Effects Of Technology Essay, Research Paper

The Effects of Technology

There is no escape from technology. In most cases this is not a problem though. Many people respect and admire technology because it is there to benefit them. Without the technological advances we have had over the years, the world would not be what it is today. What people don t understand is that technology can actually be a bad thing. In society today, people are looking for more and more ways to be entertained, and all it is doing is causing problems. People are doing less and less thinking and more and more watching, listening, and playing, all because of technology.

Forms of entertainment like the Internet, television and even video games seem harmless to people, but they are really not. When the Internet was first introduced, people never thought it would be as big as it is today. The Internet is an easy to use technology that can do just about anything. But what people don t understand is that the Internet is not all good. Much of the information posted on sites on the Internet is merely opinions, not factual information. When people look at this information, it looks and seems like trustful information, but most of the time, it is not.

Although the Internet is a relatively new technology, television has been around for about fifty years. There are many problems with television though,

mainly with the content of the shows. Many of the shows on television portray violence, drugs, sexual activity, and profanity. People who watch these shows see what the actors and actresses are doing and then feel it is all right for them to do the same things. If a kid is watching a show were one of the actors or actresses use profanity, they will feel it is all right for them to use the same language.

When television first came on the market about fifty years ago, families had one television at the most in the household, and most families only used the television for the news or for an occasional show or two. Today, it is a rarity if you find only one television in a household. Most families have numerous televisions in their house and use it more and more for entertainment purposes. People of all ages are addicted to television. On average, people watch about thirty hours of television a week. But the people who go beyond this mark are known to society as couch potatoes . The couch potatoes are the people who sit in front of the television for hours on end, and will only get out of their seat to get something to drink or to go to the bathroom. Social gatherings and even family communication is being affected by the amount of television people are watching. At the beginning, people didn t know what they were going to do with a television, but now the question is how could people survive without a television.

The Internet and Television are probably the two biggest technologies that are affecting people today. Video games though are another technology that is

affecting the individual, mainly teenagers and kids. Much like television, video game problems come with the content of the game. Many of the video games on the market today are structured toward violence. The objective of these games is to either beat your opponent up or kill your opponent. Kids play these games, and much like television, see what the game is portraying and feel it is all right to do the same things.

Whether it is the Internet, television, or even video games, technological advancements have their advantages and disadvantages. People never think that something that is said to be so good can actually have a bad side to it. People get too caught up in things sometimes that they forget what it is there for. People have to learn to use technology the right way so they can get the best out of it without overusing it.