Introduction
In today’s society, technology has become a central aspect of people’s lives. Technology is widely used in socializing, education, governance, healthcare, and communication (Harrington, 2011). People have become overly dependent on technology much to the compromise of their social and family lives.
People no longer need to attend school to get degrees. Children spend a lot of time playing video games and surfing the internet. Children’s overdependence on technology has resulted in poor performance in schools, anthe d the development of conditions such as obesity (Taylor, 2013). Partners do not need to meet physically because of the proliferation of social networking sites that connect them from any part of the world.
The government has changed its mode of service delivery by embracing technology. Mothers no longer drive long distances to grocery stores because technology has facilitated online shopping, which is faster and convenient (Harrington, 2011).
This the paper will discuss people’s overdependence on technology in various fields of human interaction, education, and communication. People have become overly dependent on technology because it determines how they interact, study, and communicate.
Technology and human interaction
In today’s society, technology has influenced human interaction significantly. People now rely on social networking services such as Twitter, Facebook, and MySpace for interaction and development of relationships (Chamberlin, 2013). People have little time for physical interaction. Proliferation of technologies that override limitations of time and space has only served to increase isolation and reduce social interaction.
Moreover, developing relationships has become easy because people no longer need to interact physically. Technology has erased important aspects of relationships such as physical interaction and emotional attachment. Many people avoid stress associated with finding a mate by using technology. Television, video games, and the internet have become so addictive that people have resulted to isolation (Taylor, 2013).
For example, young people spend a lot of time playing video games, watching television, and surfing the internet that they do not have time for friends. Isolation, segregation, and loneliness are the aftermath of overdependence on technology (Hill, 2002). Services such as Skype have negatively influenced physical interaction.
A couple can communicate using Skype while in different parts of the world. Research has shown that many people spend a lot of their time on Facebook. Overdependence is evident from the more than 500 million users of Facebook. In addition, research has revealed that more than 30% of female users check their Facebook accounts as the first thing when they wake up in the morning (Taylor, 2013).
Social networking services were developed to improve connection and interaction between people. However, their role has evolved to include development of relationships and other entertainment elements such as games, online feeds, and videos (Chamberlin, 2013).
This has alienated people from the society and pushed them into solitude. Many organizations have been forced to illegalize use of certain social networking services at the workplace because of employees’ overdependence, which has reduced productivity and efficiency (Hill, 2002).
Technology and communication
Technology has changed how people communicate. Emergence of cell phones, emails, text services, and chat services has led to deterioration of communication skills (Hill, 2002). Many people cannot spend more than an hour without checking their emails or text messages on their cell phones (Green, 2002). Others log in to social networking services accounts every twenty minutes to check new messages.
Texting has become the order of the day. Young people rely on text messages for communication. In the workplaces, emails are the preferred mode of communication. This has eroded the traditional face-to-face interviews and discussions with managers and supervisors (Woodbury, 2013). Technology has made communication easier hence overdependence. Managers do not hold frequent meetings as they used to in olden days.
They send emails to employees updating them on different emerging issues. Many company CEO’s use video conferencing to hold meetings with employees (Hill, 2002). This has created distance between management and employees, which has adversely affected relationships and interactions at workplaces.
Technology has encouraged multitasking which has resulted in divided attention. An individual can talk on the phone while listening to music, browsing the internet, watching TV, or playing a video game. This has adverse effects on development of children (Green, 2002). Ignorance of adverse effects of overreliance on technology is perilous to their growth and development.
Technology and education
Incorporation of technology in education adversely affected learning. Today, many people get their education at home because many colleges and universities offer online degrees. The convenience of online education has led to overdependence on technology (Harrington, 2011). School curriculums have incorporated technology thus making it easier for learners to interact with instructors.
However, it has made learners lazy because of ease of information retrieval. In the traditional school system, students used manual searches to find books and other academic materials in the library. However, technology has made it easier and faster. The internet is awash with academic materials that can be found in databases and digital libraries (Harrington, 2011).
Colleges and universities have established online libraries and databases where they post academic materials. Therefore, students do not struggle to do academic research because online search engines such as Yahoo and Google do the work for them. Many people have ditched the traditional model of education for online education because of the reliability afforded by technology (Chamberlin, 2013).
Counter argument
Many technology scientists have argued that people are not overly dependent on technology. They claim that the dynamics of the modern world have necessitated the incorporation of technology in all aspects of life. They further claim that without technology development and growth would be minimal (Chamberlin, 2013).
Health care professionals would be unable to provide quality services, quality of education would be low, and human interaction would be inefficient. However, they have failed to consider the adverse effects of overdependence on technology on people.
It has strained relationships, led to the loss of jobs, reduced quality of human interaction and relationships, and affected communication and social skills of people (Harrington, 2011). It is necessary to consider the effects of technology on people’s lies to use it effectively and efficiently.
Conclusion
Technology is a central aspect of life in modern society. People have become overly dependent on technology by using it to control certain aspects of their lives. Technology has dominated several aspects of human life including interaction, education, and communication. People have ditched traditional ways of doing things for technologically advanced ways.
Critics argue that people should rely on technology because without it the modern society cannot function properly. They argue that technology is the future of human growth and development. However, they ignore the adverse effects of technology on society, especially young people. It is necessary to evaluate the positive and negative effects of dependence on technology in order to use it without affecting people negatively.
References
Chamberlin, A. (2013). Technology Dependence Grows in U.S. Web.
Green, L. (2002). Communication, Technology, and Society. New York: SAGE Publishers.
Harrington, J. (2011). Technology and Society. New York: Jones & Bartlett.
Hill, R. (2002). Our Generation’s Dependence on Technology. Web.
Taylor, J. (2013). Is Technology the New Opiate of the Masses? Web.
Woodbury, D. (2013). Are You Mindlessly Addicted to Technology? Web.