Technology for Social Networking – Lose or Gain

Introduction:

Technology used to be a myth, an idea, something humankind has never dreamed of. Its creators were called crazy for their ideas. Technology was created to make mankind life easier. According to Dictionary.com, the definition of technology is “the branch of knowledge that deals with the creation and use of technical means and their interrelation with life, society, and the environment, drawing upon such subjects as industrial arts, engineering, applied science, and pure science”. Technology is everywhere. Now in the 21st-century mankind has had many achieved man things because of technology.

But we have failed as an independent species because of technology. Technology will be the death of humankind. If we do not separate the advantages and disadvantages of technology we will cease to recognize the differences and even become absorbed in it. Technology is constantly growing, more accepted and used for pretty much everything these days. But at what cost? One major challenge with digital communication is the increased need of the want of belonging. It was mentioned that even though you can communicate with someone over social media constantly, you can still in a way feel so alone. In the 21st century technology is being used in our everyday lives. Pretty much anything we use is at the expense of technology. In a way, we can sometimes use it for things that we don’t necessarily need it in. Some might say that we may be addicted to technology and have become lazy due to our reliance on it. Because our overuse of social media we sometimes forget how to communicate in person. Digital communication has so many different devices that allow us to quickly communicate but this form of technology has taken away genuine interactions. We no longer seek the need to have face to face conversations. It can be argued that teenagers have a lack of communication due to undeveloped self-esteem due to an addiction to digital communication.

Narration:

The first technology invention was in 3500 BCE and it was the invention of the wheel. In the years to follow many more things were invented to make mankind lifestyle easier. Before we had cars, we had wagons carried by horses. Before the wagons, it was horsepower and foot power. These were invented solely because humans wanted things to be easier for them. Calculators were invented to do math at a faster rate and get an accurate answer. Electricity was invented to provide light and other electrical advantages. Without these things, we would have to do every little thing ourselves. Mankind relies on technology too much. The simplest tasks we cannot complete without help. We had old-fashioned pencil sharpeners that required for you to turn it into work. A mechanical one was created to require less work from the user. Something as easy as sharpening your pencil has been simplified. Back in the day children had to memorize their multiplication tables. As the children get older they find easier ways to do math. Because of calculators in your phone, people my age can’t do basic addition without calculators. We learn this skill in grade school and soon forget because of the lack of using the skill. We are becoming lazy and the intelligence that we do have capable of possessing is not being used. All these inventions would not be a problem if they were not being abused. It’s nothing wrong when somebody uses their phone to do simple math. It becomes a problem when the user refuses to use their own learned skills in place of the calculator. For example, a high school student is asked what is the solution of 20 and 30. This is basic elementary math. The student plugs the equation into his calculator and gets 50. The problem is not that the student didn’t know the answer or that it was too hard for the student to figure it out. The problem was that the student was too lazy to do the math. Mankind has gotten so used to the advantages that technology provides that, people would go crazy without it.

Confirmation:

According to Webster’s online dictionary, the definition of addiction is “the compulsive need for and use of a habit-forming substance (such as heroin, nicotine, or alcohol) characterized by tolerance and by well-defined physiological symptoms upon withdrawal; broadly: persistent compulsive use of a substance known by the user to be harmful”. Every cell phone owner is more than likely to have their phones in their hand all day long. Students are not paying attention in class even more than usual. It’s not because there is a class clown in the room distracting them. It is not because somebody is passing notes in class. It’s because all the students and sometimes teachers are on their cellphones. Using various social media sites the students are not focusing on what the teacher is saying.

The article dives into the psychological effect parents have on their child’s self-esteem. It makes it very clear that when a child lacks self-esteem support from their parents they turn to other things to build it such as social media. This article was chosen on the belief that children are having trouble with self-esteem due to lack of parent involvement. This is proved based on children’s lack of being able to communicate properly.

