Random Blog

So as the semester ends, I have one last blog to post about how technology affects our culture. My overall thoughts describe my feelings on how I think technology has positively and negatively affected our society. On one hand, technology is a beautiful thing. It allows us to communicate with just about everyone in the world within a few seconds. Even though I have family out in California, for example, I feel like sometimes they are in the same room as me. With programs like Skype and Facebook, those who have internet access can now stay connected to the ones they love and care about no matter where they are in the world. The type of connection and communication poses good and bad outcomes. We no longer have to go somewhere for a long time and miss the ones we love because we are now able to see and talk to them like they are with us. Yet, this instant and direct communication does not allow us to have privacy and basically draws our attention elsewhere. I feel like people are so concerned with who is calling them, who they are texting, who Facebook messaged or wall posted them and who is doing what, that no one is really giving a crap about THEIR own world and reality. Everyone seems so concerned with what is going on with other people, I feel like we have lost touch with reality in some way. I understand that reality for human lives has changed due to technology, but I also feel there is a reality where technology does not exist and we are losing contact with it. The "real world" is happening around us and right in front of our eyes, yet we are so immersed in technology, we are failing to see what is happening around us. Everyone is constantly on their laptops, on their phones, watching TV, listening to their Ipod, etc. No one is really paying attention to what is going on and this poses a problem for true face-to-face communication skills. People are becoming so used to Facebook messaging and text messaging, I feel like people are losing contact with the actual people around them. This is creating problems in the workplace, where people forget how to communicate and respond to co-workers. Th workplace is a place where communication is key, yet if everyone is forgetting how to communicate, what is that going to do to the social structure of employee relationships? I believe with the ever-growing use of technology, people are forgetting how to communicate and these skills are becoming less and less valuable. This, in my opinion, is a problem in our social world. It is becoming more difficult for people to have family dinners without half the kids on their cell phones or getting up as soon as possible to sit on their laptop for 5 hours after dinner. It is getting more difficult for kids to pay attention in school and in the classroom because they are too busy texting and playing games on these cell phones that can basically do anything now. I feel like although technology is a great way to open up communication lines between people through a computer screen or text message, it has caused a problem with real, face-to-face communication skills, which are still needed to interact and connect with actual people that reside in the world around us.