Technology: A Propitious Sign for General Development

TECHNOLOGY- A PROPITIOUS SIGN FOR GENERAL DEVELOPMENT In my 20 years of existence and 8 years of using technology, cellphone particularly, I have witnessed a lot. From the way it all produced, upgrade and even the way on how it utilized. I also travelled to far-away places by just browsing, meet new friends and building connections across globe. Streaming videos is one of a kind. Experiencing and knowing nations various situations on news web. Letting oneself become a pro athlete in just a click. Gaining top fan badges from all known pages is a rewarding moment. And also letting the world know that Vincent Van Gogh possessed me that I have created an awesome artwork by posting it on my facebook timeline. All of these are few of favorable promises the technology let me experienced. In Sherrie Turkle’s Ted talk ‘Connected, But Alone?’, she claims a lot about how she feels about technology. And what she believes that is doing to us as humans and as individuals interacting with one another. The main idea of Turkle’s Ted Talk was that we, as individuals and as a group are letting technology take us to places we necessarily don’t want to go. She emphasized that we are controlled by this small devices that tend to change our lives in an unusual manner. Furthermore, Turkle expresses the idea of what she called the “Goldilocks Effect”, which means that people want to remain not too close but not too far away from other people either, just right. In other definition, people prefer to talk to someone in distance because of the belief they can control the conversation. And that we expect more from technology and less from each other because technology is always there, reachable, when we are in our most vulnerable stages where we are most likely to seek more attention. In all of it, she gave us the idea that one of the most important thing we need to do is to know how to be alone and that we should not depend more on technology to escape from the reality. Sherry Turkle's TED talk is literally relevant in today's time. Indeed her speech explains a lot of how technology have slowly taken an essential part in our day-to-day lives. Moreover, over-dependence on it would be destructive. Albert Eintein once said, "It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity". "I want to indulge myself into social media to communicate"; "I'm gonna share/post this one to let them know what I feel right now"; "Let me have some 'me time' browsing and ten more minutes then I'll be sleeping". These are some of cliché phrases people tend to discuss in their minds while scrolling in their social media accounts, most especially in the youth of the present time and these explains Eintein's idea quoted above. If we are going to think deeply, the technology we have right now is a booming market full of exciting and innovative products and new learning opportunities. It seemed to be our best friend where we can lean on always. Efficiency and comfortability has always been reached and experienced. The technology we are dealing with right now is indeed a propitious one. However, this will bring us into our worst nightmare because of our lack of discipline. It seems like we are acquiring technology for all the wrong reasons. Our minds have been corrupted. It interrupts our own story, our own ability to have a thought and think critically to imagine and create something wonderful and priceless without depending on it. One of the concrete example of it is in the use of our cellphones. Instead of creating a deep sense of communication to those around us, these touch screens made us lose touch. Imax, Iphones, Ipads, so many selfies, so many "I's" not enough US and WE. Technology has made us more selfish and separate than ever. Because while it claims to connect us, connections has gotten no better. Measuring one's self-worth depending on the number of likes, hearts and comments is a great downfall. Having thousands of friend lists yet friendless. "Simplicity is about subtracting the obvious and adding the meaningfull" (Maeda, J.). As an agricultural and biosystems engineering student, the opportunities brought to us by technology are indeed helpful in my field of practice. Tasks can now be easily get done. Things are more accessible. Now, we do have a choice but this one right in the present we cannot auto-correct rather, we should take control and make decision. Recharge! And let's make our bar full to get closer to humanity not on digital insanity. Let's not waste the favorable sign given to us by technology.