. 13 February 2013 Parents Cyberbully Led to Teens Suicide ABCNews. com. ABCNews. go. com, 19 November 2007. web. 13 February 2013.