On Technology &Society

HAS TECHNOLOGY AFFECTED OUR HUMANITY OR SOCIETY?

This article was published in the Edge of Humanity Magazine on June 16, 2020.

Today we are more dependent on technology than ever before. This has led me to wonder about the changes it has brought and to pose the question, “Has technology affected our humanity or our society?” As humans, technology has given us incredible opportunities to make our lives easier, sometimes mistaken for laziness. Our ways of living, ways of communicating, and how we behave are no longer the same as the old ones. Because of those changes, some people start worrying about technology has changed our humanity? In my opinion, I would suggest technology has changed our society but not humanity.

According to dictionary.com, humanity means the human race; the quality of being human; kindness, or mercy. Some people claim that human being is divided into two part: body and soul. The soul is the part that consists of the quality of being human, while the body is the machine of it. Far before technology has been invented, the evil parts of humans already exist. People killed each other to survive or because of hate, love, jealousy, and others. Instead of killing them, we can “delete” them on social networking to show them how angry or how much we hate them. But the fact is that people who we deleted don’t really realize it.

I find this has hindered our ability to forgive. In the past, you would usually talk face to face with someone to solve your differences; now, we are ‘deleting’ people out of frustration. Not only that, but some people even create a false identity to find out how they are being perceived by the very person they just ‘deleted.’ I don’t personally agree with this, but it has probably happened a lot more than I’d like to think. It has gone so far that people are now breaking up with someone over a text message or e-mail. Most people would say that this isn’t considered ‘acceptable,’ but where is the line that sets apart breaking up with someone with whom you’ve been romantically involved to a friend who has upset you? If anyone hurts your feelings, it stands to reason that those feelings were there at some point. So why has it become socially acceptable to ‘delete’ people out of your lives? Technology is even being used as a sword to hurt others or voice our opinions, but it has also become a shield that we use to protect ourselves from emotional harm. I personally don’t condone this. I would like to see society make an effort to start creating stronger bonds and start working through whatever differences they might come across, not just ‘delete’ them and run away.

So has technology really changed our humanity or our society? I find that many adults believe technology has turned us lazy, but I agree with Barry Joe when he says, “we couldn’t text because we didn’t have it.” If our parents did have everything we had now when they were growing up, they would be just like us. Technology has given us the tools to make our lives easier. I do not believe we could go as far as to say that technology has changed who we are as human beings, but I believe it has changed the way we live our everyday lives. As far as society is concerned, it may have hindered our judgment or impaired our ability to forgive, but that doesn’t mean it’s gone.

Our generation adapts. I know we will.