Dehumanization by Technology

Dehumanization by Technology

There’s no denying that technology is an important contributor to life itself. In other words, it has not only made what was once impossible, possible. But it has also facilitated peoples way of living. People communicate a lot faster, and in various ways, without difficulty. People are also more aware and have the option of being well informed about what’s going on all around them with just the click of a button. However, despite the success that has been brought upon by the existence and the usage of technology, it has also played an enormously negative role in the lives of people. People are taking advantage of technology and are not taking the time to do simple tasks by themselves. Technology is evidently making people lazy, unintelligent, and ignorant.

Technology is keeping people from doing even the smallest tasks by themselves simply because there’s a much easier way, because of this, people are becoming more and more lazy. Tim Wu, an American academic and internet policy advocate, states in his article, As Technology Gets Better, Will Society Get Worse? “We spend the most to minimize pain and maximize pleasure. (When it comes to technologies we mainly want to make things easy) (2).” Tim is saying that people are trying to simplify even the smallest of things at whatever cost because it’s worth not doing it themselves at all. If it can be done with just the press of a button, then why would people waste their time doing it themselves.

Although some people might argue that technology has and continues to improve the way in which we live as a world, technology remains a big concern globally. It’s hard to find a part of the world that technology has not yet touched. It’s reached just about every corner of the world and has in some cases, made things worse for people. As Tim Wu mentions in his article, “an isolated area south of the Hudson Bay. Here live the Oji-Cree...the people live a rugged rigorous life with plenty of exercise.” Wu then continues by saying, “since the arrival of new technologies, the population has suffered a massive increase in morbid obesity, heart disease, and Type 2 diabetes (2).” Because of the introduction of technology in a place where there was once none, the way that people lived not only changed but the people began to change as well and not in a good way.

Also, technology is making people unintelligent and ignorant, and is keeping them from thinking for themselves and by themselves. As Nicholas Carr mentioned in his article, Is Google Making Us Stupid? “In Plato’s Phaedrus, Socrates...feared that, as people came to rely on the written word as a substitute for the knowledge they used to carry inside their heads, they would, in the words of one of the dialogues characters...‘be thought very knowledgeable when they are for the most part quite ignorant’ (7).” This goes to show that people only think of themselves as wise because they got something done. But it’s how it was done that determines how much they know. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out step by step procedures but it does take a good amount of intelligence to get things done on ones own.

All in all, yes the existence of technology has been great and it has brought upon a lot of positive changes, developments, and unification. But it is toxic. One must know how to use it and when to use it in order to grow as an individual and in order to keep human like instincts. Too much of it will not only dehumanize the people of today and the people that are yet to come but it will run the world as opposed to being ran by the world. How ironic would it be to wake up one day knowing that what humans once created is now bigger than the creators themselves.