Technology and Its Hold on Me

How technology has played its role in my life and those around me.

https://imageio.forbes.com/specials-images/imageserve/6245447214a12fde771e176f/0x0.jpg?format=jpg&width=1200

When I look back on my life, though not for a very long time, I can clearly see the effects technology has had on my life. When I was little I always remember asking my parents if I could go outside and play with the neighbors but now I find myself surrounded with kids who have to be dragged outside away from the technology. But I am no better than those young kids seeing as that in my freshman year at university instead of going out and finding new friends I stayed indoors playing video games with my old friends. So in my reflections, I followed a couple questions that helped stem my thinking about the hold that technology has on me.

Do I Think That Technology is Healthy?

I imagine that technology is a double-edged sword. Technology can be healthy in terms of connectivity and educational resources but on the other end of the spectrum come addiction and many negative impacts. Technology does a good job of keeping us connected with those that are far away. Many of the students at Universities rely on technology to reach out to their parents and loved ones to provide comfort in moments when they need it. Technology has also helped us make massive strides in educational resources helping us create advanced classrooms. Though with the good effects of technology come the bad impacts as well. Technology can become addicting and some people spend hours upon hours on technology every day. As technology advances it keeps getting easier to incorporate it into our daily lives. I would go as far as saying that technology has developed into a life necessity for some people and has become a dependent factor. I have recently gotten a few opportunities where I was forced to put my phone and the internet away and those days were some of the best days of my month. I felt refreshed and free from the weight that was holding me down.

What Is My Online Footprint?

When it comes to my online footprint it is growing at a incremental pace. My presence online is growing because while I am at University I am receiving many recognitions and with those come articles and pictures being posted on the internet. I recently had a little fun and decided to Google myself and I wasn't very comfortable with the results. There were pictures of me where I had no idea where they came from and they were not the most flattering.  I was able to pull up posts on other people's social media accounts that me in the picture or a reference to my name. What made me really uncomfortable was how I was able to find my family members' identities and accounts by looking up my name. When I entered college I was educated on keeping my online footprint professional so that if employers happen to find me online then I don't have to worry about anything. Because of that advice, I have become more aware of what I post online and the online footprint that I am leaving behind. Something that is beginning to pique my interest is apps like YIK Yak where people are able to put stuff on the internet without leaving behind a traceable online footprint to the public. 

So What Do We Do About Technology?

As much as technology harms us as a society, we still need it. Technology helps us advance as a human race and we are beginning to encounter advanced problems that technology may help us solve. Something that is new and upcoming in technology is AI. I haven't quite fully developed my opinion on if I support AI or if is just too much. Our society has become dependent on technology and I believe that we have hit the too-far-gone point where we cannot pull back our involvement with technology.