Ever-Changing Technology

You’re watching the Super Bowl, I’m watching the Super Bowl, we’re all watching the Super Bowl live on our TVs…and we’re all talking about it on Facebook and Twitter sharing our comments the instant we notice something that we want everybody to know.  I might really like the half time singer and update my status to “THIS SINGER IS CRAZY AWESOME” and in seconds, others will comment their thoughts pertaining to this, “I totally agree.”  Technology has brought everyone closer, but is it in a good way? 

Technology has changed the English language, using funky words such as bro and totes for totally!  I try to avoid using such slang-technology language at all means, but my main use of technology is to help me academically.  Instead of going out and purchasing the physical copy of the book The Great Gatsby for English class, I can easily search it online, and within seconds be reading it saving on not buying the actual book and gas! 

            Research, too, has become so much easier.  Why go out to the library for that article from 1957 regarding the Cosmic Red Shift, when you can search the article on your tablet and read the sections that interest you right at the moment.  Research has become 100 times easier.  Twenty years ago high school students probably struggled on finding accurate research articles, but nowadays, students may struggle on the grammar much more than the actual research content for the essay.  I do not use any slang terms when writing my essays, but other students that may be addicted to social networking and texting may find writing an essay a bit of a challenge. 

            Texting has reached its apex.  Kids, teens, and adults are all texting.  Cell phones are not just your standard phones with a few buttons that can only call out and receive calls; they are the definition of how far technology has come.  A smart phone does so much.  You can even send a text message by talking to your phone, “send a message to mom saying pick me up at 6,” and in a few milliseconds that message is delivered.  Our society depends on cellphones and cellular connections a lot.  The phrase “live life at the moment” has become very, very common.  We constantly are sending texts, sharing pictures with the world, posting videos, receiving important emails, and so much more!

            Cameras have drastically changed, too.  The ability a camera has to zoom and have the picture remain clear is incredible.  Even the cameras on phones can produce great photos.  With this fantastic change in quality of pictures and the little time it takes to snap a pic, has changed our society greatly; people are always snapping photos.  That birthday cake you had for cousin Jim will likely be photographed by Auntie Jennie on her digital camera, Grandpa Joe on his tablet, cousins Lina and Tom on their phones, etc.  And likely each person snapped several pics of the same cake.  So many pictures on held on these devices’ memory cards, then transferred to their computers.  Then what about after that?  With thousands of pictures taken in the span of one year, our computers do not have unlimited memory and storage, neither do additional drop drives, etc.; what should we start doing with all these pictures and files?

            Society has really changed with the rise of technology.  We have become quite dependent on it and it seems to never completely fail us.  Should we keep using it the way we do and never expect technology to crash, or find different ways around it to stop transforming society?