Making the world more efficient would make the world better. The same goes for our brains. Society has a lot to say about the technologies that would make both more efficient, and not all of the feedback is positive.

Society must embrace the idea of an ever-changing world and brain that allows the human race to progress. Not doing this would cause stagnancy.

Efficient World

Merriam-Webster defines efficiency as “the ability to do something or produce something without wasting materials, time, or energy.”

There are a number of  technologies directed towards making your life more efficient. Pamela Lund speaks about some items we use everyday and more advanced tech coming in the future.

These everyday items are the Internet, social media, and GPSs. More advanced tech we have no include augmented and virtual reality, 3D-printed food and limbs, and robots. Future tech like smart homes,. All being developed and improved to make your life easier.

Imagine food on demand or lipstick that will always match your skin tone? Nervous about that dress you found online looking good on you? No worries! You can try it on from home via your webcam. No-fuss shopping, no time wasted, and no unused or unwanted products!

Efficient Brain

Technology changes the way your brain works. When you prune away necessary tasks and brain functions, you make way for new ones leaving room for new brain functions and tasks. This pruning away helps you adapt to an ever-changing world.

Think of what we can accomplish when we our brains makes every task easier. Multitasking will give us more time. Open brain space will give us the chance to think of more idea. More ideas means more advancement.

Problems with Technology and Efficiency

These advancements sound great to some people, but to others they sound like the demise of the youth and future generations. But who’s to say easier means worse? Making simple tasks and communication easier can free up space for moving forward.

If we disconnected from the Internet and the technology we use, we would take ourselves back hundreds of years of progress. People across the world would never be able to connect with people of like-mind. Waste and inefficiency will run rampant. Our brains will stay the same.

This is not ideal and it just won’t happen. There is too much riding on technology in today’s society that people are just not willing to let go. Multitasking leads to time efficiency leads to room to expand leads to new possibilities leads to advancement.

To those who lift their nose at technology, I ask you to suggest what you would suggest? A stagnant world, the human race never growing or changing?

Sorry, friends, we will progress.

Works Cited

Carr, Nicholas G. The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains. Kindle. New York: W.W. Norton, 2011. Print.

"Efficient." An Encyclopedia Britannica Company. Merriam-Webster. Web. 26 Mar. 2015.

    Generation Y found itself thrown in the middle of a technological revolution. Technology rapidly advanced in new ways previously unconceived. But should we be so quick to welcome this technology revolution with open arms?

 The Social Media Case

     There is a societal pressure to be active on social media. Social media is now a second social environment. Here we engage whomever we desire. Whether it be close friends, or complete strangers. We display our personal information. As well as some of our deepest thoughts and opinions on these sites. This can very useful for connecting with friends and family. Yet, at the same time that same information loses its privacy. 

    Depending on privacy settings, a family picture can be found by anyone. It’s a little troubling that we are socially pressured into having a personal display of our lives for everyone to see. Profile sites are our own exhibits in the Zoo called the internet. We are the animals. We act normal as people watch our every move through the glass.

    That’s a dark way of thinking about it. After all we all consciously make the decision to hit post. We decide what we want to share to the world. And who we want to see it. This makes social media a powerful tool.

“With great power comes great responsibility” Uncle Ben (Spiderman)

Much of the negativity that comes with social media stems from misuse. People making ignorant and offensive statements being at the helm. But this is bound to happen when you give everyone access. But what is promising is the extensive news coverage on twitter. 

     People now have the ability to instantly see what's happening in the world around them. Breaking news stories can be found solely using twitter. Highly credible journalists use twitter to share news and breaking articles.

     Hands down the biggest benefit to the social media is its role on communication. Ideas can be spread instantaneously. Anyone can broadcast their message with a single click. Social media is providing a platform for everyone to be heard. Not just the big guys. Information is no longer controlled in the hands of a few. As a result people have instant access to their entire world around them. So despite our increasing reliance on social media, it should be cautiously welcomed.

Our society’s heavy reliance and social pressure towards social media is troubling. This virtual world we’ve created is growing exponentially. Where do we draw the line of living in a cyber-world? We run the risk of a society that is disconnected from the real world, and connected to a cyber-one.  

Our world is quickly moving toward a future where we will lose our ability to think for ourselves, and therefore lose our brains as well.

Circuitry Rewiring, and You

While some might argue that connection to technology will improve our lives, Nicholas Carr, a Pulitzer Prize finalist and best selling author, speaks out against it. He argues that by becoming dependent on it, we become a part of the technology we use. Technology replaces our need to think for ourselves, and we lose valuable skills in the process.

Through years of use, we slowly change our brains and the way we think. We create new neural paths in our brains that are wired for quick thinking rather than deep thought. More now than ever, people become impatient in short amounts of time and can’t focus on detailed tasks.

Constant connection rewires our brains and changes the way we interact with the world.

