The Art of the Essay

In recent years, there is a popular myth on the Internet stating that modern technology doesn’t make humans more dominant over other animals in the planet; instead it degenerates us to become less and less competitive and creative.  This myth seems to have a credible rationale behind it – Darwin’s evolution theory.  People who support this opinion justify that according to natural selection, the most sturdy and intelligent ones of a species will survive to pass on salutary genes and therefore promote the whole species, but modern technology, such as medical facilities and artificial intelligence, guarantees that most of humans, no matter ingenious or dull, healthy or weak, will live a long life and raise the next generation.  By that reason, those people are convinced that humans will gradually lose their marvelous body and mind because of the technology they have invented.

That’s not the only accusation modern technology has faced.  When googling “essay about technology”, I noticed that interestingly nine out of ten essays talked about how technology ruined our lives.  For example, parents and teachers mention that many teenagers immerse themselves in the virtual world created by computers and almost become incapable of communicating with others face to face.  Wide-spreading cyber bully and online threats also redefine the Internet as an evil place.  Besides Internet, recently in California, a student was murdered inside a crowded train.  All the passengers, concentrated in their tablets and smartphones, didn’t notice the murderer waving his weaponing in plain sight.  According to San Francisco District Attorney, bystanders were completely unmindful to their surroundings and also vulnerable to crime because of the delicate gadgets in their hands.   In brief, it’s extensively believed that modern technology has made people become more and more greedy, aggressive, ignorant, and lazy.

I find it ridiculous that people tend to blame technology for all the mistakes they have made out of their own desire and selfishness.  Any kind of technology is just a tool without self-directed, independent mind.  A gun will not shoot people automatically unless someone pulls the trigger; a computer virus will not attack data files for no reason unless someone has programmed it to do so; if someone commits murder with a blade, the court will sentence the murderer to years of imprisonment instead of putting the blade into jail.  For the recent crime in Francisco I mentioned before, bystanders’ tablets and smartphones are not to blame for the murder, the shooter is.  No matter whether the bystanders cared about surroundings or not, it’s the murderer’s crime to kill the student, not the technology’s.

Some people indeed realize the innocence of technology itself, then they turn to condemn scientists and engineers who invented some of the technologies.  Many scientists are accused by those people of designing and developing equipment and facilities for their own fame and wealth, and completely ignoring the future detrimental effects those innovations would have.  For most inventions scientists have brought to the world, their intentions are to extend humans’ physical capacities, to render us convenience, efficiency, and accessibility.  It’s the succeeding human being who turned these inventions into vicious weapon.  Alfred Nobel, who is known for his Nobel Prize, invented dynamite primarily for technical and industrial purpose.  The early usage of dynamite was mainly in mining, quarrying and construction industries, but soon enough, people found its value in warfare, and one technology which was supposed to serve people finally began to be used to kill people.

Richard Heffner in the Open Mind described our contemporary thrust towards blaming technology as “the irrational search for scapegoats”.  It’s not technology’s fault that the whole society seems to lose control and head to wrong direction.  Maybe it’s because something inside us has changed.  However, many people lack the courage to confront and overcome the imperfection of human being.  Their obsession with technological issues reveal their fear of self-examination and self-reflection which may lead them to find their unspeakable dark nature.  It’s easier for those people to just persuade themselves that technology has unavoidable and malignant influence on their mind so that they can escape from personal responsibility.  If your children become addicted to Internet and online world, talk to your children sincerely and try to educate them, take them out to meet different people and get involved in community, or more drastically, arrange an appointment with psychiatrist for your children, instead of sitting in front of your computer and complaining about how modern technology has poisoned your children.

The fact is that we can’t blame technology for malice or alienation. Technology has nothing to do with some people’s cruelty to others and obliviousness to surroundings. Evil and cold-bloodedness are human problems. They existed long before cellphones, computers, guns, and nuclear weapons were invented.

I watched impatiently as my mom tried with the best of her ability to type in a simple address into the GPS. When I saw the street light turn green, I hastily said, “Here, Mommy, just give it to me. I got it. Just drive.” I took the GPS from her, typed in the address with ease, and resumed texting on my phone. As she turned her attention back to the road, she said to me, “I just do not understand how you kids know how to use technology so easily. When I was young, we did not need all of this electricity. Stop wasting your eyes on the screen! Look outside at all of the beautiful nature in the world around you.”

