Are we too reliant on technology?

There’s always at least one person in our lives who hates technology with the burning passion of a thousand suns. That person came from an era where the only computers were about the size of large cars and used by scientists.

Where cell phones were either bulky and huge or nonexistent. They lived during the time when Steve Jobs and Bill Gates were just getting off the ground, long before iAnything came to be. They weren’t used to seeing ten year olds with Android tablets.

So…are we evolving, or are we truly turning into one big technological monstrosity?

My vote goes to evolution. How long did it take for horses and carriages to get phased out once they started perfecting the automobile?

How many bows, swords, maces and daggers were used regularly when the gun was figured out? It’s a human thing – we find something new, we develop it and it begins to replace something in our daily lives. Gone are the days of leaving home and relying on letters carried on horseback back and forth to our families.

These days, we have cell phones, Facebook and e-mail. If something happens to the people we’re away from, a quick phone call or an e-mail brings us up to date, which cuts down on the ‘never heard from again’ issues they had back in the old days.

To be honest, the technology-haters aren’t completely wrong. If you’ll notice, the first thing most people do after a class is over is rapidly dig for their phones.

People who have a lot of online friends sometimes don’t feel the need to go outside to interact.

Texting while driving, relying on computers to do all of our work for us – in a way, we have become a bit too reliant on technology.

But with the way technology is improving and growing, do we really have a choice?

The answer, surprisingly, is yes. It is entirely possible to live one’s life without a cell phone or  Internet, or a computer. The key word here is possible, not ideal.

Society has by now built itself around these technologies, so we’re pretty much forced to integrate our daily lives in technology and what it’s brought us. Sending a text or calling your boss is far more efficient than sending him a letter to tell him you’ll be late for work because of a traffic jam.

Most colleges require you to do everything online, including assignments. Smartboards are becoming popular and televisions are growing big enough that I predict home-based Imaxes in the near future.

Technology is at least a necessity in today’s society. It’s not terribly kind to the older generation given how fast it comes out each year, which contributes to why your grandparents might prefer to keep their older computer instead of trying to figure out Windows 8.

I really don’t think we’re being ruled by technology so much as we’re adapting to it, responding in the only way we know how as humans. If it’s good, fast, and better than our previous alternative, we’ll more than happily accept it.