“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic”









-Aruthur C.Clarke
In the modern era, citizens of the world discover how to fit intelligence in their hands, arms, teeth, eyes, backpacks, cars, and pockets without using or considering the one already in their heads. As a new generation of iPhones dazzle in Apple stores annually, jets break the speed of sound, computers become thinner and thinner, and Google answers your question before you can blink, human bodies aren’t improving. Technology can bring us to the moon or submerge us below the Mariana’s Trench. During all this time, has people’s physical and mental health gained superiority? With health budgets skyrocketing, depression becoming a widespread condition, and violent crimes happening daily, people all over the world are experiencing a technology epidemic. Glued to their couches, first world citizens are developing sedentary lifestyles, harmful towards their health. With innovative features in technology and the growing content available, users of technology are unknowingly developing negative physical habits as well as emotional and mental illnesses. If the human dependency on technology continues to grow, the life-threatening addiction towards this convenience will have no difference as the one between Marijuana and a drug addict. Opposite to common beliefs, having constant access to technology is detrimental towards the public, as they will be negatively affected physically, mentally and intellectually.

“Men have become the tools of their tools” this provocative quote by Henry David Thoreau, effectively sums up the interdependent relationship humans and technology are engaging in. We created tools to help us perform tasks manually impossible, but instead, people allow technology to control and change their way of life negatively. Continuous use of technology weakens the physical state of the user. Evident physical disadvantages caused by these activities strongly outweigh the benefits technology has granted us. For instance, the use of computers late at night causes, according to Dr. Matthew Gardine, an optometrist at Mass Eye and Ear Infirmary in Boston, disruption of sleep cycle, stress, depressive symptoms, and difficulties with sleeping. Unable to rest properly, the individual has no energy for workloads in the next day. During the trip to his or her workplace, the driver shall experience tension due to the circumstances on the road. A survey conducted by Miami University, involving students to drive around the city for forty-five minutes and immediately medically tested afterwards. They had higher blood pressure and heart rate as well as increase in frustration after the period of driving. Under enormous pressure at work, computer users commonly sit with bad posture typing on keyboards for long portions of the day. Strains on multiple parts of the body include the hand, arm, and neck and back can cause arthritis and tendonitis, if continued without stopping the use of technology. Obesity can also be developed from the lack of exercise from an addiction to technologies such as online gaming. Although technology sufficiently performs tasks humans could never accomplish, these machines need to be used in moderation otherwise the user will encounter serious medical consequences.

An eminent quote by Elbert Hubbard masterfully depicted the differences between man and technology: “One machine can do the work of fifty ordinary men. No machine can do the work of one extraordinary man.” Being dependent upon the mechanical advantages from technology makes a person passive towards social interactions as well as aggravates his or her character traits and confidence. A study done by Stanford University showed young girls who spend a long time on digital devices such as an iPhone tend to have low confidence and poor social skills. Even though telecommunications was invented for easy contact between friends and relatives, this technology now hinders people from developing real-world conversing skills. Additionally, instead of participating in sports or games with friends outdoors, the current generation prefer to play online games and interact through social media software. Surprisingly, children who are participating in online games tend to be impatient and easily frustrated when parents ask them to do something otherwise. Not only do these activities occur when the individual is using technology; they slowly become addicted towards the tradition even in real life in all situations. Impatience and frustration are two common emotions technology users encounter when they are not satisfied or immediately answered after asking a question. This habit is developed by the automaticity of common technology such as calculators performing arithmetic within nanoseconds. The University of Chicago performed a study on two hundred and fifty people to record their everyday desires. The researchers found that social media was more craved during the day than alcohol, smoking or sex. Another study done by the Gothenburg Research Institute surveyed around one thousand Facebook users. The average time per day each of the participants spent on Facebook was seventy-five minutes. Many cases of bullying, online scandals, and crimes are related to activities on Facebook. Is it a good idea to spend eight hours a week in this volatile environment? When innovators invented technology to enhance the performance and efficiency of work, they never would have expected mechanical intelligence to neutralize the processor within the user’s head.

