Wesley Chandler

ENG 110

Prof. Miller

April 5th, 2024

The Hypnotizing Effect of Technology

Technology has played a crucial role on how we live our lives and get work done on a day to day basis. Whether it be us sending a simple text to our friend or working on our laptops to get some work done, the use of these devices always ends up finding time to end up in most of our days. Overtime technology has shown us that though it can be used in a very productive manner and a very negative way as well. These devices have caused us to lose our attention spans, struggle with in person conversations with our peers, and begin to affect us mentally as well. Kevin Kelley, a famous scientist who has studied people and the love they get for inanimate objects. Kelley’s concept of Technophilia sheds light on people’s continuous fascination with technology and its humongous  influence on our society. I was also able to get an insight on technology from a younger generations perspective by reading two of my classmates’ writings, Jack Thurmond and Cote Briggs. These two young and up and coming students at the University of New England shared how technology played a crucial role in their lives from a student athletes perspective and full time students insight in each of their writings. 

While technology does offer an endless amount of opportunities for progress and innovation, it also presents challenges and complications that require careful consideration by one. In Cote and Jack’s passages they discuss how technology has benefited both peers in many ways but has also affected their attention spans, affected their in person conversations with peers, and give them a sense of urge to want to be on those devices more. Kelley believes if we begin to embrace technology mindfully and very critically, we can be able to harness and grab its potential to create a more equitable, sustainable, and inclusive future for everyone. Now I do believe in Kelley’s concept, but I also believe some of the topics he brings up are not true. I believe that our society could use technology in a better way while still being able to use these devices in a healthier manner. One of the ways that we can focus on bettering our minds so we are not always drilled on our phones is beginning to have more in person conversations with our peers. 

One example that Kelley brings up is how one of his friends’ daughters reacted when she had her phone taken. In the text he brings up her outlandish reaction, “An acquaintance of mine has a teenage daughter. Like most teens in this century she spends her day texting her friends, abbreviating her life into character hints, flinging these haikus out to an invisible clan of mutual texters. It’s an always on job, this endless encapsulation of the moment. During dinner, while walking, on the toilet, lounging in bed, or in any state of wakefulness, to chat is to live. Like all teens, my friend’s daughter tested the limits of her parents’ restrictions. For some infraction or another, they grounded her. And to reinforce the seriousness of her misconduct, they took away her mobile phone. Immediately the girl became physically sick. Faint, nauseous, and so ill she couldn’t get out of bed. It was as if her parents had amputated a limb.” I completely agree with Kelley and have seen this myself. I have a four year old sister who is slowly falling in love with what technology is today  and honestly for her age impresses me how well she can use a tablet. If she asks my mother though for her tablet and does not get it she begins to act up. Throwing herself on the couch, having an attitude, and being rude to others just for a device she just started to use. Jack talks about how sometimes his phone can make him feel as well. In his passage he talks about some of the little things that might affect his day, “I have mini panic attacks before remembering it’s on my desk charging. As funny as this sounds, this is a real problem. Overattchment to our technology leaves us addicted to it. Without it, we would have trouble functioning. To me, this is when I realized how much of a chokehold technology has.” We begin to worry entirely on these devices and cause our brains to give us an attachment and can only cause some mental health issues. I believe that if we prioritize other things rather than our phones or computers all the time they won’t play as big of a role in our lives as they do now.

Another way in which technology has started to cause us to lose our focus, as Kevin Kelly brings up in his passage “Technophilia”, is through the constant occurrence of information overload. Kelly brings up how the continuous search result of digital information and the nonstop overflow of new content can overwhelm an individual. Making a person be difficult to filter and prioritize what truly matters in our society. In the passage, he discusses how the endless stream of emails, social media updates, news articles, and online content can overwhelm users. “But the internet is closer to the technological equivalence of a place. An uncharted territory where you can genuinely get lost. At times I’ve entered the web just to get lost. In that lovely surrender, the web swallows my certitude and delivers the unknown. Despite the purposeful design of its human creators, the web is a wilderness. Its boundaries are unknown, its mysteries uncountable. The bramble of intertwined ideas, links, documents, and images create an otherness as thick as a jungle.” In Cote’s passage, he talks about how technology has helped him in numerous ways including making friends and opening his education. Technology has enabled me to launch myself head-on into my studies, expanding as well as elevating the scope of my small-town education. It allowed me to pursue other opportunities, such as my dual-enrollment classes, my Medical Assistance internship, and to graduate in the top percentile of my class. Without the plethora of knowledge the internet provides, I wouldn’t have been able to sufficiently fuel my brain with the resources necessary to carry out these educational goals of mine.” For Cote’s instant I think it was great for him to be able to expand his knowledge through technology, but everyone that’s not the case and that’s what Kelley is trying to us. Though there are a lot of positive and beneficial things we could do with our computers or phones, it’s our choice on what we actually do with these devices. I can name countless times where I was supposed to be doing homework or a project and lost track of time watching a video instead, causing me to have to stay up later than I was supposed to. I believe if we were to put our phones on do not disturb or even not have them in our sight when it’s time to get work done that we could be much more efficient and actually learn what we are doing.