By Amy Balagna Posted April 22, 2009
Each morning as you slap the snooze button on your digital clock for the second or even third time, and you stumble out of bed, your day has begun with the miracle of technology. Perhaps your father texts you to get out of bed each morning, as mine does. Could we live a second without technology?
We have incorporated technology in every aspect of our lives, from health to education. And these advances should certainly not be opposed. The life-saving technologies that have been created thanks to the technological revolution have saved countless lives. The change came swiftly and it was welcomed by most. But, having this technology for my entire life, I have begun to wonder if I can live without it. Can you?
Throughout the past, there has been opposition to our technological advances. Ted Kaczynski, the Unibomber, for example, took his anti-technology ideas so far he killed three people and injured as many as 23. At the beginning of his manifesto, which he published shortly before being arrested, he explains the detrimental effects the industrial revolution has had on the human race. The manifesto warns us of the innocent beginning, and the rapid growth, and eventually the painful downfall the technological revolution will have.
“We are going to argue that industrial-technological society cannot be reformed in such a way as to prevent it from progressively narrowing the sphere of human freedom. But because ‘freedom’ is a word that can be interpreted in many ways,” writes the Unibomber in the 93rd point in his manifesto. Has technology actually narrowed our freedoms? Not constitutionally, but personally? Are we enslaved by our cell phones and laptop computers?
There is constant chatter in the hallways of Lowry about the poor teenager who feels lost after her texting has been taken away, or the convulsions felt after the music student forgot their iPod. Although this is exaggerated, it’s frightening. It shows how young we have become dependant on the luxuries of technology. This horrifying realization only supports claims that the modern world is built on the basis of technology.
Kaczynski’s ideas were extreme, but I can see the validity of his argument. Perhaps we should be wary of so many quick technological advances. Sudden changes can be dangerous When will it stop, and how? Perhaps there will be no end, technology will evolve with our needs creating an easier, happier life. Who knows?