I put down my phone to look outside the car. Beautiful tall trees outlined the sky as we sped past a green flurry of grass. One second later, those tall trees turned into towering skyscrapers and the green flurry of grass turned into a smooth strip of pavement. The beautiful nature my mom told me to focus on had been replaced with the very technology she told me to take a break from.

Today, man-made structures and technology seem to have “taken over” our lives and replaced our appreciation of the natural beauty of the world. At least, that is what my mom and Odelia Kaly, the author of “Robot Apocalypse”, believe. In her essay, Kaly argues, “instead of these devices representing our collective progress and enhancing our quality of life, in the long run they are depleting our quality of life by inhibiting our ability to grow.” Kaly’s belief is that technology hinders our ability to be independent and value the true beauty of life around us.

On the other hand, my dad, who owns a cell phone technology company, believes the opposite. He thinks that technology has helped humans come very far. For one, he would not have made it to where he is today without technology’s progress giving him the opportunity to move to another country and start his company from scratch. He accredits much of his success and independence to his ability to understand technology. He believes that technology has been great to humankind and wishes to understand it even better.

Personally I do not think the same as either of them. I believe that there should be a balance between using technology and allowing it to control our lives. The two forces, technology and nature, are both so powerful that we seem to constantly feel the need to choose between the two. Some, like my dad, argue that we need to understand technology to the best of our ability and use it to better the quality of our lives. My dad believes technology has helped us become more independent and has given us the chance to further our abilities. Others, like my mom and Odelia Kaly, believe that technology is a negative presence in our lives, and we should work on connecting with nature and enjoying what it has to offer. Both my mom and Kaly would say that depending on technology prevents us from becoming more independent, because we rely on it so much that we will lose our sense of accomplishing our own tasks.

While both of these views have valid arguments to them, I have come to my own conclusion that we should combine technology and nature. Instead of allowing the two forces to “battle” it out, we should use both forces so that they can build off each other and work together in a way that will better our lives as a whole. We do not need to “pick” one side or the other. Humans do not need to decide whether technology is good or evil. We should focus on allowing technology and nature to coexist and letting them better each other. Nature can inspire technological inventions, and technology can help nature thrive. For example, the need for different energy sources has pushed humans to create different forms of energy intake, such as solar energy panels. These solar energy panels can in turn help the planet become a better environment for its inhabitants, as there is less of a dependency on fossil fuel resources. Another example is human medicine. Sicknesses and diseases have called for and inspired different medicines and cures to be created, and in return these medicines and cures that technology has created have allowed humans to live longer and healthier lives.

Technology and nature have certainly been two seemingly opposing forces. However, by looking out the window, you can see fields of green grass and tall trees in one section, and rows of pavement and skyscrapers in the next. But instead of seeing them as separate sections, we should focus on the bigger picture, which shows that these two forces, technology and nature, coexist and thrive off of each other to combine and create an even greater force that the two could not accomplish alone.

Albert Einstein once said, “It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity.”  However, the ability to use our brains to invent new technologies is what separates humans from other animals and has allowed us to control our surrounding environment.    In other words, without our capabilities to develop and advance technology, the human race would not be able to prosper.  The incredible technological revolutions made today affect society in very similar ways as the simple ones that enabled humans to survive hundreds of thousands of years ago. While technology is invented with good intentions in mind, eventually people are able to manipulate the technology causing great negative effects in society.

One of the very first and most important inventions of the human race was making fire.  This invention, believed to have been first created 1.8 million years ago, is still used today to keep homes warm in the winter, provide light, and even entertainment.  Although this invention is seen as common and unspectacular today, fire allowed people for hundreds of thousands of years to cook food and stay warm, providing humans an advantage over other animals enabling them to survive.  However, even this critical invention was corrupted and used in ways such as in warfare to kill enemies, and to burn homes and towns.  Thus, even in the very preliminary stages of human advancement, inventions have been manipulated from their original forms bringing negative consequences. Technology is typically invented and initially used with good intentions to advance humanity, only later to be manipulated for dangerous practices.  This trend can especially be seen in today’s unprecedented rapid advancements.

