Opposite Perspective

Others may argue that technology has benefited us and improved our lifestyle. Without it we would not be provided with top education, have any means of communication, and any ways of transportation. I do believe that technology has delivered work efficiency which in a way did benefit and improve our society. However, did the improvement of technology really improve an individual’s livelihood? Be able to think and use our own senses rather that make calculators calculate for us or GPS to navigate for us. King Wayne from The Christian Science Monitor says, “It is not necessary to teach children essential technology skills on a $2,000 computer. In truth, it is a waste of both valuable taxpayer resources and computer horsepower” (King). This illustrates that students such as us do not need these technologies to learn new materials. We ought to know the basics first before we let technology do it for us, such as knowing how to calculate and just use the calculator to verify our solutions. Cell phones, PDA, blackberry, and electronic mail are gadgets used to communicate with one another even though the individuals are thousands of miles away from each other. According to a study by National Public Radio states, “59% of Americans worry that an unauthorized person might gain access to their financial records or personal information on the Internet” this demonstrates that with the improvement of communication devices, we are broadcasting sensitive information around the world to a satellite to be received by another device (Survey Shows Widespread Enthusiasm for High Technology). By doing this, we are exposing our personal information such as name, location, and address to a satellite where almost anyone can just receive it with proper understanding on how radio waves are being transmitted which means that our identity could be easily stolen by criminals. Another way that people could argue that technology has improved our lives is the improvement of automobiles. Modern automobiles are being operated by computer chips such as stepping on the brake, pressing on the gas pedal, and maneuvering the steering wheel all pass through a computer chip to stop the car, shift between gears, and easily turn the car. Numerous stories on the news talk about car recall where cars would not stop accelerating and eventually crash. There are numerous causes to why this happened, one of the reasons Toyota says, “The problem could also be connected to the electronics relay system, the electronic throttle control system with the intelligence” (No Easy Answer to why Toyota Accelerators Stick). This is due to the fact the computer chips were programmed incorrectly therefore there was a failure in the car’s acceleration, this is also because people make mistake, we are not perfect, and this is why technology keeps on improving because we find flaw in our previous system and we want to improve upon them. All these establishes that we should not rely fully on technology because these are man-made system and there might be programming errors in our automobiles, calculators, and GPS systems because we are imperfect. Furthermore, technology can be accessed by anyone hence we should keep an eye out on our personal information so they do not get broadcast and get stolen.

King, Wayne. "TECHNOLOGY IN Education School Needs: Basic? Or Mega-Giga-Cool?" The Christian Science Monitor: 11. National Newspapers Core. Oct 27 1998. Web. 10 Nov. 2011

“No Easy Answer to Why Toyota Accelerators Stick.” MSNBC. N.p., 2011. Web. 19 Nov. 2011. <http://www.msnbc.msn.com/‌id/‌35110966/‌ns/‌business-autos/‌t/‌no-easy-answer-why-toyota-accelerators-stick/‌#.Tsgv6WOImU8>.

“Survey Shows Widespread Enthusiasm for High Technology.” National Public Radio. N.p., 2011. Web. 19 Nov. 2011. <http://www.npr.org/‌programs/‌specials/‌poll/‌technology/>.