Sometimes change can be intimidating—especially technological change. Describe a time when you had difficulty with a new technology.
Modern technology has certainly helped to make our lives easier. Or has it? With all the technological advances we have today, it seems that we are busier than ever. Some historians could make the argument that the development of modern technology has actually made us a busier and more stressed society. Others could make the argument that technology has allowed us as a society to become more efficient and therefore more productive.
Write a paragraph about your opinion of modern technology and how it has affected our society. Try to think of at least one example to support each of the three theories given above. Your technology example can come from one of two categories. The first category contains examples of technology that have been developed over the last 30-50 years, focusing on how your life as a teenager is different than your parents’ lives as teenagers. The second category contains examples of technology that have been developed over the last 100+ years, focusing on how your life is different than those who lived a century (or more) ago. In order to keep your argument consistent, use examples from only one category of technology throughout your paragraph. Complete your paragraph by stating, with evidence in the form of examples, which of the three theories stated in the opening paragraph you believe the most.
Until fairly recently, technological innovations and inventions were intended to serve basic human needs or desires. Today, however, the most important and urgent problem confronting us is no longer the satisfaction of basic needs. The primary purpose of modern technology is to solve the unintended problems caused by the technology of years past. Adapted from Dennis Gabor, Innovations: Scientific, Technological, and Social.
Assignment:
Is the most important purpose of technology today different from what it was in the past? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.