Too Much Technology?

Too Much Technology?

By Reece Lincoln

Sentry Staff Reporter

 

One step forward in Technology, Two steps back for society.

About halfway through lunch the other day I looked up from my phone, where I happened to be breaking my high score on doodle jump, and I realized all twelve people at my lunch table were looking at their phones. Not only was everyone looking at their phones, but eleven out of the twelve people at my table had iPhones. I was flabbergasted at the idea that our lunch table had become totally consumed by our phones that we did not even talk to one another. Then of course, I received a text and it was back to being absorbed by the iPhone. In this day and age with all the technology around us, distractions are everywhere. One of the major components of these distractions emerges from iPhones. A large amount of the student body has an iPhone or smartphone, while those who do not may have an itouch or some form of an mp3 player. In the classroom it is a constant battle between teachers trying to teach and students trying to update Twitter during class. Just a couple of years ago, phones could only be used to text and talk while maybe reaching the internet at a very slow rate, whereas today someone can be on the internet telling you who won the Heisman trophy in 1980 in about six to seven seconds. Many could argue that this instant access to the world easily reduces stress in people’s lives due to less effort of communication, organization and never needing to go to the library again for research. But does it? In my personal opinion, I hate texting. I never know how to respond, what to say or I just say something dumb, which tends to add unnecessary stress. Also, when I get home and need to be doing my homework, that doodle jump game looks a lot more important to me than that homework. So I promise myself I will only play one game before I do my homework. Then that one game turns into five, which turns into twenty, which turns into who knows how many until I finally look at the clock and realize I have wasted about an hour and a half playing doodle jump, again. Not to mention reading Twitter, checking Facebook, listening to music or whatever other apps people have on their iPhones.

In my own opinion, iPhones have changed the way teenagers function in the high school atmosphere. People do not talk as much in the hallway due to looking down at their phones, listening to music or sometimes even talking on the phone. All these distractions have distanced ourselves from one another and become more centered around our electronics. Some people’s lives revolve around their phone like it was a respirator and that if it was removed they would die. Losing the addiction to our phones does not mean losing connection to the social word. A long time ago some people invented words and languages for us to actually talk to one another in person rather than text, chat or video chat. Human interaction seems to have been lost in a virtual world with this rapid race for technological advancement. How to avoid all these different distractions? Well if you have an iPhone with the latest software update, there is a great new feature called “Do Not Disturb.” The setting can be switched on and off to keep your phone from buzzing, ringing or showing any signs of receiving notifications while you are doing some other task. Also, you can modify this setting so that someone important, such as your parents, try to call you, the notification/call would be let through and your phone would buzz. It is very useful for not getting distracted while focusing on your work and not getting in trouble for ignoring that important phone call. If constant notifications keep you from going to bed, you can set a specific time that the “Do Not Disturb” setting turns on so those light sleepers can stay asleep instead of being woken up in the middle of the night to a sports center update.

A less technological way to deal with the temptation of electronics is to avoid them. When you get home put your phone somewhere else and do not go get it until you have finished whatever it is you need to do. But the best way to avoid iPhone or other electronic distractions? Just turn it off and get back to the real world.

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