Technology is honestly a really hard concept for me to understand. It’s strange because it can be both beneficial and harmful depending on how you use it. It can make us both brilliant and lazy, which might sound confusing at first. You see, on one hand, we’ve become so reliant on our devices that I’m not sure most of us know what to do without them. On the other hand, we have better access to information and can accomplish things in a faster and more productive fashion than we could before.
For example, let’s talk about the convenience of the applications they offer that we’ve become so dependent on. There are different maps apps to help us get around places. When I tell you I would have zero clue how to get to the grocery store from my house without using my Apple Maps, I mean it. It’s crazy because I go there once a week, and I’m still so lost if the app even glitches out a bit. There’s also things like grocery delivery options and having our bill payments come out automatically. Because we rely on these things, we use less physical and mental labor. We say it’s because it allows us to focus on more important tasks, but that’s not always the case.
Still, technology can also truly help us achieve a better understanding of things. The amount of information that’s at our fingertips is incredible, and it only helps develop our knowledge of the world around us. There’s so many important tools we can use now that help us learn and build in a way that would’ve been impossible a long time ago. For example, I’m both a full-time college student and an intern, and all of my work is accomplished completely online.
The problem is learning how to balance the benefits with the harmful effects. When we become so reliant on our devices, we forget important things we should know like birthdays, cooking or even how to get back home without a GPS.
I can admit there’s also some humor that comes with the dependency. I mean, I’m sure we’ve all experienced the panic that occurs when the Wi-Fi goes down, and we carry chargers on us like they’re in style. We’re lazy, and we know it. At the same time, we can achieve more than past generations could even imagine now.
In the end, technology is a paradox. While it can hinder our own progress and capabilities, it can also open new doors for us and inspire us in ways that weren’t possible before. The trick is learning when to lean on it and when to take a step back and do things yourself.
