Post 1 (Edited Post September 7, 2014)

The question I would like to focus on or address throughout this post is directly taken from the August 29^th lecture. The question is as follows, “At what cost should humans continue to include technology in everything? In all cases? Criteria?”

My simple answer to this question would be “no”. In the recent past, many humans who live in modern society have adapted to include technology in their lives, whether it is in the work place setting, or at home. For example, up until the last few years, most health records were kept as paper copies and if an employee wanted access, he or she would have to seek out a hard copy. Nowadays, past medical history can be accessed via health portals that hospitals have set up. Similarly, many years ago, most farming was done by hand and required man labor and large amounts of time. However inventions such as the cotton gin, tractor and plow have all increased efficiency in farming and reduced risk for injury.

However, the question that must be asked is, “Does all this modernization and overreliance on technology have consequences?” I believe the answer is “yes”, and the consequences are related to societal and personal issues. As technology is embraced and continues to advance at the current rate, more technical jobs will be available. This means the younger generations will pursue technical careers as opposed to working as a mechanic, farmer, or other so called “blue-collar” occupations. The problem with this scenario is that the younger generations will begin to look down on those who continue to work blue-collar jobs and thus create societal differences.

Based on my experiences, there are definitely negative effects of overreliance on technology. For example, I remember up until middle school my handwriting was very neat and did not have to “cross out” or erase as much. An unintended consequence of overusing keyboards and texting affects when I handwrite something. As infrequent as it may be, my penmanship is poor and I find myself making mistakes in grammar and my writing does not flow as it once used to.

Hence, after the examples stated above and my personal experiences, I believe that the mechanization of everything will ultimately hinder an individual’s ability to complete basic tasks such as handwriting. It may seem like I am against the development of robots and technology, but it is quite the opposite. I am and have been inspired by robots and even wanted to become a robotics engineer for much of my childhood.  Nevertheless, there are some aspects of life that should remain “machine free”.

Returning to the central question, the “criteria” aspect should be discussed thoroughly. I believe that in the classroom technology should not completely consume everything we do. For example, more and more, teachers prefer their students to type assignments. However, this leads to poor handwriting and the Internet can cause distractions to students who are trying to complete homework in a timely manner.