Firstly, the quality of life. As mentioned earlier, technology had allowed work to be more efficient. However, when we look at this from a different angle, does it not mean more work? After all, if one is able to complete work so quickly, what does one do for the rest of the day? Thus, one is forced to continue to work, and work. This work is of course usually not difficult, a routine done daily will usually become simple. However, this work would be rather tedious and if one does not work fast enough, it results in a great amount of stress on a person. Even if a person does not feel stressed about work, people around that person would. They would not be able to spend time with that person and with the lack of social interaction, the quality of life would also thus decrease.
Next, life expectancy. I shall not talk about life expectancy in its usual sense, because surely, with more healthcare services, and technology being advanced enough to cure most illnesses, sickness and diseases, I shall instead talk more about accidents. Technology has definitely increased the severity of accidents. The accidents I am talking about, of course, is health-related, and not for example, accidentally spilling a cup of water. Cars crashing together certainly does much more damage than two horses crashing into each other. In fact, horses are less like to crash into each other, unless it is done purposefully, than cars are. Technology has also resulted in a greater of life-taking accidents. Recently, there has been quite a lot of similar events where a person who is messaging, taking a call or listening to music gets crashed into by a car and thus, result in that person's death. Technology has definitely made humans more vulnerable to accidents.
Thus, in conclusion, while technology has improved the standard of living for most people, except possibly extremely poor people, the quality of life and vulnerability to accidents of humans have certainly degraded.
Dear Kai En,
ReplyDeleteToday we are told by many people that technology is here to make our lives easier. For example, the microwave helps us cook food faster, the internet helps us get information faster and allows us to stay connected with friends, family and business associates, and the aeroplane has allowed us to travel faster.
However, I too, feel that technology has indeed brought about much more stress. In the past, people had, as you said, less work, and they could spend more time resting and loafing around. I agree that now, technology has given us much more stress, but I would also like to add that technology has formed a barrier between social cohesion. In the past, people usually got out together, and they usually played together and basically they were with their friends a lot of their free time as there was really nothing much else they could do. However, with technology, people spent much less time with their friends, as there are so many other things to do such as surfing the net, playing online games, watching television, and much more.
Technology has given us a choice. Most of us choose to use technology to isolate ourselves by staying at home. I guess I would be a culprit of this too.
Anyway, having said all this, I would like to conclude by saying that your post has really given me much incite, and allowed me to ponder over the issue of how technology really impacted our lives.
Regards,
Nicholas :D
Dear Kai En,
ReplyDeleteI understand your arguments for this topic of technology being a progressive undoing of human race. What you are saying is that technology has failed in providing us with what we had originally aimed for it to be able to do for us. However, how do we measure benefits? By seeing whether its merits outweigh its demerits. Alright, perhaps cars might result in car accidents that kill many people, but arguing along that line, I can also say that the invention of cars saved many lives - before there were ambulances, injured people took very long to get to the hospital, and many died of their injuries by then. However, after the invention of cars, this problem has been solved. As such, I believe that technology has helped.
Overall, I feel this is quite a good effort in an attempt to play a role of a "pessimist".
Wen Hong