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Gurbinder Singh
S. A. Vang
WRI 01
October 31, 2015
The Dark Side of Technology
You would think by the amount of technology we are exposed to as a society everyday it
would have significant effect on our personality, or lifestyle, and itd be correct to make that
assumption. Technology is the reason we lack social skills, have high rates of obesity, have
minimal privacy, and above all have a warped sense of reality. There must be limits placed by
oneself to not be enveloped in technology ALL THE TIME because technology has many
significant negative side effects that should not be ignored. Most people believe that technology
has made life easier and more comfortable and that it has enabled us to perform tasks that we
could otherwise not do. The list of benefits from technology is very long indeed. However, as
with almost everything we have created, technology has a downside. There is existing among us,
the dark side to technology.
A major issue that comes to mind is the issue of obesity. The American population as a
whole is getting more and more overweight and obesity rates are at their highest ever.
Contributions from technological advances and a lack of physical activity has led people to live a
more sedentary lifestyle. Although one traditional focus is on the amount and type of foods kids
eat, one study says that obesity is on the rise, not just because of food, but because as we use
more technology, we exercise less. With technology that includes cars, television, computers and
mobile devices, the amount of time we spend sedentary increased and our time in physical
activity dropped(DeLoatch). From this inference, we can say that technology is positively

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correlated with the rate of obesity. For children this becomes a major issue as technology is more
available to the youth as each generation passes and with that comes the high probability of
living a more sedentary lifestyle resulting in higher obesity rates.
Another issue that the impact technology has is on the English language. Texting comes
to mind from reading countless articles about how texting has butchered the English language.
Texting has enabled the language to prematurely evolve into something incoherent and of no
emotional value. This will eventually erode childrens ability to spell, punctuate, and capitalize
correctly - an ability already thought to be poor, says David Crystal in Texting: Why All the
Fuss. Some specific examples of this erosion would be slang words that are commonly used on
technological devices. Such words are lol, idk, ttyl, brb, 2moro, and the list goes on as more are
created and spread every day. The question is how long before we start seeing these acronyms in
essays in public schools and eventually working its way up to higher education.
What technology also does is detach you from everyday life and society. People form
online identities which they think are better than their real life identities and take on personas
that they classify as cool and interesting meanwhile their physical relationships in everyday life
deteriorate. I recall a story I have read about in the news. After his five-week gaming binge he
[the addict] lost everything. There were endless unread emails from worried friends and 132
missed calls on his mobile from his parents and teachers wondering why he never showed up for
his first day of class(Van Simper). The man clearly lost control to his addiction to technology
and was overwhelmed by it. What was very surprising to me was that, He had completely
abandoned reality for the virtual world where he posed as a successful 27-year-old attorney(Van
Simper). Isaac Vaisberg, the addict, used technology to escape from reality and create his own

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identity, and sadly this is not uncommon as many people use social media among other things to
create perfect lives to escape the not-so-perfect one that they are living.
In this modern age of society, the question also arises, Does privacy still exist? The
answer varies from person to person, but in general, privacy is as limited as ever. Technology
allows the government to keep a watchful eye on everything we do, as well as scammers, internet
thieves and hackers. How many times have you heard X store database was hacked and X
credit card numbers have been released online? In recent news, apple users have been victims of
this. Hackers have stolen more than 225,000 Apple accounts from iPhone customers. Once
infected with the KeyRaider malware, a jailbroken iPhone will give up all of its owner's iTunes
App Store information to the hackers, including the Apple (AAPL, Tech30) account username,
password and the iPhone's unique ID (Goldman). If an incorporation as big as apple can be
hacked, exactly how safe are we with our miniscule firewalls and retail level AntiVirus
protection? Technology leaves us vulnerable to the mercy of online hackers and thieves.
Last but certainly not least, technology has a significant impact on the everyday
interaction that we experience as a society. Instead of spending time with friends in person, we
just call, text or instant message them (Nilles). It cannot be good for development when the
majority of society communicates more through technology than verbal speech. We develop and
learn about the world around us through the filter of other people. Our connections to others are
key to not only our survival, but also to our happiness and the success of our careers (Gray)
Many connections are often lost because technology inhibits them from even beginning. For
example, spending excess time on your cell phone when you could be talking and meeting new
people in a new environment. This self-detachment from reality can be devastating to forming
new bonds and all around social wellbeing.

