Technology And Its Negative Effects
Technology has helped humans in so many ways that the advancement of it has progressed rapidly and continues to. This rapidness of technology has affected our society for the better and without it, humans would continue living in the stone age. Although technology has created a new and easier way to do things, it can cause us harm to us mentally because we are so reliant on the forms of technology we often become dissented emotionally and can lack certain skills that could be valuable and useful to us. Technology distracts us from reality and has separated our focus from what is being put in front of us. This change of focus separates us from the real world and puts us in this virtual world that makes certain things come at ease, so when we come back to face what is in front of us we have harder time knowing what to do and how to deal with those scenarios. It’s the little things in our lives that can make a difference with technology every little thing is always improving and advancing making things so much easier and simpler for us to get the hang of technology being a common part of our lives. Things like automation, doesn’t sound to bad, especially when you have something correcting your mistakes for you but what happens when technology is taking over automation in general?
Imagine a mistake made by technology, a more specific example would be, in the book, The Glass Cage by Nicholas Carr he talks about this commuter flight between Newark New Jersey and Buffalo New York he states, “The Q400 was well into its approach to the buffalo airport, it’s landing gear down, it’s wings flaps out, when the captains control yoke began to shudder noisily. The plane’s “stick shaker” had activated a signal that the turboprop was losing lift and risked going into dynamic stall” (43-44). This was an hour flight, because of this the pilots had put the plane in automation, though what should have been a simple flight became a nightmare real quick killing 49 people on board and one on the ground. The crash was later concluded by the NTSB that this crash was caused by pilot error, there were signs before hand that they should have taken to account or acknowledged but failed to do so. An automatic reaction should have been eminent from both the pilots, but the actions that the pilot took were inconsistent with what he was taught. With this case the pilots had trusted the automation, so when they were forced to react they reacted with a spurge of emotion; confusion and a sense of startle. The pilot had tried fixing the situation but ended up making the situation worse, if the pilots had noticed the error earlier instead of relying on the technology they could have most likely landed safely. With the accident of the plane, the pilots were so used to the fact that the automation should have kicked in, and were hoping it did, but because they did not react soon enough it costed them their lives. An error that shouldn’t have happened in the first place if they were more observant with what the technology in front of them was telling them they could have prevented it. Though how the situation was handled it revealed that the situation was handled with lack of situational awareness.
Often because we are so reliant on technology we become disconnected with the things in front of us, lacking the knowledge on how to do what used to be everyday things or things we were taught. The same with airplanes, cars have an automation feature, an automation transmission that prevents us from driving manually like how people used to drive back in the day. This automation feature not only makes it easier for us, but also can gives us a more secure feeling when driving behind the wheel. Now when most people think of stick shift cars they often think of old cars, and probably even dread the idea of driving one to begin with.
With Nicholas Carr in The Glass Cage he mentions that when he first got his license there was just one issue, that being the only available vehicle to him was a Subaru Sedan with a stick shift. Since that was the only available car to him he had to learn how to drive it, he got a single lesson from his father, guiding Carr through the gears. This didn’t come at ease to Carr as he struggled with it the first week, Carr states, “I proceeded to make a spectacle of myself on the roads of the small New England town where I lived. The car would buck as I tried to find the correct gear, then lurch forward as I mistimed the release of the clutch… The car was an eye magnet, my flailing impossible to miss”. Carr had felt the difference with driving a stick shift, he wasn’t used to moving the gears, so it was like learning how to drive all over again only this time it was all on him. Every time he made a mistake he would feel the consequence of his doing. He was so used to driving a vehicle that was automatic making it harder for him, which could be said about all of us also we are so used to driving automatic vehicles that not being able to drive a stick shift is quite common currently. After Carr had gotten used to driving a stick it became natural to him, the more he practiced he was slowly getting the hang of it, which can be said for most things. If you are struggling with something but continue to work on it and improve it will almost come natural and will eventually feel satisfaction once you do it. Though the feeling satisfaction does not stick around and can cause a shift in emotion once more, we tend to get bored with what we have now, Carr mentioned that he had liked the control that driving the stick made him have.
A lot of the time we don’t get to and won’t get to experience that feeling because we are so convinced that the automation will help us make less errors. Technology and individual automation aren’t the only thing that could be potentially harming to us, technology contributes to the possible overload and addictions that adds on to a long list of mental health issues. As technology continues to be active/emerging it is becoming more of an issue. Those who tend to rely on technology deal with major issues subconsciously as well as how their brain perceives certain things. These effects do not come lightly, as there are things like technology addiction, and technology overload. When it comes to technology addiction it is almost a compulsive thing, constantly checking your phones or electronics to see whether someone texted you or not, it’s an impulse control disorder.
According to a Academic Journal of Mental Health called Mental Health Concerns Within the Digital Age it states, “Researchers have also stressed technology’s increasing salience in our lives, as it has commanded an ever increasing presence in our thoughts and behaviors to the extent that people feel consumed with thinking about technology and even neglect basic self-care activities like sleep, eating, and showering”. This compulsiveness is quite common within people especially the younger generations who grew up with technology. We often become so pre-occupied with what is in our phones we tend to forget how to get back into reality. Our phones and the internet have become more of a necessity now a days, if you had asked someone if they needed their phone, like really need their phone they would probably think about it at first and tell you that they do not. The fact that they needed to think about whether it is something they need tells you, that there is this compulsive connection we have with our technology. When we don’t have our technology with us we get this feeling of anxiety and worry, which seems pointless because it’s just a phone but since we are so reliant on it, it becomes or can become a nightmare when we don’t have it close to us at all. This obsession of relying on our phones has made work/life issues present as well, this missing out of information has caused anxiety for many. The younger generation is more digital than most will ever be, they probably have every social media imaginable, know how to work their phones like pros and spend the most time on their phones for sure.
According to Mental Health in the Digital Age, an extreme number of young teens/adults are showing symptoms of poor social skills, anxiety, adhd, and even depression. Thanks to technology and the power of social media we have become the most connected civilization for sure having a social connection is one of the most essential part of being a human. We yearn for the interaction and thanks to technology it’s all over. Though technology is great, it can drastically change a person. According to an article called Generation Z: Online and At Risk? It mentions this story about this girl who had gotten a Chromebook that her school has coven to her, it came with classroom, chat rooms etc. The more she spent her time on this Chromebook things started taking a turn for the worse. Her parents saw their child go from being this innocent, sweet young girl to a violent, sexualized, fouled mouthed girl. During youth or age of adolescence it’s a very dramatic change. As they are changing these young kids want to feel welcomed they want to feel like they belong and using technology helps them get what they need.
Technology wasn’t made to just make things easier for people quite frankly, there is a whole different thing behind it Technology is all around us, we can’t get rid of it. It makes life easier for us in so many ways, but there are so many consequences that come with it. We can sit here and blame others for the fault of technology or we can look at ourselves and wonder why technology is the way it is and who gave it that power.
