Mia Lucci

ENG 110

Jesse Miller

18 September 2023

As someone born in the year 2004, new technology such as smartphones were slowly emerging in people’s lives. Not to say that I didn’t still grow up watching movies on VHS tapes and listening to music from CD’s and records, but the Apple iPod Shuffle was released only months after I was born. Although it may seem “ancient” nowadays, listening to music on a tiny electronic device was almost unfathomable considering the last similar technology was a Walkman. Social media was introduced to my generation around age 10-12 which filled our heads with vulgar language, obscene topics we shouldn’t have known about yet, and standards of all sorts regarding how we should look and act. Ultimately, this forced me to think more as an adult rather than a middle schooler. This “new and amazing” technology cultivated my entire way of speaking, thinking, reading, and writing. 

            Occasionally while drafting an essay, I’ll find myself rereading my work and notice that the words flow almost like a report or an article of some sort. I feel as though the words are flowing from my brain smoothly and lightly, yet my essay results in a work that comes across almost “news anchor style”, as I would compare it. I have come to dislike writing almost anything except for research papers for this exact reason. I find myself at a loss for words when attempting to write with any other tone and cannot seem to reverse it back. Nicolas Carr brings up the same point in Is Google Making Us Stupid? stating “[Friedrich Nietzsche’s] already terse prose has had become even tighter, more telegraphic.” This portion of his article is referring to the thought that when Nietzsche’s sight was fading and he transitioned his work over to the typewriter, his friend noticed a change in the writing style. Although I cannot be sure that my change in writing style and tone is based off the computers effect and not simply maturity, it is constantly a thought that lingers in the back of my mind. In the act of physically writing, it is not writing anymore. Everything is now done on computers, and it is common for kids in school to complain about having to hand-write something. Not only is technology affecting the tone of how people write, but also the act of handwriting.  Handwriting itself is not as good as it used to be, and cursive is not even taught anymore causing kids to think of it as foreign. Everything these days is abbreviated from the frequency of texting and few people use punctuation and grammar correctly. Many people cannot differentiate the different between “to and too” or “there, their, and they’re,” and this seems primarily to correlate with the extensive time spent online. Just as Kevin Kelley states in his essay Technophelia, “We are likewise embedded with technophelia, the love of technology.” It is almost as if our phones and computers are becoming attached to our bodies much like an additional appendage. 

            Still, through all the effects of technology on every other aspect of my life, I have yet to observe a correlation between technology and my reading habits. According to Nick Carr, people’s attention span is rapidly decreasing, and no one wants to invest their time into a lengthy article or a book. Growing up in the age of TikTok that limit their videos to 60 seconds, that proves to be true for most individuals of my generation as well. They would rather scroll mindlessly and not have to focus for more than a minute at a time than invest their time in something productive. Nicholas Carr states, “Even a blog post of more than three or four paragraphs is too much to absorb. I skim it.” This statement holds true to most of the individuals in my generation. In my case, I have not noticed a change in my attention span, for I still thoroughly enjoy sitting down and reading an interesting book and have no issue reading a lengthy article or essay. This is not to say that I do not witness this firsthand, for many of my close friends would not be able to sit through a book and would much rather use Sparknotes for the summery while completing as assignment. 

            Through all the negatives of technology, many forget the positives that come along with it. Technology is not only computers and smartphones, but also simpler items such as pens, pencils, and almost everything else around us. Carr uses the example of “pancake people” in his article and argues that becoming these so-called pancake people is going to be our outcome, yet he fails to recognize that without those objects nothing would be as we know it today. Although they may not be considered “modern technology,” they are technology, nonetheless. Cars and other modes of transportation are additionally considered technology, and I am almost positive people around today would much rather drive a car, take a train, or hop on a plane than ride around in horse and buggy or walking everywhere. I don’t believe that there can be a solid argument that there are no positives to the newer technology such as smartphones as well, and I’m sure it would be highly difficult to find one that is not arguable. For one, communication has never been so easy as it is today. One quick press of a button and you can call anyone you want without having to remember a single phone number. Furthermore, phones provide and easy way to take and keep photos all in one place, so every part of your memories are together. As someone who will admit to having over 10,000 items in her camera roll, it is safe to say that the teens and young adults of todays generation is obsessed with taking pictures, and with that comes the power to always keep them close with easy access while remaining to have the ability to print them out at a local CVS.

            Technology had affected a majority of individuals in the aspects of reading, writing, and their cognitive abilities, yet many often forget the positives that technology brings into our lives. It would be unfair to say that technology is completely detrimental, yet incorrect to say there is no negative outcome from it all. Technology had gotten to the point where it is almost frightening to think of what they will invent next now that AI and Deepfakes has become prominent and smarter than ever. It is getting easier and more accessible to ruin people’s lives, and we have no control over it.