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Even though technology can be very useful, it is very important to recognize that there is
a dark side to technology that is very often overlooked. Technology reduces social interaction in
real life, is directly correlated to high rates of obesity, has very limited privacy, and has a
significant effect on the English language. Technology should be used in moderation like
everything else and should be treated as a tool for knowledge and learning instead of an escape
from reality.

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Works Cited
Crystal, David. Texting:Why All the Fuss?. Language Awareness.: Bedford Books,
2013.
David Crystals purpose for writing his article was to bring attention to the English language
and the effect that texting has on it. He begins by telling us why its bad and all the
problems associated with texting such as sit being a nonstandard orthography, eroding
childrens ability to spell, punctuate and just bringing their grammar down in general. He also
describes the effect that it has on education and says that it will negatively affect it.
Surprisingly he is actually interested in the evolution of technology and the English language.
The argument that I made was that this was a premature evolution and it isnt actually a good
thing. My argument is against texting language and I will use the educational system to
reinforce the argument.

DeLoatch, Pamela. "The Four Negative Sides of Technology." The Four Negative Sides
of Technology. Edudemic, 2 May 2015. Web. 01 Nov. 2015.
Pamela DeLoatch talks about the four negative sides of technology as the title of her
piece states. The four negative sides she stated were children changing the way children
feel, and how they were more detached to society because of technology. The second side
she stated was technology affecting the way children think, in reference to how it
decreases memory. Her third point was the effect technology has on privacy and how it

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allowed sex offenders easy access to childrens social media websites as well as making
sexting a relevant issue.
The fourth and final argument, that I used, was about the rates of obesity in comparison
to using more and more technology. Technology makes it too easy to live a sedentary
lifestyle because we spend too much time sitting and on computer or phones while
exercise is being neglected.

Goldman, David. "More than 225,000 Apple IPhone Accounts Hacked."CNNMoney.


Cable News Network, 1 Sept. 2015. Web. 01 Nov. 2015.
David Goldman didnt talk about technology per se, but I used the facts he stated about
Apple being hacked and I made the point that if Apple, as secure and corporate as they
are, are able to be hacked. How safe can we be with a basic firewall and retail level
antivirus to protect our bank accounts and other online information we need to have
secure.

Gray, Paula. "Humans Are Social Animals." - Anthropology and Product Management.
AIPMM, n.d. Web. 03 Nov. 2015.
Paula Gray talks about the basic essentials that humans need to survive and that is social
interaction. Technology is a major factor is blocking that interaction. Without that
interaction we are at a disadvantage when it comes to development and connections since
social interaction is the basis of how we communicate.

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I used it as an inhibitor to development. I think its comprehensible to make the
correlation that technology has a significant effect in reducing social interaction and we
can use logical reasoning to say that technology plays a part.

Nilles, Melissa. "Technology Is Destroying the Quality of Human Interaction | The


Bottom Line." The Bottom Line. The Bottom Line, 24 Jan. 2012. Web. 02 Nov. 2015.
Melissa Nilles describes the effect that technology has on human interaction. Technology
disconnects us from the world around us. She also mentions that we need to see each
other versus talking to each other on phones all the time or texting.
I used that in conjunction with the Humans are Social Animals to make the statement
that we need social interaction to develop and learn. Technology acts as an inhibitor to
interaction that is not in the virtual world.

Van Simper, Ashley. "Internet Addict Tells How World of Warcraft Gaming Had Become 'like
Crack Cocaine' after Five Week Binge Surrounded by Filth." Mirror. Mirror News, 28
July 2013. +Web. 12 Nov. 2015.
This news article is in a story type format where we learn about Isaac Vaisberg and his
addiction to World of Warcraft. He goes through his addiction and how it basically took
over his life as a freshman in college. He eventually goes through the rehab process and
we can see the effect technology has left on him as he no longer keeps technology in his
house.
I used this to make the point that people use technology as an escape from reality and
create online identities while their real ones deteriorate.

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