Lowered Performance: The New Norm

As a society we have devalued and removed the need for deep thought and reflection. Even in academics, few students read whole textbooks any more. People who are considered the intellectually elite in our nation are incapable of sitting through a required text.

Even at a lower level, kids are being diagnosed with ADHD in higher numbers than ever. Some believe excessive use of technology may  “[erode] a child’s ability to focus attentively when [they are] back in the ho-hum, real-time world.” (Alderman)

Pamela Lund: Mindset of Positivity

Some, such as Pamela Lund, author of Massively Networked, argue that this connection will allow us to improve society. Through an inter-connected society we can improve medical help, social interaction, and even the way that we impact the environment. She argues that in order for society to move forward, we must embrace change and use it to our advantage.

Reality Kicks In

While Lund takes a positive look at the future of technology, she fails to discuss its impact on our thinking. Gone are the days when people memorized information and called each other on the phone. We have a strong reliance on our technology that blinds us, and can potentially put us in danger.

We have become socially inept, and hide behind the screens of our computers and phones when dealing with the world. We assume that technology will save us in times of crisis and confusion; yet these assumptions require the use of internet access and a battery charge.

False Security: Technology Drawbacks

Teenagers are traditionally seen as the age group of stupidity, due to their lack of life experience. Yet if you were to ask an adult which numbered exit on the highway would bring you back to the other side, standard teaching in driver’s ed class, most wouldn’t know the answer. Neither would the teens.

GPS has replaced our need for simple directional knowledge, and most people rely on it. We fail to memorize directions, and have difficulty finding new destinations. We flounder without our technology.

Even things like safety are taken for granted. We look things up on our phone when we don’t know what to do, or we ask someone who knows. What about Hydroplaning? Slipping on ice? Try googling that before you hit the guard rail.

Dangerous Paths: What We’re Losing

Society has devalued the need to remember important information. Our phones are our source of information nowadays, not our brains. We have become a part of our machines by using our technology, and we forgo our ability to survive on our own. New generations believe that their way of life is superior, but society is forgetting the value of old ways of living.

Today’s society would flounder without its new brain; one that can easily be taken away. Therein lies the danger of relying on an outside source of information. Times of crisis and times without access to power quickly cripple those who rely too heavily on technology.

By letting machines take hold of the work our brains are meant to do, we lose not only our skills, but our identities as well. As we move forward in time, we lose the skills that have gotten us to this point. Without those skills we become dumb, and move backward rather than forward.

Works Cited

Alderman, Lesley. "Does Technology Cause ADHD?" EverydayHealth.com. Ed. Kevin O. Hwang. Everyday Health Media LLC, 31 Aug. 2010. Web. Mar. 2015. Carr, Nicholas. The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains. New York: W.W. Norton, 2011. Print.

Tech has played an integral role in shaping human’s lives throughout out our history. Current tech has brought us to a new age of enlightenment and connection. 

The Rise of the Super Human

The growth of tech has led to a rise of super humans. Our tools have moved from sticks and stones to computers and phones. We are capable of anything. We have a vast library of knowledge at our disposal. With the tech power we possess, are we reaching its full potential? Or are we using it trivially to handicap ourselves?

Nicholas Carr would argue that tech is morphing our brains negatively. We are destroying neural pathways that help deep thought and long term memory. All in exchange for Internet efficiency. Carr is right that our brains have changed. Negatively? Not quite.

Technology is King

The human race has followed a natural pattern of tech advancement. We have constantly changed: culture, mindsets, lifestyles; always making room for the newest thing. Humans long for relevancy. We seek to find the next greatest thing. It’s hard to believe Nicholas Carr when he is against everything that world has stood for. As humans we have always adapted and embraced the newest tech to push ourselves to new enlightenment. Why change now?

Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger

To believe that tech has severely handicapped us would be a false assumption. Humans can and will evolve. Though we do lose different neural networks, we build new, faster ones in their place. We can move around the web and search for info faster than we could going to a library.

People like Carr would argue that we are losing an important skill to deeply analyze books and learn from them. Books are not our only source of deep thought, though. In actuality, we’ve sped up the process. If I want to know something that I didn’t know, I don’t need to go to a library. The answer is in my pocket. I can get it instantly. Tech has made us infinitely more efficient.

Imaginative Tech

Pamela Lund discussed how tech gives rise to creative imagination. Everyone has the ability to create new things and find new ways to interact with their world. You don’t need to be a scientist or doctor, you could be a kid learning how to make a mini computer to help feed your cat. Anything is possible.

We have enhanced every part of our lives: socially, economically, medically, agriculturally, infrastructurally, etc. by applying tech.

The Future Now

With the use of phones and computers we have transformed ourselves into Human 2.0’s. Today we’re taking it a step further.  We’re working on meshing tech directly into the physical world with the use of virtual and augmented reality. I can wear glasses that show me directions as I walk down the street. Just a couple of years ago it seemed like a gimmick, but this year it is completely real and working. Human 3.0 is on the horizon.

