600 Words

   Improvements in technology are ever changing. From the light bulb in the eighteenth century to the creation of artificial intelligence in the twenty-first century, technological advancements have come a long way. As a society we utilize many aspects of technology in our daily lives. Whether we realize it or not, technology has a massive impact on the way we think, read, and interact with others. I think that technology has many benefits that make previously tedious tasks more manageable. It can also bring enjoyment and fulfillment to its users. However, I feel that we rely too much on technology which causes us to disconnect from reality and take for granted the little things that bring us happiness. I believe that the way that we are currently using technology is creating unhealthy habits that will have irreparable damage for future generations.  

Technology is giving us a false sense of understanding. The way that we use social media and the internet as our sole news source is misinforming us of the whole picture. I myself am a victim of falling for fake news. It is so easy nowadays to get information at the click of a button that we immediately take it as fact. I was mindlessly scrolling through my Instagram feed when I came across a post about the tragic death of Lil Tay, a young TikTok star. I was immediately shocked to see that she had died at such a young age. When I looked into it more I found out that she had in fact not died, but it was a fake ploy by her parents to get them more attention. I almost took that post for fact, because who lies about the death of a young kid but it just shows that you cannot believe everything you see on the internet. 

The use of technology is making us more robotic. Technology has made it easier for us to produce more content faster than before. Whether that be writing an academic essay or just a simple text message to a friend. We have to think significantly less than we had to before when we were handwriting homework assignments and letters. The use of technology alters the tone of our writing, making it more robotic. Like Friedrich Nietzsche who was mentioned in Nicholas Carr’s essay, his use of a typewriter because of his failing vision created a subtle yet noticeable change in the tone of his writing. Subconsciously, technology has changed the way that we think in even the smallest instances. In modern times, the way that we act, speak, and write has changed since the introduction of the internet. Most of the time we do not even realize the impact that technology has on our lifestyle. Looking back I can see how much my personality has changed since I got social media in sixth grade. The way that I act and how I speak have changed so subtly with the trends of social media that I hardly notice a difference. The autocorrect feature on computers and phones has immensely changed texting and writing. As it brings up suggestions and corrections to grammar and spelling I have to think less about those aspects of writing. Even as I am writing this essay autocorrect is editing my mistakes without me even having to click a button. Technology knows us better than we know ourselves sometimes and is always one step ahead of us. 

Technology makes us lazy. With all the features of technology and availability of piles and piles of information at once, we do not have to do any research or heavy thinking to find what we need.                       

1,000 Words

Improvements in technology are ever changing. From the light bulb in the eighteenth century to the creation of artificial intelligence in the twenty-first century, technological advancements have come a long way. As a society we utilize many aspects of technology in our daily lives. Whether we realize it or not, technology has a massive impact on the way we think, read, and interact with others. I think that technology has many benefits that make previously tedious tasks more manageable. It can also bring enjoyment and fulfillment to its users. However, I feel that our reliance on technology can cause a disconnect between ourselves and reality. 

Technology is giving us a false sense of understanding. The way that we use social media and the internet as our sole news source is misinforming us of the whole picture. I myself am a victim of falling for fake news. It is so easy nowadays to get information at the click of a button that we immediately take it as fact. I was mindlessly scrolling through my Instagram feed when I came across a post about the tragic death of Lil Tay, a young TikTok star. I was immediately shocked to see that she had died at such a young age. When I looked into it more I found out that she had in fact not died, but it was a fake ploy by her parents to get them more attention. I almost took that post for fact, because who lies about the death of a young kid but it just shows that you cannot believe everything you see on the internet. 

The use of technology is making us more robotic. Technology has made it easier for us to produce more content faster than before. Whether that be writing an academic essay or just a simple text message to a friend. We have to think significantly less than we had to before when we were handwriting homework assignments and letters. The use of technology alters the tone of our writing, making it more robotic. Like Friedrich Nietzsche who was mentioned in Nicholas Carr’s essay, his use of a typewriter because of his failing vision created a subtle yet noticeable change in the tone of his writing. Subconsciously, technology has changed the way that we think in even the smallest instances. In modern times, the way that we act, speak, and write has changed since the introduction of the internet. Most of the time we do not even realize the impact that technology has on our lifestyle. Looking back I can see how much my personality has changed since I got social media in sixth grade. The way that I act and how I speak have changed so subtly with the trends of social media that I hardly notice a difference. The autocorrect feature on computers and phones has immensely changed texting and writing. As it brings up suggestions and corrections to grammar and spelling I have to think less about those aspects of writing. Even as I am writing this essay autocorrect is editing my mistakes without me even having to click a button. Technology knows us better than we know ourselves sometimes and is always one step ahead of us. 

Technology makes us lazy. With all the features of technology and availability of piles and piles of information at once, we do not have to do any research or heavy thinking to find what we need. Before the internet, if we wanted to learn about something we would have to go to a library and search through stacks of books to find what we were looking for. Now the process is much quicker and requires a lot less energy. I think that this improvement is not always a bad thing however because it allows us to explore vastly different topics in a much shorter period of time. I think that the problem occurs when we become too used to getting everything in an instance that we lose the ability to focus on one task for a longer period of time. Social media like TikTok does not help this problem either, with all these short videos available at once I find it very hard to stay engaged with longer videos. I can scroll through TikTok videos for hours on end, but if you ask me to sit through an entire movie, I will struggle to stay attentive and engaged because I have been so accustomed to quick bursts of information.  

I do not completely agree with Carr’s perspective that technology creates these “pancake people”. I believe that technology is also a vital part of our society and is definitely a necessary part of success in today’s world. There are a lot of benefits to advancements in technology. For example, in medicine new machines and tools allow surgeons to operate much more efficiently and save many more lives. Just because they are using machines does not mean that they are not capable or intelligent, the machines are aides in their saving process. We can think of technology like tools to help us be more successful in our daily tasks. When I was ten years old, my family and I were traveling to Minnesota in our RV. It takes almost a day to drive there but we took a lot of stops along the way. My dad had just bought a new GPS to help him navigate the journey. I remember vividly him saying, “I need the GPS because your mother is not a good copilot using a map. We would always get lost because she would miss an exit.” We never got lost once on this trip. The GPS is a great example of modern technology that helps simplify previously difficult tasks. Technology is also useful in connecting people around the world. Phone calls, video chats, and messages allow us to connect with family and friends who live far away.