It is so strange how much things can change in just ten years. People grow up; wars can be fought, and for some reason there is always the new and improved urinating doll; but what about technology? A few years ago a computer with 10 Gigabyte (GB) of space was considered to be an amazing thing; the dot-com era had just started rolling. Today for the price that one might have paid for that 10 GB computer ten years ago, you can now purchase a 250 GB laptop with wireless Internet and all the bells and whistles that you can think of. Every day, the Internet seems to growing at a rate that is not even fathomable to the average human being. However is this a good thing, or is it leading us to a place similar to what Steven Spielberg has already made at least twenty or thirty movies about? Rather than resist technology and its advancements, I believe that technology is a key factor to human life in the Twenty-First century.
During the creation of this very essay, I can’t help to notice that I am wrote it on a laptop connected to a wireless Internet network while simultaneously watching clips from the UEFA Champions Soccer match; at the same time I could be have listened to music on my iPhone. I didn’t even realize how much technology I was using; which leads to believe that the majority of my generation takes its availability for granted. I am sure that old-fashioned people somewhat “set in their ways” look at items like computers, cell phones, laptops, and other technology related things as just a hassle. I know as a fact that I would not know half of what I do now if it wasn’t for technology, but is it actually important in today’s crazy and fast paced “get it done yesterday” world?
It is curious to think how many people woke up this morning and read the paper online, watched the news on television, turned on the radio; turned on a single light? Interestingly enough, all of these things require the same thing to function: electricity. (Ryan and Durning 43-52) Without electricity (which has become quite the everyday phenomena) we would not be able to do most of the things that we are capable of doing every day. The world as we know it today is almost all online; if you need to know almost anything there is most likely a full web page just about it. Whilst I was in China I used a laptop like my pocket Bible; I would take and translate Chinese word into English so that I wouldn’t get lost. Without this tool, (which would hardly ever lead me down the wrong path) I would not have been able to go to China for as long as I did and be able to go out and do so many amazing things while I was there. Technology itself is a very important tool, and while you may be able to get by without access to a computer, most of society will need to have access to a computer by the year 2015, according to futurists (SOURCE). Thus it is important to realize that technology is a part of life, and it will not get anyone anywhere to refuse to accept it.
It is quite plausible that at this moment millions of people are keeping themselves busy by downloading and watching movies on their computers instead of going down to a video rental store. One growing problem with all these wonderful technological innovations is that it makes life simpler and simpler for a person to get by, which can lead to severe laziness and even health problems from just sitting to long, starring at a screen, and having most things available at the end of a fingertip. So understandably, in extreme cases where individuals rely solely on technology to get them what they both need and want, technology can have a negative impact. However with today’s world it seems like there is hardly any chance that we could live without technology and all its given us, because everything has become so simple and widespread.
Less than two hundred years ago a new device changed the way that humans would forever communicate; the telephone ("The First Telephone Call "). When the telephone was first created and tested by Alexander Graham Bell, it proved that long distance communication over thousands of miles was possible. Today, we have cell phones which allow us to talk to someone around the world for little to nothing no matter where we might be ourselves, yet now people just look at this as part of life. In Germany’s major cities they have totally removed phone booths. Officials had found that no one was using them anymore because of people having cell phones. Currently in travel guides they actually tell you to buy pay-as-you-go cell phone instead of trying to find a phone both (The crazy world of “Handys”). Who knows what would have happened to the world if Bell’s invention had been for some reason or another cast aside as just another technological annoyance.
Another a form of communication that has changed in just the previous one hundred years is the way that in which we send messages to one another: letters and parcels. One hundred years ago, people where relying on telegrams and the use of Morse Code to communicate ("The electric telegraph"); at the time you where able to send a message quite simply across a nation, but at what cost? A simple telegram could cost up to a penny a word, which at the time was very expensive. Nowadays we have email, and with such we are able to send whole pictures, music files, and many other articles for almost no cost at all. There are thousands of sites that even provide free email; sites like MSN, Google, and Yahoo being the most popular.
From the day when man first created the wheel to 250 GB computers, cell phones and a rainbow of different colored iPods and similar items, the human race has come a long way. We expect these objects to play a part in our lives, because in many ways we need them to continue to function in today’s world. Society would not be where it is today without people pushing barriers and their constant need to make things better and more efficient. It is this fact that confirms my belief that technology is as much a part of life in this day and age as anything else, and that it is one of the most important factors in the Twenty-First century.
