Why Are We Addicted To Technology

IN BRIEF: In this article we investigate the cause for our addiction towards technology. We look into the evolution of technology, it’s motive, and it’s currect perception.

Technology Brings Sophistication

Right from hand made tools, to VR gadgets, technology has propelled human evolution at a tremendous pace. Our evolutionary trajectory has been peppered with technological inventions, saving time, money, and most importantly lives of many people. Let me give you some amazing inventions that are more important than, lets say a Selfie Stick.

1. Automobile

2. Radio

3. Television

4. Laser

5. Personal Computer

6. Wireless Technology

7. Manned Spaceflight

8. Airplane

9. Radar

10. Magnetic Tape

11. Plastics

12. Global Networks

13. Discovery of how to split an Atom

14. Artificial Intelligence

15. Cutting Back on Melanoma Biopsies

16. Electronic Aspirin

17. Needle-Free Diabetes Care

18. Robotic Health Check-Ups

19. A Valve Job with Heart

The aforementioned inventions have made a remarkable mark on all of our lives in one way or another. That is how we let technology positively influence our wellbeing.

Technology For Social Connectivity And To Lead Efficient Lives

There were times when we had to wait for ages to exchange information among ourselves. The first global attempt at sharing coded messages, using technology, can be attributed to the messages shared during war times. These were coded so that it seemed obscure to rivals, but made sense with precise orders to intended people.

THE ENIGMA was a machine developed and used to protect commercial, diplomatic and military communication. This piece of technology was invented at the end of World War I. Alan Turing, with his cohorts spent many months to figure our a way to decode the cryptic messages exchanged between the Germans and their allies, sent using The Enigma (a German Invention).

Alan and his team succeeded in breaking the codes. Today Alan’s concepts of algorithm and computation with the Turing machine are considered a model of a general purpose computer.

Besides the important and coveted inventions, there have been many other equally viable ones such as touch screen devices, the internet, medical instruments and equipments, etc have helped us lead safe, effective, and sophisticated lives.

Now, we can save a lot of time and money by conducting a Video Call with anyone on the planet, right from a small room with minimal technology. Ideas can be exchanged, improved upon, all with pressing a few buttons. A son sitting in his apartment in Los Angeles can talk to his mother in Bangalore, over a video call.

The positive effects of technology have no bounds. It is just that we are still trying to figure out how to push the barriers further and further for the betterment of humankind.

Technology Hypnosis

All this sophistication, in many ways has made us couch potatoes. We use the technological innovation on the computer or the phone to share and watch pictures of cats defecating, to playing mindless games on the Social Media, and to provoke ideologies and feelings.

Let us forget about the negative usage on a macro level, let us scrutinise the impact at the micro level. We all do these:

1. Spend hours in front of the TV watching moronic shows

2. Spend hours on Facebook and YouTube reading, commenting, watching, mindless BS

3. Playing FIFA for days together on the couch

5. Uploading a million photos of your children (who cares what your child burrped)

6. Enormous amount of selfies of men and women tilting their heads to look “cute”

7. Spending a lot of money to upgrade mobile phones for no obvious reason

You see, the list of rants can go on for eternity. The point I am trying to make is not to degrade the aforementioned acts. Because all of these are in some way necessary to unwind. But, only if done in moderation. I reckon most of us have more Facebook friends than real ones. We Tweet a lot more than speaking to people in the house. We click more pictures than experiencing our travels. We write more than we think.

So, What’s Next?

Honestly, most of us don’t seem to care about how and where technology will take us. Though I would have to agree that not every aspect of technology is bad. But the idea is to put technology to better and smart use to save time and money.

To spend the saved time and money on things which either improves oneself or the communities we occupy. What do you think? Comment below.