Today, cell phones play a key role in the way many people interact.  However, with this increased interaction also comes increased isolation.  Modern day cell phones were invented in order to increase communication among people.  Through smartphone apps such as facebook, lost friends are able reconnect, pictures are constantly shared, and communication is greatly facilitated. With the most basic of cell phones; parents can reach their kids no matter where they are by just pressing a button, and friends can communicate long messages in a matter of seconds.  All these inventions greatly facilitate the communication between people and have changed the way people interact.  However, the rise in use of cell phones has also accompanied negative consequences.  Explicit consequences can be exemplified by people using social media to stalk others, and even to post threats.  While these threats are rare, they do happen.  More commonly, people are impacted by the implicit consequences of living in a society where people have begun to use their phones for anything and everything.

Social media and text messaging have effectively changed the way modern day society communicates.  Clive Thompson claims that kids increasingly resort to social media for interaction with their peers because parents do not allow their the same freedom as children of previous generations.  Although kids do try to interact with each other as much as possible, what Clive Thompson fails to realize is that the increased interaction with friends online or through text messaging is taking kids away from the present moment and the people around them.  Furthermore, this epidemic is not limited to kids; it affects everyone using phones.  People no longer have to interact with their family when at home; they can sit on their phones and talk with any of their friends instead.  Any time spent with the family can immediately become talking to friends by looking at phones.  Furthermore, even when with friends, people are constantly checking their phones for text messages and other notifications.  Thus, people are not just addicted to talking to each other since they are still checking their phone when with friends.  Rather, people are addicted to technology. Society is increasingly being taken away from the surrounding world, and into a virtual world looking for any and every means of communication.

Just like with the invention of fire, phones have changed our lives forever.  The simple invention of a mobile device for people to communicate has also caused a great shift in the interactions of humanity.  As the invention of fire is today seen as a normal part of humanity, the trend of people interacting on their phones is already a very common site.  Wherever one looks, someone is bound to be on his or her phone communicating with another person.  This is because all areas of society use phones.  Whether for work or pleasure, phones are an integral part of the world today, and we must take the benefits of easier communication along with the consequences of increased isolation from the world surrounding us.

Technology is like most everything else in life: it can be amazing but also can be devastating.  For instance, College can be an enlightening place where you learn new things and meet new people but it can also be a place that can swallow you with debt and addictive substances.  Too many times people take an extreme stance on technology: either stating that it is saving us from the perils of nature or enslaving us.  Extremism is not exclusive to the debate surrounding technology; it often pervades every discussion.  Reverting back to the parallel of a college education, there is one camp that believes the modern-day college education is a scheme for colleges and debt collectors to prosper while kids leave college with nothing more than debt and a worthless degree.  However, than there are those who rave about the necessity of a $100,000 liberal arts education even though statistics may call that into question.[1] Who is telling the truth?  The answer lies somewhere in the middle. A college degree will help you in the workplace, yet undertaking massive amounts of debt and majoring in a degree that has bleak economic prospects should be avoided.  Technology is exactly like this.  Technology should be embraced for its benefits yet approached cautiously.

Let’s not forget exactly what technology is.  According to the Merriam-Webster online dictionary, technology is “the application of scientific knowledge for practical purposes.”  It is more than the computer you are using right now as you skim my article while simultaneously examining everyone’s weekend on Facebook.   It is the medical treatment that saved you from that infection that would have killed you 500 years ago, it is that car that allows you to go to work instead of trudge in the cold, and it is the modern farming products that can feed more people than ever before on smaller and smaller amounts of land.    Although you may rave about nature while overlooking the Grand Canyon or jogging through your local forest preserve, it was also the sworn enemy of your ancestors.  Civilization has been nothing more than the gradual conquering of nature by us with our favorite weapon: technology.  So next time you hear someone curse out technology please remind them how the comfort of modern life is largely due to technology.

But wait, don’t dismiss these technology bashers as Walden-inspired nutjobs either; they raise many valid points.  Technology is truly a double edged-sword.  Yes, it has expanded life expectancy and comfortable, but has it truly made life better or fulfilling?  It doesn’t seem so when you look around and see everyone on their smartphones.  I know technology has made my life seem emptier at times.  Around sophomore year of high school, Facebook was my drug of choice.  I cannot count how many hours a day I would scroll down the news feed.  Instead of conversing with people at school I would be scrolling through Facebook on my phone.  I would go to my room to start my homework and instead, two hours later, would be still on Facebook.  The time Facebook stole from my life does not compare to the emptiness it would make me feel.  By looking through everyone’s stuff I felt like I was in constant competition with everyone else.  Seeing a crush enter a relationship or the booze-filled party I didn’t go to all over the Internet just kind of depressed me.  When I posted statuses or pictures I realized it was just an attempt to seek the approval and attention of others.  That is how Facebook thrives: on our inherent nature of wanting to impress everyone and on our fear of missing out.  Well I am thankful for all the medical advances, economic growth, and comfort that technology has allowed me to experience, I can’t deny that I haven’t allowed it to harm me in some ways either.