That’s where cyberbullying comes into play. People are so obsessed with themselves that they will do anything to make themselves feel better. Even if that means picking on someone less fortunate or just picking on anyone in general. But even after they post thousands of happy looking posts they are the ones who are so empty inside. In the pursuit to please others, they forgot who they individually are and what they like. So, when they see someone who doesn’t need everyone’s approval to be happy it angers them and causes them to be bullies. Back in the day, parents had to worry about in school bullies physically abusing their kids. Now they fear that one day their child will be a victim of the most disgusting things being said about them online for the world to see. At least they knew who the physical bullies were. Another issue with talking online is the issue of not knowing whom you are talking to. Sadly you do have some users who have fake accounts pretending to be other people. The now accepted term for this situation is called “Catfishing”. The fake portrayal of these accounts has put many users at the expense of losing money, their dignity and sometimes their life. Playing with social media can be a very dangerous game. You can never know whom you are talking to online.

In the 21st century, kids are inside playing on their games and phones texting their friends, instead of being outside and exploring their backyard. Children are being raised with bad communication skills. They lack the basic skills needed to start conversations. Sadly, these kids are being identified as socially awkward, introverts and even dyslexia or having another type of talking disability. Which is crazy because the only problem some of these kids have is their lack of communication skills which soon develop into other issues. But on the flip side, it can also help children who are disabled. Depending on the severity of the disability, digital communication might be what they need. ( Campbell 2017)

Social media was not supposed to cause the negatives that it did cause. Social media was created so people could communicate with each other and meet new people. The problem at hand is that people are more comfortable texting or “chatting” instead of meeting up and talking in person. We now have a world filled with socially awkward people. It’s ironic how social media was created to bring people together and in reality, all it did was tear people apart.

The older generations, ‘Baby boomers” and older specifically seem to be the only ones able to communicate the proper way. They steer away from the use of cell phones and smart tablets. They will only use their cell phones for emergencies and even then, it’s the call setting. The older generations feel no need to text someone when a phone call is one simple button and also gets an immediate answer. There are many reasons why many people over the age of 55 choose not to engage in digital communication. Most devices not coming with manuals for them to learn to use it is one of the many reasons. (Golden 2017) While as for some old habits die hard and they choose to continue to communicate the way they always have. Older people are known to talk for hours and maybe we should take from them. It wouldn’t hurt to remove ourselves from the world of digital for a few hours and communicate the traditional way.

Cell phone usage has been accepted into high schools and some of the middle schools. Certain school policies forbid cell phone usage according to the teacher’s discretion. Most teachers do not feel like dealing with the hassle of arguing with students because of the phones. They believe it’s a waste of time to the students who came to learn. They don’t want to lose class instruction time over an argument over cell phones. Because regardless of what consequences are threatened upon the student, he /she is going to do what they want. Does the word addiction not come to mind when students are willing to face suspension over a text or a tweet? Does that not seem like a fundamental problem? Even if the students follow the no cell phone policy they still have plenty of access to technology in the classrooms. In this century classrooms are filled with IPads and I clickers used to teach certain topics. It seems like a promising idea until they put it in pre-k and first-grade classrooms. What does a first graded who barely knows how to read need an IPad for? Yes, there are educational games they can play. But that’s very unnecessary. Having technology used to be something earned. Now and days it is automatically given. Parents are at fault for handing their kids iPhones and Ipads instead of giving them actual attention. There are three-year old’s who know how to work snapchat better than some adults. Back in the day kids were limited to computer time at home. Their homework had to be finish and chores done. Now kids supposedly can’t do their homework without a computer or a phone. Nine times out of ten, while using their technology for homework they are also doing something else, such as being on facebook, etc.

Refutation and Concession:

Having technology in classrooms is not a complete disaster. According to an online article, technology being used in classrooms has actually increased class participation (Staff, Top Hat). With developers rapidly creating new educational games, kids are learning in new fun ways. From the classic Funbrain to Kazoo, children are learning lots of materials from the games. Half the time the students might assume that they are just playing a game. They don’t realize that they are absorbing additional information in a way that their minds will remember it. They only know that they are matching colors together or memorizing the shape patterns.

