Technology is changing todays society

 

Technology is changing every day. Whether you notice it or not, you’re using the internet every single day. The first and last thing people do involves some sort of technology. This can really change your life a lot over several years, varying from things such as obesity,  children’s vision, and just interaction altogether. There are some schools that are falling behind on today’s technology, where other schools may be overusing it. Now how do you expect people to notice the breaking point of using it too much or maybe not enough?

Technology is advancing and changing every single day! There is really no way you can change that. We are in a generation that uses technology hourly, if not more. When people wake up the first thing they do is check either their emails, messages, or other news feeds. As you can see on the left there is a chart showing the different age groups, and when they first check their messages. From age 14 all the way to age 34 people are more likely to check their devices first thing. When the generations keep getting exposed more and more to technology, I feel as if the percent of older people using technology will increase. When you look at today’s age group from 56-67 they grew up without all of this, therefore, it is not really a need or maybe even a want for them to look at their messages as much as the younger age groups.

Kids have accounts on the internet younger and younger every year. The internet has expanded our availability to the gaming world and has definitely changed how we interact with others all around the world. Then you have websites like Google and Bing that allow us to discover answers to questions we are pondering and find the answer in a matter of seconds. Being able to research pretty much whatever you want in a matter of seconds can be helpful as well as hurtful. The internet giving you most of the answers has the potential to take away from learning. Since we have homework, online classes and several other online things this allow people to Google or Bing all of the questions to make sure they have the correct answer.

So would one really say the internet is bettering our society?

Google and Bing really make research for trips a whole lot easier. When you are planning a family vacation you just need to google the place and then you will have everything you will need to know right at your fingertips. TripAdvisor is one of the most commonly used vacation sites. This site will help you find car rentals, hotels, and book your flight while they show you some of the must-see places in the area. TripAdvisor allows people to add  their experience to the website vicariously sharing their trip with others. Web sites like TripAdvisor are very beneficial because you no longer have to waste your time exploring places you really don’t want to go to. When traveling across the country it exposes smaller places that I would have driven right by if I hadn’t looked at TripAdvisor first. It then allowed me to tell others about my experiences there. All and all, it is a very easy process and practically anyone could use it.

Your lives are on your phone, and it is time to face that fact. When you are walking from one place to another, or even waiting around, what is the first thing you go to grab to occupy your time? It is your phone. Whether you are going on a game, Twitter or Facebook that is becoming people’s safe zone. When you are on your phone, that wall that it puts up around you helps you dodge awkward encounters. While you are on all of these social media sites and search engines it does not allow you to realize what is happening around you. There are several reasons you should put your smartphone down starting with the fact that your brain will work better!! You’ll be able to be on you A game, and you’ll even sleep better at night.  These are just a few of the problems that constantly being on technology is causing in society.

Studies are being done that are showing that technology could be the main cause of the decrease in children’s eyesight over the past couple years. You really can’t avoid technology because 94% of American families have access to the internet.
The amount of time children ages 8 to 18 devote to entertainment media (including computer and video games) each day has increased from 6.19 hours in 1999 to 7.38 hours in 2009. In 2009, 29 percent of American children ages 8 to 18 had their own laptop computer. Kids in grades 7 through 12 reported spending an average of more than 90 minutes a day sending or receiving texts on their cell phones. Every child needs the following so that they can read and learn effectively (“Visual acuity, eye focusing, eye tracking, eye teaming, eye-hand coordination, and visual perception”). Children should get an eye exam every 2 years at a minimum. In fact, if a child passes a school eye exam with 20/20 that does not mean that they don’t have other eye problems. With this said I would recommend going elsewhere for eye exams as well as the typical school screenings.

Technology has changed life as we know it. Obesity has become a large problem in America over the last decade and it is changing dramatically for the worst. This just shows that there is really more to worry about other than children’s eyesight. Personal interaction is another huge topic that has changed a lot over the last couple of decades as well. It’s time to face it, we are in the heart of technology changing us as a whole.

Obesity really is not something to joke around about. A large percent of overweight people will come up with several different excuses better known as the Blame Game. You may have heard someone say “oh my family is big-boned there’s nothing I can really do about it”, or “I have a slow metabolism”. All of these remarks just allow them to feel a little bit better about themselves, allowing them to accept the fact that they are obese. You will see obesity being more accepted, over the years due to the dramatic change in parenting. Not all parents but a large number of parents are turning to technology for their babysitters. Parents are allowing children more and more time on technology showing them that it is alright to be on it frequently. Children are viewing technology as their down time. Parents are even using it to keep kids quiet while they are waiting for things; such as doctor appointments and dinner. Studies have been done by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) that show children and adolescents should not have more than 1-2 hours of screen time a day. They also have other studies that show children spend upwards of 7 hours on the TV, internet and video games per day! When you really think about it that does not leave a lot of time for other activities such as family time, homework, and outside activities. People need to start seeing that technology isn’t everything and that it has a great potential to destroy lives in several different ways.