But there is a still a way to co-exist with technology and all of the benefits it brings us while minimizing the harms it does to us.  I did not delete my Facebook.  I did delete it off my phone though, only check it once a day maximum, have gone weeks without checking it, and may delete it in the future.  I don’t have an Instagram, yet do tweet about once a week. There is also no way in hell I am giving up my iPhone.  I still use the Internet, but I don’t aimlessly wander the web.   This is just my solution to the problems technology posed in my life.  I use technology when it benefits me, but I cut out all the facets of it that distract me from my goals and make me unhappy.  You should do the same.  Everyone’s solution will be different then mine.  Evaluate what technology you use, why you use it, and then adjust accordingly.

Technology is advancing quickly, and it’s natural that people might find it alarming; there is the popular opinion that technology takes away from reality, that it disrupts and destroys the natural environment, that people are dangerously captivated by the inhuman strength, speed, and efficiency that technology provides. This viewpoint is true to an extent, and it can be seen in the replacement of forests by factories, and the teenage culture of social media and cellular phones. However, there is no denying that technology is a large part of the progress that has been made in society, and in a way, technology, along with plants and animals and human beings, is a natural phenomenon.

One of the biggest concerns about technology is that people have become too dependent on it. In her article “Robot Apocalypse,” Odelia Kaly talks about the overwhelming prevalence of technology in people’s lives, and she claims that with all this technology completing simple tasks for us, we are not able to grow or learn how to complete these tasks on our own. In her view, we are trading our “autonomy for the sake of convenience,” and this will make us “perpetually ignorant, starkly immature, irrevocably incompetent.”

A fallacy in Kaly’s claim is that in order to develop this technology in the first place, people must have some knowledge of the mechanisms involved. Technology was developed with the goal to improve and accelerate things, and when people utilize it, there is a certain awareness that is required in order to make sense it; people drive cars because they know it is faster than walking or biking, and people use calculators because they know it is quicker and often more accurate than using pure brain power, which comes along with human error. Essentially, it’s impossible to be ignorant when we use technology because we must keep in mind what we are trying to accomplish with it, and how we are using it to complete the task.

There is also the reasonable concern that with the onslaught of technological innovations, people will forget the old ways. However, this doesn’t mean that people will completely forget how to do things on their own. Kaly uses the example of the self-driving automobile to support her claim that people will forget; she says that she doesn’t want to rely on a self-driving car, and then not be able to complete errands because it breaks down and she hadn’t learned how to drive on her own. There are many flaws in this example; in a society with common sense, it would still be required to pass the driving test no matter what type of vehicle it was. Furthermore, there are alternatives to driving, such as taking the bus or taxi, or walking—and it’s highly unlikely that people will ever forget to walk on their own. This is only one of the many examples that depict the fact that although technology is so widely used because of its convenience, people are intelligent enough to have alternate solutions. Human beings have adapted to a variety of environments and phenomena over hundreds of years, and we will continue to adapt to the technology that is being produced.

Kaly also claims that technology is moving so fast that soon only the engineers and scientists will know how to use any of it. However, although the engineers and scientists will probably have the most knowledge of the mechanisms of the technology, there will also always be consumers who purchase the technology because they need it and know how to utilize it–people wouldn’t buy technology if they had no idea how to utilize it or had no need or desire for it. Furthermore, if technology is being developed, whether it is with the purpose of making a profit or making a difference in the world, manufacturers would naturally make it possible for all potential consumers to be able to utilize the device, either by making the technology simple and efficient enough to use, or by providing instructions.

It’s true that over the decades, technology has completely transformed our world, and seeing the huge differences between 50 years ago and today may be overwhelming, almost frightening. However, we are human beings, a part of the natural world, and in relation, our achievements in technology can also be seen as natural. In this sense, the technology that seems so unreal and extra-dimensional is in fact just a natural part of the evolutionary process that has been going on for millions of years.

Kaly, Odelia. “Robot Apocalypse.” The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 26 Sept. 2013. Web. 26 Jan. 2014.

