iWrite - Meagan Hale

Technology is a beautiful thing. It has brought the world communication abilities of massive proportions as well as providing information to everyone. Faster transpiration, better defenses, and even the simplest things we take for granted such as light or a microwave. Present day technology has surpassed the expectations of previous generations and is still growing strong. Unfortunately, what people are forgetting is that in the process of gaining so much we can't see what we are losing.

As technology advances, civilization gains incredible advancements in medicine and communications and transpiration, things that make our world better. But is what we're gaining worth what we are losing? Think of the last time you wrote a loved one a hand written letter. Do you forget about literature or nature because the next episode of some irrelevant reality tv show is coming on? There was a time when you knew where every kid in your neighborhood was not because you texted and asked but because of the bikes piled up in someone's front yard. We are sacrificing some of life's simple pleasure for the sake of convenience. Our parents and our grandparents grew up on the ideal of community. The older members of my family could name the father, mother, children, dogs, cats, and fish by their first middle and last name of the people who lived on their street and around the corner, I on the other hand am ashamed to say I haven't even met my new next door neighbors that moved in months ago. We pretend that in America we are neighborly and would help the old lady cross the street but in actuality we are too mesmerized by our smart phones to notice those things. We've gone from a strong sense of community to an overwhelmingly powerful sense of vanity. Social media has put many in the mind set of uploading a new picture of ourselves. It's sad that so many people's motivation has switched from 'because it's the right thing to do' to 'how many likes it will get me.' There's a reason that most futuristic movies aren't rainbows and sunshine. They are robots sent back in time to kill potentially problematic people and even Pixar showed us in Walle that we can get so caught up in technology that we don't even see the people around us, it took the machines breaking for people to interact with their fellow man who was only a few feet away.

Technology has brought mankind so far that in the grand scheme of things the progress is unfathomable. There was a point in time that making fire was our greatest achievement and now we are preforming successful open heart surgery with the DaVinci robot and exploring outer space. Technology is amazing, but so are the ideologies our parents grew up with. iPhones and tablets are pretty cool, but so is writing a letter, so is learning to fish, so is reading a classic novel. In moving forward it's imperative that we do not forget what we've left behind. If we lose traditions and values due to technology we may never get them back, and that is much more tragic than your phone charger not reaching your bed.