Technology and Culture

Technology: For Better or for Worse?

A couple of years ago, when listening to a friend vent out her frustration about a situation with her boyfriend, I was intrigued by how she had incorporated terms, otherwise used in the computer world, into her language. I understood she was very upset at how her boyfriend stood her up for an hour before taking her to a concert, yet, I couldn’t be more surprised by her unexpected statement; she had said the episode was enough justification to “delete” him from her life. “Disconnect” was the term that followed when she tried expressing the impossibility of changing her mind. That situation remained in my memory, and as I think about how we cope living in a world surrounded by technology, a deeper question intrigues me: “Have we gone too far in allowing the way technology is entering our lives?”
The French women seem to know the secret to maintain a healthy weight, even living in a culture where fatty foods are present in the daily menus; eat a little bit of everything, always in moderation. And adding an extra pinch of wisdom, the norm of controlling what you eat, not allowing what you crave to control you seems to bring their moderation philosophy into full circle. Alike food, technology also ought to be consumed in moderation. In “The Judgment of Thamus”, author Neil Postman speaks of how a technology must be admitted to a culture with "eyes wide open" (365). Such statement makes sense, given the speed of upcoming technologies and the even higher speed we incorporate those into our lives, consolidating its existence into habits, and ultimately, part of our culture. When the new Apple Ipad was launched, many were the speculators giving thumbs down and betting on the innovation’s eminent market failure. But in its first week of sales, no Ipad could be found in stores, given the high volume of purchases and preorders. Postman seems to focus on the negative aspects of different technologies rather than ways in which they can be used to benefit. For example, criticizes the use of television in schools, since that could diminish teachers’ work or importance. His approach on criticizing technology deserves attention, but I don’t see how a well directed, controlled and moderated use of technology can harm our society. We have seen longer benefits of solar power into generating an alternative power source; we have experienced corporate web conferences, allowing companies to save tens of thousands of dollars in travel expenses; many of the residents in the US have relatives still living abroad, and resources such as chat and video chat has enormously contributed to make people less depressed individuals. It depends on each person’s control and interpretation of technology to make the best use of it in their lives.
Equally polemic are arguments of writer Kalle Lasn, who in Culture Jam, points out how some individuals have become extensions of their created virtual lives, either through games, chats, etc; as he states “...is the hazardous fallout from an over mediated world, where nothing that happens becomes real until you can make it fit into the spectacle, or make the spectacle fit into it.” (45) As Lasn further explains, technology in the sense of enabling instant communication has already been incorporated as part of our culture. I believe we can no longer retract to past mental and developmental stages after trusting our computers to store extensive personal data, our cell phones to allow fast and timely communication, and many other devices that came into our lives to make routinely tasks easier, thus saving time and allowing us to dedicate more time to the people or things that really matter. However, moderation should come into play when setting the limits of the use of technology. Neither our friends need to be solely virtual, nor our communication a combination of acronyms.
Certainly, we need to question the effect that new technologies will have on our culture and society. Even when the negative effects are more severe, the best path is to try to find the unseen benefits, since the technology can never be put back in the box. It is extremely important to be aware of both potential hazards and benefits of incorporating technology into our lives, and the best way to do that, is to take it slowly, one step at a time.