When I imagine humankind transcending its primitive roots, I envision the stereotypical cavemen delightfully dancing around their newly discovered fire. I anticipate that the exuberant majority among the community would suppress the worries of the concerned minority. The fated discoverers would learn to master fire and its characteristics. Through experience, they could mitigate the dangers and progress towards the veiled future. However, the real question has yet to be asked. What if the minority conveyed their fears to the majority? A scenario such as a caveman describing in vivid details about his nightmares of fire is possible. In the prophetical dream, the cursed fire would engulf a wailing child, rapidly spread to inflame their tribe and then all the lands. The entire world was set aflame before his very eyes. Consequently, this mysteriously cursed substance was to be banned and never mentioned again. If this scenario played out and humans never stumbled across fire again, the existence of the modern world would be highly improbable. By retaining the status quo and validating the fears of the few, human development abruptly stops. This imaginative story may not seem applicable to today’s world, but I believe the fire represents the frontier of human growth. In the modern era, technology is a significant portion of this fire and reflects the next step into the future. Without technology, the development of human civilization is simply not attainable.

Humans are the ultimate apex predator. This ecological conclusion reinforces the anthropocentric perspective of standing alone at the top. Ostensible challenges to this concept instigate the fears of the few. In the article “Robot Apocalypse”, for example, Odelia Kaly explores the possibility of technology growing rampant and ending the era of humans.[1] She states in this passage, “The dinosaurs preceded the Homo sapiens, who perhaps precede the cyborgs.”[2] Not only does the word cyborg contain a negative connotation, the author does not provide any support for how cyborgs can possibly arise from existing technology. This use of the slippery slope fallacy greatly exaggerates potential threats. Kaly is not the first to commit this error; Socrates initially criticized the revolution of writing because it purportedly created forgetfulness and eliminated the use of memories. CNN wrote that “Email hurts IQ more than pot” while the Daily Mail claimed, “using Facebook could raise your risk of cancer.”[3] These overstatements are nothing new, yet they still remain a danger to progress. With the absence of writing or email, the world would certainly be a different place. Human civilization was founded on the utilization of tools to solve problems. Technology happens to be one of these tools. Like the wheel or the pen, it not only promotes efficiency, but it also represents the next step available to humanity.

While technology may have aggrandized human knowledge, it has also come with a couple of other consequences. For instance, technology has led to the creation of destructive weapons such as nuclear missiles. However, due to their immense destructive power, they act as a deterrent for potential wars. This mutually assured destruction had quite a psychological influence on populations in the Cold War era, but also may have prevented the direct conflict between Russia and the United States. The development of weapons from increased technology is unfortunate, but conflict has marred human history from the very beginning. In the end, technology is unable to change human nature.

Another concern that circles back to human nature is environmentalism. Since technology is a tool, it is often used in obtaining natural resources. However, I believe that the criticism that stems from this process is unwarranted. In Garrett Hardin’s highly cited “The Tragedy of the Commons”, the example of exploitation that Hardin provides is not related to technology, but to pastures and herdsmen.[4] The problem of a devalued environment does not originate from technology, but from human greed to maximize products. Since one may point out that the extent of technology was different in 1968 than now, it is important to note that technology still enjoyed prominent discussion among environmentalists. Hardin exemplified technology’s importance by addressing the “Technological Optimists” that relied on technology to sustain human growth.[5] However, technological advances such as the agricultural revolution and the use of wind power have helped our society grow and become sustainable.

The possibility of a stagnant future is the worst possible outcome. If civilization had stopped developing after discovering fire, writing, or the Internet, the world would not be as rich and exciting. Without the faith in technology, we severely limit the ways we can advance. The apocalypse of humanity doesn’t depend on robots; it precipitates from the acquiescence to stagnation.

Our society as a whole is addicted to technology. Televisions, computers, iPhones—all of these gadgets play an integral role in everyday lives. But just because technology arguably makes life easier is not the reason everyone is addicted to it. The ability to communicate virtually, immediately, or even anonymously is what makes technology like nicotine. Children, young adults, even some seniors have developed a fascination with being able to know what others are doing at any given point during their lives. Amanda Hess, Odella Kaly, and Clive Thompson all outline how technology has affected their lives on a personal level.

