Life Without Electricity

Created on Wednesday, 10 November 2010 19:31 | Sharyn Byers |
Growing up in the 2000s must be so much different than anyone could have ever expected. |
With everyone having the newest cell phones, gadgets and shortcuts to help them better their everyday lives, it provokes the question, “What did we do before we became so reliant on technology?”
Part of growing up is learning how to think for yourself and getting through certain situations on your own, but with programs or apps that do it for them, how will individuals ever learn through experience?
I heard my younger cousin ask my grandparents over fall break what “rewinding videos” meant. I literally laughed out loud, but then realized how much older that made me feel. These little instances remind me how advanced this world is getting.
While watching television the other night, I came across “Back to the Future.” The entire series was airing, and I had never seen it.
I was so interested in seeing how the future was portrayed in movies from the past and just what they thought might happen.
Well, hovercrafts have not been invented yet and our clothes do not dry themselves, but what I believe has happened has been less convenient and more harmful to our everyday lives.
Sure, it might be convenient when we are shopping to use our song identifier to find out the name of that new song, but when we can use our cell phones to track other people on Facebook, one has to think, where is the line drawn and how is this going to affect future generations?
This is turning our basic knowledge upside down, and I believe children who grow up in this technological society are going to be at a strong disadvantage to those that have not.
I am by no means against the furthering of technology when it benefits our society positively.
Our new and innovative technology is also taking the personality of simple things in life, such as sitting down to read a book.
I am a firm believer that storing an entire library on one’s Kindle could never replace the feeling of sitting down in your favorite chair to read an actual book that you could flip the pages in, feel the binding or smell the pages.
This is a huge part of why people love to read.
However, the more our world progresses, the more people want things instantly.
If you have seen the lines and lines of people waiting in malls when a new video game is released or Apple comes out with a new product, then you, too, know where I am coming from.
Another downfall is cell phone usage. While at first it was convenient to always have a phone close by for emergencies, accident rates have increased because of talking and texting while driving.
Many states have banned cell phone usage while driving. This is a huge issue that is difficult to resolve, not to mention cell phone services are such a profit now, they are charging huge monthly fees with Internet packages and texting plans included.
Phones can now have voice detectors which I consider a huge step in cell phone advancement. Twenty years ago this would have been in a movie.
One instance one might not think about right off is cable companies. I was informed of an article in USA Today that stated more people are dropping their cable companies due to Hulu and Netflix.
Television with an Internet source is now coming out and will cause some other sort of conflict because of Internet access, I’m sure.
Television in general is somewhat of an issue as well, since it prohibits many people from heading outdoors. Outdoor activities have even been pushed into a technological era with things such as depth finders and GPS’s. It is almost impossible to do anything in our everyday life without the influence of technology.
It is incredible to know our scientists and researchers have put forth so much effort into making our society better and more convenient at the click of a button or tap of a finger.
My only question is what is going too far? I feel our world has lost that sense of self-achievement because everything is handed to us on a daily basis. There is not much out there that isn’t available in five minutes with a few clicks.