To the editor
By:
Some people think of technology simply as computers and high-tech appliances in their home, but technology is so much more. Technology is the application of science to anything, primarily in an industrial or commercial sense. Technology always has been viewed as a helpful factor in advancing society, while the negative side effects often go unnoticed or are forgotten.
Ever since the age of Industrialization, technology has been advancing and affecting everyday life. Factories appeared in cities, railroads were built and the chain of mass pollution began.
The factories created products at a mass rate and made it easier for all people, even those struck with poverty to afford "life’s little necessities." The railroads were obviously beneficial to America.
Transportation improved, and became more accessible and affordable. However, people often are mislead by technology’s accomplishments, and they do not see the negative effects. Many forget about the hard and dangerous labor that men, women, and even young children endured while working in factories. Thousands died tragically while working on the railroad.
We must ask ourselves, was it worth it?
Nuclear technology eventually could kill the world, yet we claim we need it. Bombs and other lethal weapons were created for war and to help win wars. However, other countries later on developed the same weapons, to be used to kill the country that originally created them.
Essentially, the weapons we created to harm others are actually killing our soldiers and ourselves. Nuclear warfare is a big mistake. Having these kinds of weapons of mass destruction will be killing himself, along with the rest of the world.
In addition, some forms of technology may be conducive to our everyday lives, but they are making us lazy. In a sense of labor, Americans are not getting enough exercise because they have so many appliances to limit their need to move.
This is not to say that all Americans are lazy, but a large part of the country is. Thanks to all of our advanced forms of technology, transportation has become affordable for basically all and consequently has become a daily part of one’s life.
For some Americans, this creates the problem of a lack of exercise. We shouldn’t have to set aside a couple of hours to get to the gym, we should be able to get enough exercise in our lives without having to schedule it.
Along with making us lazy and perhaps killing us, technology is controlling us more than we are controlling it. If we were to lose a commonly used form of technology such as the telephone, chaos would occur. People would be out of control trying to find other means in which to communicate.
An example of this is the power outage in the New York Tri-state area last year. People were in a panic because their homes were no longer cooled with their air conditioners; they could not take the train, so they had to walk; they could not watch TV or use their computers.
Many years ago, people lived this way, and they were able to survive. Now, if we lose power, Americans feel it is the end of the world.
Another example is the Y2K Scare in 1999; the government was afraid that we might lose power because the computers would be confused by the change in numbers at the turn of the century. Citizens were buying canned goods and preparing their shelters for what seemed like the end of the world.
There is no doubt that technology is creating a more comfortable environment and opportunities for future improvement. But, where we put on this earth to do, become stronger and more powerful? Whatever happened to enjoying the simple pleasures of life: taking time to admire a scenic view, to smell a flower, or to simply spend times with loved ones?
Now, we have telephones, computers, and other gadgets that let us "experience" these pleasures without actually doing them.
There is a thin line between one’s absolute necessities in life and the things that just make life easier. Determining what that is, however, is the problem.
Hillsborough High School