Human interaction has changed dramatically due to technology. Next time  you go out to eat, just take a minute and look around; I can almost guarantee you that you will see couples, friends and families all around the table sitting on some type of technology while they are waiting for their food and even occasionally when their foods out already. One of the people that I interviewed before hand was Sandie Ward; and she stated, “when I was growing up you would get punished if there was any type of distraction at the dinner table, let alone being on technology. Then when I had kids of my own, I made sure they followed those same rules I had when I was growing up.” Sandie is 54 now, and I am 19 so when I was growing up technology was around making it a little harder to avoid, but definitely not impossible. Ipods, phones and everything else along the lines of that was not  excepted  at the dinner table or even when you were talking with someone. This was just common courtesy that we were raised with that seems to be lost in today’s society.

When technology like smartphones, tablets, and other electronics start taking a large amount of time out of your day it is possible that you’re just simply addicted. Addictions are really not something to joke around about either; a lot more people get addicted to technology in today’s time period than ever before. “More oftentimes than not, people who spend unusually large amounts of recreational time online meet all of the key criteria for addiction.” (Dangerous effect of internet addiction) It is very uncommon that one will come to the conclusion that they are addicted to technology. When you ask people all around the world if they could go without their phones 84% of people will say they need it. This just seems sad and pathetic if you ask me. What would that 84% of people do if they were raised in a different time period? Well, I guess that’s just something they really won’t ever have to think about.

Personal interaction is another thing that’s just not the same that it used to be. Dating websites are a huge hit, these websites are the main reason for a lot of relationships today to happen. Even when you want to hang out with your friend the first thing you do is grab your phone. There is really just a time and place for technology. The incoming generations are not shown when and where it is expected to use their technology. This is entirely due to today’s parenting. Interactions between families, friends, and others are definitely different than they used to be without a doubt.

Dating websites, now are they really that great? Yes, they help you find the one that you think you are looking for, but how do you really know they are the one if a computer was what hooked you up in the first place? To me, dating is more than just a game on the internet. When you go on to dating website such as Match you’ll be asked several different question to find out what you are really looking for in a man or woman. Now I don’t know about you but I feel like if anyone should know what you are looking for in a man or women it should be you. Maybe not, though. There are a large number of people out there and there is no way that you can possibly meet them all. So yes, dating websites can be helpful, but they are not necessarily for everyone. Studies show that 44% of American adults are single. “This means there are over 100 million unattached folks out there. So if you’ve ever thought, “there’s nobody out there for me,” know that there’s hope!”  My best personal advice is to just be yourself, get out there and have some fun. When your time comes you will know it. Forced love isn’t the best love.

Love may not be the best online option for some, but luckily business has expanded dramatically due to technology. Companies like Amazon, Wish, and other shopping sites have grown dramatically over the last decade. Amazon pretty much has everything that you could possibly need. I personally do most of my shopping for holidays, birthdays and school on Amazon because of the low rates, fast shipping, and the large area you can cover on the internet versus in the store. Amazon has been around for several years and it is a very well trusted website.
Then you have newer websites such as Wish, which has clothing, housing accessories, and other neat little nicknacks. When you order from a website like Wish you really need to be careful what you get just because the stuff is so cheap on there. I mean you get what you pay for in the long run. You can benefit a lot from online shopping if you know what to watch out for. One of the main things that I always make sure to do is look at some of the reviews before I purchase anything. This will just show you if the sizes run small or large, and if it is a cheaply made item. If you do this, you should know exactly what you are getting when you purchase it. Another upside to doing online shopping is that you can do it in the comfort of your home or really anywhere you have internet access. There are no lines to wait in or even people you don’t want to deal with in the first place. Plus, even better yet, if you don’t have a car you can still shop around, but if you do, you still don’t have to waste the gas to get there! It is very rare that you will find me shopping in a store unless I need to try something on or I’m just bored and want to waste some time. Business can really only grow from here thanks to the booming technology these days.

