Negativity In Technology

In recent years, new discoveries in technology have gained an increasing role in making tasks easier and faster to perform. Keeping databases, sending emails, and communicating around the world are only some of the examples that technology can do. It also has a strong impact on education, especially with the use of online textbooks, online classrooms and assignments, online databases for learning purposes, and so forth. However, some critics believe that technology has become one of the main distractions both at school and at work, and it has the tendency to hinder brain development. Although there are many arguments about the negativity in technology usage, the benefits of technology in our daily life far outweigh the risks. Since the introduction of technology, the society has experienced a variety of improvements. Indeed, there are many sources that can be distracting to students, however, it is not always the case. An example is the case of comic books in the 1950s when everyone thought that these violent comic books could negatively affect the minds of the adolescents, which could turn them into lawbreakers and violent individuals. The result showed otherwise as the crime rate was at a record low. Similarly, video games in the 1990s were also viewed as a negative influence to the young minds but the crime rate in America in the same period was actually falling. Furthermore, the rise of television, radio, and music videos in the past decades positively correlated to the rise in IQ scores. Therefore, the introduction of technology not only reduces the actual crime rate but it also helps increasing human intelligence. The human brain is built around our memories and experiences along with other senses that we encounter every day. When individuals start to use an electronic device, their brain changes accordingly to adapt to the new information. One popular belief states that when the brain learns a new cognitive skill, an existing one weakens. Contrary to such statement, psychologists Chabris and Simons believed that the “effects of experience are highly specific to the experiences themselves”. In this case, the individuals who are trained to use a particular electronic device will be much better at it compared to other individuals but not at the expense of dulling an existing experience. Moreover, studying history does not make one better at drawing art and playing memory games does not increase your memory capability. People cannot simply expect an expert on one operating system to perform task on a completely different operating system. As Steven Pinker, a psychology professor at Harvard, mentioned in his article named “Mind Over Mass Media,” “accomplished people don’t bulk up their brains with intellectual calisthenics; they immerse themselves in their fields.” Rather than sacrificing a cognitive skill, these people are …show more content…
In one of his argument, an experiment was done to find out how distracting and disruptive internet can be in an educational context. During a lecture, one control group was given computers with internet access and the other without any computers. The result was obvious: the group without any distractions performed much better on the follow-up test than the others. However, it is important to note one key point, which is each and every individual have control over their own will so they can choose whether or not they should use the computers. The value of education also plays a part in this decision. If an individual does not value his or her education as much and chooses to use the computer, then it will come as no surprise that the individual performs poorly on the examination. On the other hand, if another individual values his or her education and has the right to use the computer during lecture, that individual certainly can have a choice to turn it off and focus on the lecture. Therefore, even though the experiment can be convincing, the value of education and individual decision can very well alter the aforementioned …show more content…
Instead of blaming on the technology itself, people should try to improve their self-control. Turn off all notifications from the social media website when studying, put the phone on silent when working, or put the phone on airplane mode when sleeping at night are all reasonable solutions that individuals can try to minimize the distractions and focus better on the task at