Today, most humans living in first-world countries are completely, fundamentally, addicted to and dependent on technology. We have entered a period of time where from birth, children know nothing other than the glow of a screen and the ding of an app. We have trapped ourselves within ourselves, burdened by our own ingenious inventions. No longer experiencing the fullness of life, we have placed ourselves in a constant state of in-between. We are never in just one place. We have created technological versions of ourselves and scattered them across a new dimension known as the internet. We have become clones, worshipping technology.
While the level of intensity of our dependence may be shocking, it’s not a surprise. It’s no secret that social media has taken much of the world by storm, and that we have fallen helpless to its force. It’s not that the media is inherently bad or evil. In fact, the unfortunate truth of our current state as a society is caused entirely by ourselves. It is the human condition alone that does not allow us to appreciate a privilege without becoming dependent on it.
It’s ironic -- we have purposely created our own mortal fate. We are living without living.
Social media can be a wonderful resource for education, socializing, creativity, and information. It has its place. Take YouTube, for example. YouTube has turned into an interactive center for meeting people and creating content. It’s an incredible resource to have access to, yet when combined with countless more apps and websites, it has become a part of a much larger web that is essentially causing the downfall of humanity. Instead of placing ourselves in a situation where we are forced to learn and grow, we are placing ourselves in a situation where our entire lives are cushioned and we have every piece of knowledge at our fingertips. We have too much access to things that we can easily discover for ourselves if we only put in the effort that it takes. We are prohibiting ourselves from advancing any further as a society.
Yet, we are advancing. In fact, we have never advanced so much in such a short period of time than we’re doing right now because of technology. Every day we are making groundbreaking discoveries, and with all tools available, we are so much more able to unlock discovery than ever before.
You see, while it’s complicated, I have come to this conclusion: it is not the use of technology for making advancements in society that is destroying us, but the use of technology for allowing ourselves to not have to work to advance ourselves. It’s the fact that we have grown so comfortable with social media and technology that we depend on it as a safety blanket, assuming that we will always have it instantly.
We need to find a balance between utilizing what we’ve created and submitting to the digital world completely. And, in order to do this, we have to consciously alter the human condition - and that’s a whole other article.