Technology being used for scholarly reasons is good. Technology being used to decrease your workload is also good. Technology being used for social media is one of the biggest debates going on amongst mankind right now. Social media was made for individuals to communicate across the world using one website. Now in the year 2017, there are multiple websites you can choose from to stay connected. Multiple are used for different age groups and reasons. There are dating sites, sites you can sell items on, sites with just pictures. How does something so creative and simple become a problem? With these social media websites, it comes with lots of privacy settings. For example, on Facebook, a user is able to disable anyone who is not their friend online from seeing their page. This sounds very proactive in protecting a user’s privacy from stalkers, perverts, etc. As an adult using Facebook, I’m sure these privacy settings will not be abused. But for teenagers and younger on Facebook, it opens a door straight to mayhem. According to an online article, thirty- eight percent of children online are under thirteen. How is this possible? ( Matyszczyk, Chris ) I’m sure Facebook has terms and conditions that state a user must be thirteen and up. When a user agrees that they are the required age, there is no process to actually confirm that information. Why would somebody lie about who he or she is?

Do not be deceived by the infomercials making bullying seem like something of the past. Bullying is still going on. If I may say so myself it has gotten worse. Bullies can now hide behind a cell phone or a computer screen. They lie about who they are and choose new victims daily. Catfishing someone is the term meaning luring someone into a relationship by means of a fictional online persona. That is a form of cyberbullying. Commenting mean things under someone’s picture is a form of cyberbullying. Posting horrible pictures of somebody is a form of cyberbullying. Cyberbullying is real and according to a novel by Justin Patchin “Cyberbullying prevention and response: expert perspectives” it can be prevented.

It can be prevented if parents were more active in their children’s social lives. Giving your child a cell phone, hoping they will leave you alone in the end is not helping them. They become accustomed to heading towards their phone for help. If a child is being bullied on a social media account that their parents didn’t know they had, they are less likely to approach them for help. Filing police reports or attempting to press charges against a cyber bully has not always been successful. How can an officer arrest someone if they are not 100% sure on who did the crime? Anybody can pretend to be somebody else online. They can hack into other people’s accounts and do horrible things. There is something called too much privacy. The only law that is constantly being enforced involving social media is the law prohibiting registered sex offenders from having any social media accounts. School systems tried to block unauthorized websites from being used on their wifi. But hackers created VPN apps that allow full usage.

Social media is one of many technological inventions that help and destroy humans at the same time. Cars were meant to help people travel easier. But 1.3 million people die in a car crash a year. Guns were invented to protect humanity against its foes. Every day 7 children die in gun violence. Kitchen stoves and ovens were invented to make cooking easier. Many house fires were caused by incorrect supervision in the kitchen. The communal problem in all these inventions is not the technology itself. Its humanity lack of using it properly. If each and every form of technology was used properly technology would not be a bad thing. If things were not being abused they would not break down and malfunction.

Conclusion:

There are many solutions to this problem. Mankind has to stop relying on technology so much. Go back to the ways our ancestors did things. There is nothing wrong with doing things the natural way. Sometimes the natural way is the best and most accurate way to go. Imagine if the food was grown naturally we wouldn’t have so many diseases and we would receive the actual benefits from the food. Imagine a world where teenagers are not told multiple times to put their phones away at the dinner table. Imagine them communicating with their parents. Imagine a world where child obesity levels are not high. Due to the fact that they are always outside playing, being active instead of playing video games all day. The amount of car crashes has gone down because people are not trying to text and drive.

Technology has been a huge help to mankind. Without it, we wouldn’t be able to do a lot of things that we are so accustomed to doing on the regular basis. I wouldn’t be able to type this paper or listen to music on my phone. Technology is not a horrible thing. It’s how we use it that makes it so dangerous. We lose control and get comfortable with certain things. In conclusion, humanity will continue to fade away because of our lack of control when it comes to using technology for social networking. We will cease to exist because of our own horrible habits. We can fix things. It is not too late to change our ways. All it takes is contentment and patience. It takes thirty days to kill a bad habit. We should start by limiting our use of cell phones and then move forward to the bigger and more influential things.

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