by 8/29/20 (What is STS?)
I often fantasize about the endless possibilities that would come with time travel, petting a tyrannosaurus rex, solving the Zodiac Killer case, or educating early civilizations about the wonderful gifts of modern technology. However, upon contemplating it further, would my self-presumed words of wisdom really be of any use to my ancestors? I would be ecstatic to tell Edgar Allen Poe to just google how to keep the ravens away, or to inform the Ancient Egyptians of escalators, but I have no clue how the internet, electricity, and other powerful forms of technology function. Much of mankind has found themselves reliant on technology such as the cell phones and social networking, making humanity “tools of their tools” (Henry David Thoreau). While technology helps society in many ways, mankind has found itself dependent on it, taking away from humanity.
One of many authors who warned of the excessive advancements of technology, Ray Bradbury, wrote Fahrenheit 451, a dystopian novel portraying a society in which technology has taken over and books are banned. Nearly 70 years after its original publication in 1953, our machine-run society has probably brought Bradbury to roll over in his grave. According to a 2019 study conducted by Pew Research Center, 96% percent of Americans own a cellphone today, 81% of those being smartphones. With this widespread use of cellphones, many are unaware of the negative effects that come with excessive cell phone use. Cell phone addiction is a real thing that people experience without knowing, with symptoms such as phantom vibrations, or the feeling of your phone buzzing when it is not alerting you (Lin 2013). Many people would find themselves helpless without their cellphone, relying heavily on common built-in inventions such as GPS, search engines such as google, and cellular messaging.
In reality, “It is questionable if all the mechanical inventions yet made have lightened the day’s toil of any human being” (John Stuart Mill). Within this quote, Mill, an English philosopher of the 19th century, doubts the benefits of technological advancements in everyday life. Although his suspicions are nearly 200 years old, his distrust in technology is something humanity should take the time to evaluate today. According to a study conducted by Pew Research Center in 2018, nearly 45% of teens say they’re online almost constantly, spending immense of time using social media. Although social networking provides a quick and easy outlet for communicating with peers, it also produces a platform for cyberbullying, and acts as a major cause of stress and anxiety for teens. With many young people spending most of their day using communicating with social media, it becomes a challenge to build strong social skills. Along with this, social media contains direct ties to dopamine, a chemical in the human brain essentially responsible for feelings of reward and encouragement. Receiving likes on posts, comments and/or retweets triggers this, causing an obsession in people that they’re not aware of. In truth, platforms such as Instagram and Snapchat have embedded their way into the minds of teens, provoking unrecognized stress.
Karl Marx, famous philosopher known for his work creating The Communist Manifesto, once stated “The production of too many useful things results in too many useless people.” Upon deeper consideration, my reliance on technology has made me somewhat useless. Could I conduct an oil change without clear instructions from searching online? How on earth could I sit through a long plane-ride without my phone? How could I remember to practice Spanish-speaking without daily Duolingo alerts? In all seriousness, widespread reliance on technology has gone under the noses of many people. While Elon Musk may disagree, modern advancements have gone too far, creating an unhealthy dependency on overlooked machinery in today’s society.