Technology as a Power
To many people, technology blends into our life so well that we never stop to realize how much influence it has onus. Ever since the invention of the light bulb, our lifestyles have changed dramatically. We are now able to work longer hours and are able to do things that we never thought we could. As it said in Neil Postman’s reading, “Technology doesn’t add or subtract from us, it changes everything.�
Through the invention of such things as iPods, Video Games, Cell Phones, and other technology, our lives have become more convenient.
Today when we need to call someone, we just use our cell phones. We no longer have to look for pay phones. In some countries, pay phones have even gone extinct. I have become so dependent on that I cannot leave the house without my cell phone because it has been a big part of my life for close to four years.
Another example of how technology influences our lives is the invention of the Internet. Now that we have the Internet, people can find any information with out leaving the comfort of our homes. I’m not gonna lie, but I have made more trips to the library as a child than the college student that I am now and I am having difficulty dealing with the fact that I have to get an actual book because I got so use to looking up all the information on the Internet from Junior high and High school.
Another way that the Internet has changed our lives is the Instant Messaging programs well known as AIM. Teenagers these days are so influenced that they are on it all the time talking to people. The phrase “talking to people� doesn’t even mean actually talking to people in person. It can be talking to people online, text messaging, or even e-mails. I believe that through the availability of new technology, some words have lost its true meaning. Today we do not need to talk to people in person as much as we use to and I think that it is hurting us in a way that some people are becoming less and less social in person. Again with the AIM as an example, we may talk to a certain person online, but not when it comes to in person.
When I think about technology and power, I think of electronic companies and other corporations. Whatever they come out with, we accept it as a new technology that is supposed to be a good thing. These companies have so much control over our lives that they make their products so that we keep on buying and encourage incorporating their products in our lives. Some examples of this is the Apple corporation and Sony. Apple came out with the iPods and almost everybody today has one. Sony always causes chaos with its release of new Play Stations. Recently, when the PS 3 was released a man was shot and killed while trying to buy one of them. There were others that got trampled in the crowd rushing to get their hands on the new technology. Many people camped out days, outside the store just for a Video Game.
As long as these companies keep on coming out with new products, I don’t think that we will ever get over the technopolies that we have encountered in our lives and those companies will continue to control the way we live.