Living in a Smart World
In today’s society, it is hard to imagine a world without television, smartphones, and computers. The idea of not being able to ask “Alexa” what the weather is, or having instant updates of what each Snapchat friend is doing is unimaginable for teens and young adults now-a-days. For the iGen, what Jean M. Twenge calls the people born between 1995 and 2012, toys and books have been replaced with iPads and Kindles. This generation was born into, and will only know, what it is like living in the digital age.
The digital age, in general, has made day-to-day living easier for people. With the click of a few buttons people are able to order groceries without entering the store, schedule appointments without driving to an office, and communicate with people across the country. Technology, specifically the internet, has become a platform where people are able to research, shop, stay up-to-date with friends, and gain knowledge. The digital age has allowed society to advance in ways that people decades ago dreamed about. One example would be self-driving cars, as discussed in Lo and Behold: Reveries of the Connected World. Through the use of the internet, these cars are able to sense objects around them, and operate without aid from humans. As Sebastian Thrun describes in the movie, when a human makes a mistake driving, it takes practice to fix these errors. When a self-driving car makes a mistake, it takes a few adjustments to the software to fix. Technology is replacing human knowledge and skills quicker and easier. Along with these self-driving cars, robots are being constructed to perform tasks that will eventually take over the jobs of humans. In Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, robots are being constructed to help people in natural disasters and in situations where human bodies cannot survive. If a robot is able to perform the same labor as humans, quicker and more proficiently, the future is going to look a lot like the movie Robots.

These advancements in technology have created a society where every last bit of information is accessible through the internet. While this allows people to gain more knowledge quicker, is it also creating a lazier generation? When every answer is accessible through Google or Bing, it feels as though the traditional ways of gaining knowledge through a book is far-fetched. As Leonard Kleinrock discusses, the computer has become the worst enemy of critical thinking because students are relying on machines to give them answers without using their own knowledge first. Technology is advancing so far that one day the information that is learned in schools will be learned everyday on computers.
As someone born into the “iGen”, technology has shaped my life. Some of my earliest memories of a child are watching movies with my family, or fighting over who gets to use the computer after school. I remember getting my first iPhone when I was a sophomore in high school. Along with this iPhone, came the new world of Instagram and Twitter. Social media, while both a blessing and a curse, is a huge part of society today. Twenge hits upon the fact that the use of social media is creating a society where face-to-face interaction is less valued than screen-to-screen interactions. Teenagers are not hanging out with friends in person as much because they can communicate through their phones. In my own personal life, I often use social media as a platform to stay up to date with friends I do not see often. While it has been positive in that sense, social media has also been a negative factor in my life. It has turned into a platform where I am constantly comparing myself to other people, or feeling as though I am not living my life to its fullest potential due to what I see other people post. While reading Twenge’s article, I could not help but agree that social media has led me to the feeling of being alone. While I spent all summer working, I would see Snapchat stories of my friends hanging out and could not help but feel isolated.
Much like Orsen Welles described as “future shock”, or the feeling that nothing is permanent anymore, the advancements in technology just in my lifetime seem to be overwhelming. It feels as though every two years I am buying a new phone to keep up with the newest software, or looking at new televisions because the quality is not the best it could be. With constant improvements in day-to-day technologies, I know that the technology I use now will be out of date within the upcoming years. The joys of technology far outweigh the sometimes-overwhelming feeling of change within our world. Without technology, I would not be able to communicate with my family as easily, or further my education. When it comes to school, it would be impossible to be a student without technology. I cannot help but feel nostalgic for the days where the only school supplies you needed to be successful were a book, a notebook, and a pencil, but grateful for the knowledge technology has allowed me to gain. This digital era is a time period that has most of society wrapped around it’s finger. As much as people hate to admit it, our society would not survive without technology, and the further it advances, the more we will rely on it.