A wise man once said: “getting information from the web is like getting a drink from a fire hydrant.” The information available for access on the Internet has no limits. From the names of your ancestors to the methods of curing cancer, anything, no matter if it is appropriate or mentally healthy, it can be read or watched by anyone of any age. In addition to the Internet, the entertainment branches of technology also contain a diversity of disturbing or explicit content available to everyone. A survey done by the AC Neilson Company showed that exposure to TV violence was directly related to aggressive behavior in children. On average in the United States of America, twenty to twenty five violent acts were broadcasted on children’s television networks every hour. Due to children’s inability to differentiate between reality and fantasy, having access to technology can drive a child down a life of crime. While a slightly older generation, the adolescence, deal with a completely alternate issue. A study done by Kaiser Family Foundation found that eight to eighteen year olds spent an average of seven and a half hours using technology on a daily basis. Adding up, this equals to over fifty-three hours a week spent sitting down, faced with some kind of monitor or electronic device. Another Kaiser Family Foundation study found that sixteen to eighteen year olds lose focus during class or at home while completing homework could be caused by the habit of always multitasking on his or her technological device. Not only does this activity link to obesity, health risks, violent behavior, and personality issues, juveniles can easily gain access to mature or misleading information, unsuitable for his or her mind. With the Internet and entertainment industry being the hydrant, would we want the next generation to absorb all there is in life at such a young age?

“There is no dependence that can be sure but dependence upon one’s self” said John Gay, a famous English poet nearly three hundred years ago to precisely describe the weakness of the current generation. Almost fifty years ago, a German scholar had to wait for months for an exchange of letters between him and his loving wife. With the invention of email, the same couple can perform the same action within seconds. When the inception of mankind begun in South Africa, information and tradition were stored on stone walls, which even tsunamis cannot wipe away. Nowdays, everything is turning digital. Books, recipes, laws, and many other elements of human learning and morals are constructed on the Internet within seconds at a time. The New York Stock Exchange had even announced a revolutionary new method of trading alpha through a complete online exchange. The virtual cyberspace could be easily lost without available technology. While the history of humanity is now recorded in the world of cyberspace, the minds of humans are emptying. The tradition way of life people had pioneered through time such as craving stone into weapons is nearly forgotten. On the bright side, technological advances are able to execute the same job, but with a fraction of time and effort required. However, the resources on earth aren’t endless. One-day inevitable day in the future, all electricity, gasoline, and natural gases will cease to exist on earth. Without these materials powering our technology, how would civilization manage to continue? Life will continue without the sense of time, as watches would shut off. Communication, entertainment, medical requirements, food and all the quintessential parts of life cannot continue. Even the luxury of hot running water would stop flowing. What happens then? Society returns to the state it was in thousands of years ago when humans only start to discover the world. The skills learned throughout time would be forgotten without the storage on technology. Unlike that time, there are no rich lands, no natural resources, no surplus of animals, no fresh air, and no actively motivated bodies to rebuild the world. Before we watch as our world march backwards into doomsday, stop the dependence on technology and return as humans who lived the tradition way of life. The people living must understand the boundaries of innovation and reach an area where machines are utilized along with human morals before robots serve mindless beings. Continuing to discover the ways of life like the cavemen and encountering difficulties would ensure our survival on planet earth. As much as technology is valued, it can only be used as a luxury, not a convention.
After the invention of a piece of technology, it would be continuously improved and reinforced to push the limits of mechanical ability. The reason for this process is due to the fact that these devices are created to achieve things humans cannot. Machines can perform perfect processes every time. Humans, however, simply does not have the ability or mental potential to process data with speeds similar to the computers. On the other hand, humans are more capable of dealing with social interactions. Also, they don’t stop functioning when they are soaked. It is the combination of both worlds that efficiently accomplishes tasks. Instead of depending on technology to interact, engage in real-world situations with real people. Through the magic of technology, ideas formed in the human brain can become a reality in the world of electronic programming or engineering. The wide range of technology includes pharmaceutical advancements, automobile developments, aids for disabled people and much more. While aircrafts fly through the air, robots borrow through the earth, submarines uncover the depth of the ocean, and humans can become stronger, smarter, and faster without the relying on technology. Although technology has the ability to grant us conveniences impossible on our own, it should never be seen as a part of our bodies. Dependency on these machines slowly recreates the human identity of a person to turn he or she into an inhumane, bigot, and physically unfit individual. Every member of the twenty-first century should build habits to kick the brain into gear before modern-day gadget deteriorates the physical, emotional and intellectual characteristics of a person, making he or she feel uncomfortable within human environments. Learn to control both yourself and your technology to use them to your advantage. The iPhone may have a fashionable name, but is it really a part of you? Does it define you or does it slowly change you to think like a phone? It is not an “iPhone” after all, is it? So the next time you insert the keys into your car, think, and shift the gears to drive the car before it drives you.