Technology has become increasingly common in our everyday lives over the past few years. We have all had moments where our parents or professors have said to us “all you do is look at a screen all day!” or “when I was your age we actually went outside” and our response is usually some kind of shameful smile of realization that we do tend to spend a lot of our day in front of a screen. While I can agree that people of all ages use technology extensively, I think it has become clear that most of us can’t continue our day to day lives without it.
When I say our lives can’t continue without technology, I don’t mean it in a dramatic 16 year old who just had their phone taken away. I mean this in that a lot of our jobs and even school rely on accessibility to technology. For instance, many jobs use online time trackers instead of paper to keep track of hours. In the case of my summer job, without access to a computer or smartphone, I wouldn’t be able to personally log my hours, thus passing the job along to someone who isn’t responsible for calculating my time. Email is also extremely important when it comes to a job. I, and many people I know, receive countless emails a day with information on meetings, new procedures and even safety precautions. While some people prefer to check their emails once a day, I have a Gmail app that notifies me when I receive a new message. The ability to quickly check my email also helps me gain opportunities or take care of problems in a timely manner. Technology has become a way for us to communicate with each other at incredible speeds and I think we should be in awe of this capability.
In relation to our ability to communicate with each other quickly, our schooling has also become extremely reliant on technology. Professors, like most humans, have things come up where they must cancel class and tend to rely on email to let students know class won’t be meeting. Many schools also have online platforms that teachers use as a place to keep track of assignments, attendance and grades. Without technology, it would be a lot harder to catch up on a missed day of class or know what your current grade is. Technology also allows students to work together virtually on projects or help peer edit assignments. Google Drive has become a platform that allows us to work in groups without the stress of everyone’s busy schedules and provides a place for documents to be easily accessible and edited. Without technology, academics would not be as easy to manage.
On a personal level, technology makes keeping up with friends and family easier and faster than ever. There are many different social media platforms used to follow and share the latest news with our online “friends.” Whether it is Facebook albums filled with pictures of your latest vacation or a Snapchat story of your daily whereabouts, technology makes it all possible. It’s also so much easier to get in touch with each other to make plans or in the event of an emergency in comparison to hoping they are home to pick up the phone.
While technology can make our lives much easier, the amount of time one spends using it should be a personal choice. Can it become a problem in the work place, classrooms or personal relationships? Of course. However, it’s time that we realize the use of technology is inevitable and we should appreciate the incredible devices we have access to.