We have modified our lives positively with tech, and we will continue to in a myriad of ways. Though there is change involved and there are negative effects to any new thing, tech will continue to evolve us and bring us to enlightenment. Tech will continue to make us think imaginatively. We will adapt and continue to create great new tools to further help preserve and perpetuate the human race.

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Works Cited

Carr, Nicholas. The Shallows. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2011. Print.

New technologies emerge every day and change our lives.  Companies compete to get the newest, coolest devices out the fastest.  All these new toys are changing the way that we think as individuals and as a society, and we are adjusting to these changes to reap the benefits.

Whether or not these changes are good has been debated at length by writers, such as Pamela Lund and Nicholas Carr, scientests and even the general public have opinions on these changes.  I believe that the changes that are happening to our brains are more than just good, they are progressing us as a society.

Technology Duality

Our ability to concentrate on one thing at a time is going down.  On the flip side, we are better than ever at multitasking.  We have trouble socializing with strangers in the real world, but are socially networked with everyone we have ever met.

In The Shallows, Nicholas Carr laments how the creation of new tech is changing the world.  I believe that this change is progress.  True, our obsession with getting the newest gadget, and moving to the best area, has contributed to our environmental troubles. 

But there is a lag in progress whenever something big changes our society.

Connected Age

Our new connectedness is allowing us to share more than ever.  We are able to get info to each other without the government or news stations helping us.  We know the truth about violence in India, and the educational system in Europe. 

I know that if I lived in India I would be at a higher risk of violence, rape, murder, and oppression.  And if I lived in Europe, I wouldn’t be struggling to afford my higher education.  All we need is some random person somewhere to post some information online and that info could easily go viral.

Advantages and disadvantages to technology can be seen all around us.  Children who spend their time playing a lot of video games have higher reflexes.  But these same children have lost their ability to connect to nature, and tend to have problems with obesity.

People have become accustomed to instant information.  They are happy to know a little bit of everything, but not a lot about one thing.  Where is the middle ground?

What are the solutions to these disadvantages? 

Moderation

My generation has seen the highest jump in technology.  We operate with it like it is a part of our being. 

But we are becoming adults and seeing the consequences to constant tech. 

The newest generation are being raised by the first wave of parents who had their own videogames, TV’s, and computers while growing up.  These same parents, who were plopped down in front of the TV as children, are consistently finding ways to give their children the best of both worlds. 

My nephew is five years old.  He watches TV, he craves to learn to read new books, he dances to music, he builds with Legos, and he plays outside.  He has moderation in his childhood. 

We are learning in response to technology that technology is good when used in moderation.

New Minds

Technology will help us make the world a better place.  Sure, it will change the way that we act, but this is natural.

Society changed with the discovery of fire.  With the ability to tell time, to travel around the world on boats, with planes, trains, and cars.  Oil has changed our world.  The advent of cities, of the minting of money, the ability to write, and the invention of the telephone have all changed the world and society and we always made it work.  The same thing will happen with this ‘Connected Age’ and our changed minds.

Change is natural, and we always adapt.

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Works Cited

Leaping from Deep Concentration to Mindfulness

The Web’s central role in people’s lives advances human culture. Past advances included TV, radio, and books. They brought about similar changes, but on a smaller scale. They promoted concentration. I would argue that the internet promotes mindfulness.

Once, people needed to focus on individual data streams. Preserving and sharing knowledge used to require long texts like books and scrolls. Now people channel many streams of data thanks to the Web. Self-awareness adapted from deep concentration – a step forward, not a step back.

Nicholas Carr: The Critic of Internet Thinking

Carr’s book The Shallows argues that the Web makes people lose their ability to focus. Carr writes that “the Net seizes our attention only to scatter it” (118). People online receive a constant stream of notifications. Apps, messages, and websites distract and disrupt us while we try to process other information.

"The mental functions that are losing the 'survival of the busiest' brain cell battle are those that support calm, linear thought," he writes (142). Over time, Carr fears deep though will completely lose that battle. The cost will be our ability to think deeply - a set back one might compare to the Dark Ages.

Recognizing Cognitive Evolution’s Potential: Pamela Lund

In Massively Networked, Lund argues that the children of the information age will have a bright future. For her, taking part in the “network” creates a richer inner experience (38). In a way, she believes that the connection of every part of our lives to the network provides an interface to better know ourselves.

Lund’s introduction rings like anathema to Carr’s fears. She writes that “Engaging in a perpetually changing reality successfully requires an entirely different strategy than relying on a static set of stories - it requires actively engaging the imagination” (18). For Lund, the realities of the age mean more than losing the ability to focus. The Web - the network - calls us to imagine and reflect.

Lund conveys a grand sense of enthusiasm for the Web’s effect on our lives. Unlike Carr, her vision of the future does not fear for our culture and our minds. In Lund’s future, the potential for growth grows because of the internet, not in spite of it.

Works Cited

Carr, Nicholas. The Shallows. New York: W. W. Norton & Compant, 2011. Print.