Businesses have really taken off due to technology; but when should you draw the line from benefiting and harming? Well as we all know parenting is not easy, but the number of parents that are turning to technology to get them through the day is outstanding. Kids are learning earlier and earlier how to operate technology. You can find more kids nowahdays that have smart phones or some type of technology that can’t even read or write yet. Technology has really come into parents lives as a babysitter. Which is really sad because as much as children need to get some hands on time with things like this they also need that one-on-one bonding time. Parents are found giving their kids that technology just so they are quiet. Parents really need to remind kids that use of technology is a privilege, not a right. This has definitely been forgotten by a lot of people out there. Parents need to establish and enforce both positive and negative consequences for appropriate technology usage. “Parents are their children’s first and best teachers,” said Laura Buddenberg . This statement is a very strong statement; it shows  you are helping them build their key building blocks for the rest of their lives! I know that parents really only want the best for their children. Next time you hand your kid that device take a second and think whether they really need it or if they need you.

Kids have very different views on teachers and parents. With everything changing in today’s society schooling is really one of the main things that need to be reconsidered. Technology is here to stay whether we like it or not. Therefore, one would think that we should look at it in different ways to include technology in the classroom. Video games have been around for several decades. Surprisingly the outline of video games are one of the greatest learning tools people have designed. With all of the technology and different learning tools, teachers have been using books less and less. Everything you find in a book can easily be found on the internet. This is why schools should really take a step back and think about this topic for a minute.  
Learning is key, “the single most important thing we can do is have an educated community,” said Obama. Reading, writing, and arithmetic are the core of our education. You are taking away great opportunities from these children if you don’t supply them with that. Surprisingly, a video game’s structure keeps kids interested for longer than other learning tools such as books even if they are about the same topic. Children can teach themselves almost anything if you just give them time and the supply they need. Books are a very helpful learning tool, but by the time they get outdated. Is it really more helpful to keep them around? Storybooks should be encouraged to be kept in the classroom. The other books that get outdated before they even are out are starting to become Ebooks. Ebooks are definitely helpful in more than one way. They are updated regularly, you can always have it with you on your computer and its a lot smaller than a bunch of book. Having the Ebooks update frequently allows students to learn the information up to date the first time and not have to worry about the book being outdated as much as a hard copy.

Knowing that textbooks get outdated very rapidly why would teachers even bother keeping up with them? Personally, I like having a textbook right in front of me. It allows a lot of people to learn better all together allowing them to highlight and scratch notes down. Although more people are turning to e-textbooks. TeachersVision says “I like to think of textbooks as tools—they are only as good as the person using them.” This just shows that it will be harder to learn to use the e-textbook if you didn’t grow up with it. Nowadays having more and more kids growing up with technology it will just get easier for them to learn how to using the e-textbooks. Soon enough kids won’t even know what a textbook is anymore. Textbooks have several different downsides, but one of the major downsides of textbooks are that you only have that one perspective on the concept or issue.
No, e-textbooks are not perfect either, but it is definitely easier to broaden that view on an e-textbook rather than a hard copy textbook. Textbooks are also unable to take the students learning into perspective into consideration; making teachers have to skip around more than they should in them. When teachers are using e-textbooks they can take chunks right out and then that part won’t ever become a distraction to the students. From a student’s perspective, I know that reading the textbook and really understanding all of the concepts is difficult as well. When you are on an e-textbook you have other search engines such as Bing and Google to look definitions up, as well as the e-textbooks help. I have an e-textbook for one of my classes and it definitely helps me understand concepts more than a textbook because they will write a definition at the bottom of the page and still try to explain it within the text. These are only a few of the reasons we should really try to transition from textbooks to e-textbooks.

If you really did switch from textbooks to e-textbooks the internet would have to be included in the classroom as well as some type of device for the students to learn on. Is that really what society has come too?

NowWith everything changing in today’s society, schooling is really one of the main things that needs to be reconsidered. Video games are thought of in several different ways. One of the main things that get adults’ attention to video games is that kids easily get amused with them. Finding them on their video games for hours on end. They are not always learning games that is the problem. School should look into video games and find the ones that students can benefit from. Really it is just learning made fun again. I’m not saying that teachers should use video games with every little thing they teach in the classroom, just that they should start linking some smaller sections to video games. Video games really help people’s hand-eye coordination, teamwork skills, and several other things as well. This will help keep students focus on different types of learning, and even start introducing them to the new world of technology.

The world has changed dramatically over the last couple of decades. Are you ready to see what is coming next? Just think about how you use the internet every day and how you are going to be using the internet in the future. Maybe face-to-face interaction will come to an end altogether, but only time can say. Soon enough teachers maybe be a rare thing. Just look at the difference between your parents and you. Not that much of a difference in time, but such a huge difference in society. It’s weird to think about the future, but have you really realized what has happened over the past couple of decades? It truly is mind blowing. Just wait and see what we stumble upon next…

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