Nicholas Ward

UWRT1103 Caruso
10/4/15
The Effect of Modern Technology on Todays Society
Throughout human history, mankind has been able to create technology with the usual
purpose of trying to make a certain task easier and help benefit the rest of the world. From
Romes aqueducts providing purified water to Thomas Alva Edisons lightbulb, inventions such
as these have been used to the welfare of people (U.S Department of Energy). With modern
advancements such as laptops, televisions, smartphones and many other electronic devices, we
all can agree that they are great tools if they are used correctly. However, in todays society, we
mainly use these outlets as sources of entertainment, which is just fine in moderation. But instead
of just being a small supplement into our day, we are consumed by it. When you walk on a busy
street today, it is almost guaranteed that there will be someone with their face buried in a smart
phone. With all of this growth in technology and how much time people spend on it, it really
opens up a question; what kind of effect is technology having on todays world?
In the present day, it is not a rare sight to see someone in public engrossed in a screen,
whether it be a laptop, tablet, or smartphone. Technology has become such a huge part of our
daily lives. But is there a point where it becomes unhealthy? According to the American Journal
of Epidemiology, people spend on average about eight hours a day viewing technology, which is
the equivalent of having a full-time job (Ahuja). Excessive screen time also correlates with
weight gain, as well as being able to cause permanent damage to your eyesight. Using your
technology at night also causes you to stay up later and be more tired in the morning because

your brain associates the light from the screen with daylight from the sun so that you stay awake
(WebMD.)
Apart from the physical effects of too much screen, the use of technology can severely
impact human contact in a negative way. According to Dr. Debra Kessler, over 90 percent of all
communication is done non-verbally. Whenever contacting through social media or anything
similar, the meanings of words can be muddled and misrepresented due to the lack of social cues
normally given in a real life conversation, such as body language and tone of voice. The social
skills of problem solving and working together with people can be underdeveloped because of
this. With the power of anonymity online, people can also be extremely rude to people and say
terrible things that they would never say to someones face with little to no consequence
(Kessler). Dr. Sherry Turkle, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, discussed
how children can be affected by this vast world of electronics in an interview with NPR stating
they feel as though if they're not sharing online, they're nobody. They get into a mode of
being that I describe as: I share, therefore I amthey go from I have a feeling, I'd like to make a
call, to I want to have a feeling, I need to send a text. In other words, the constitution of a feeling
becomes - in order to have the constitution of the feeling, you need to be texting someone about
itAnd that becomes a problem because they become dependent on other people even for
knowing what they're feeling, and it's a kind of use of other people that can get them into trouble.
They don't develop a kind of necessary autonomy that's so important for an adolescent to
develop. (Turkle). With the way that people continue to use social media and texting for a
substitute for real life and sense of self-worth, could it be possible that the need for face-to-face
human interaction will become obsolete?

It can be easy to see the effects of technology as we see it happening to people that we
know on a daily basis as far as physical and mental states are concerned. But how does it affect a
country (in this case, the United States of America) on a national level? Modern technology has
been very beneficial with many things; healthcare, construction, business, and many other jobs
very efficiently and with low cost. Unfortunately, this is where it can really affect people
negatively; the job market. Throughout most of the 20th century to this day, difference between
the Gross Domestic Product of the United States and the median income of a household in the
United States is drastic. How could this happen? Why is there such a gap between the two when
before it was a fairly linear relationship between both? The reason why is that technology is
replacing jobs that people would normally have. Instead of a bank teller, now you have ATMs
that help you withdraw money. Therefore the need of the teller job goes down and there are less
jobs. Other examples would be car washes, car manufacturers, and even teachers to an extent.
That is also the reason why productivity in the work place has gone up, while the employment
numbers are going down and are not representative of the expected job growth that you would
expect from the productivity value. With the pace that technology and other advancements are
being created, how long will it be before there are no jobs for humans to occupy? Will we lose
our sense of purpose in life because of technology? (Rotman).
While it is obvious to all of us that technology in the modern day has brought a lot of
benefit to society, we should always take a look at how things can negatively affect us. Is the
technology worth the physical and mental stress that it can take on people; the loss of face-toface communication between two human beings and a possible economic and employment
crisis? Even though we can all see the good in the advancements that we as humans have made,
it is also possible that there could be a downside to this progress that we never saw coming.

Works Cited

Ahuja, Masuma. "Teens are spending more time consuming media, on mobile devices."
Washington Post (2013). Newpaper Article.
Kessler, Debra. The New World Order: Have we come to far with technology. 2009.
Rotman, David. MIT Technology Review. 2013. 2015.
Turkle, Sherry. Have we grown too fond of technology? Ira Flatow. 25th February 2011. Radio.
U.S Department of Energy. The History of the Lightbulb. 22 February 2013. 5 October 2015.
WebMD. Effects of too much screen time on teens. 2015. Article. 2015.