Amanda Hess is a female journalist who writes about sex and technology has made it possible for her unsupportive audiences to contact her. For Amanda, she is not the one addicted to technology, but is the victim of others. Because technology has made it possible for anyone around the world to contact her, Amanda deals with threats on a daily basis. Her stalkers mainly choose the social media network “Twitter” as a platform for their threats to her. The people making these threats do not have to see her, look her in the eye, or even know her to make claims and statements at her. The Internet has become a place where it is possible for anyone to say anything to another person with essentially a wall of protection because it becomes hard to track them down. It is these people who have become addicted to technology as a means for aggressively communicating their discontent because this resource has allowed them to make claims without ever being face to face with their victims.

Odella Kaly starts out by explaining how she is a very independent person and does not plan to become dependent on technology. She too addresses how technology has effected interpersonal communication but does not plan to be the victim of that epidemic. She explains how “we submerge ourselves in the wall-less, abyss-like world of social media and online interaction that merely imitates real life” and that the communication is just imitating real life too. When someone joins a social media site like Facebook, they then start learning things about others they would have never known. Kaly then goes on to argue that this eliminates the need for real-life conversation because people already know everything they needed to know. Kaly, like Amanda Hess, places emphasis on this wall that makes not everything necessarily anonymous, but takes away the humanistic approach to things. She states “Our… [technologies] have become our intermediaries, placing us at a safe distance from everything we fear, anything that can hurt us or cause us pain.” Not every use of technology is negative, but this distance that is widening between people and normal face-to-face communication is disconcerting and a real problem.

Thompson does not blame the teenagers for becoming unsocial due to extensive use of technology, but rather he blames the parents. Technology has increases one’s ability to learn about events taking place all over the country, or even the world. Unfortunately, this has created alarmist parents when the world is not as dangerous as it is made out to be. Parents have then limited their child’s boundaries regarding where they can go, when they can go, and with whom. For some, it is much more comforting to just allow the child to sit at home and socialize from behind the safety of a computer screen. Again, we are losing valuable interpersonal communication that is necessary in human life. Thompson claims that teenagers “want the same face-to-face intimacy” that their parents grew up with. The solution does not necessarily lie within ridding oneself of every technology, but conquering the “irrational fears” that accompany a technologic world.

Despite all of the negatives that come from this excessive use of technology, it is important not to lose sight of all of the positives that come with it. I was an exchange student in France two years ago, and without Facebook, I do not think I would still be able to communicate with my host family or really anyone I met there. While it does heed some face-to-face communication skills, the Internet also allows us to communicate with anyone, anywhere in the world. There is definitely a problem with only communicating via technologies and that does need to be addressed; however, it needs to be addressed with the knowledge of all of the good technology allows us also.

Odi et Amo

Not to be overly dramatic, but Facebook was my everything in ninth grade. It was like some new shiny toy that everyone just had to play with…all the time. People would pose for pictures during lunch just so they could get more likes from those same individuals actually taking the pictures. Teachers started banning computers from class because of our obsession. To be fair, would you rather look at chemical reactions or pictures of your crush at a party that past weekend? It was hard not to get caught up in the rush when half our lives were being lived online. For the most part, I loved it. It was exhilarating to see a new notification pop up or to do something daring like friend a person you had only heard of but never met. But sometimes this fun would turn sour and leave a lasting bitterness between your teeth. Like that time a group of girls started an online message about their friend who just wanted to branch out and learn to survive without clique. Or that girl who publicly dumped her boyfriend via status update. Facebook was great while ripe, but mistreat it and it would rot, scattering debris through people’s lives.

I feel like the world has a love hate relationship with technology. On one hand, microsurgery has allowed doctors to perform feats previously deemed impossible. Thanks to new technology, and a little thing called a titanium scaffold, we can now grow ears on the backs of mice… human ears… that you can put on humans. No, this is not a sci-fi movie. We can see and talk to family halfway across the world without moving from our couch. We can send a quick text to our moms after a plane flight letting them know we are okay. However, there is a dark side. More than one in three young people have experienced cyber threats online. Over 25% of adolescents and teens have been bullied repeatedly through their cell phones or over the Internet[1]. After a three month “campaign” of bullying, fifteen-year-old Phoebe Prince hanged herself in her Massachusetts home[2].

The question that has been posted thousands of times across thousands of different forums is: is it worth it? Is the pain and heartbreak of those parents’ whose children were forced to extreme measures due to online bullying worth the pure joy and elation of a brother whose only sibling got saved by the wonder of robotic surgery? No answer has yet been found. Maybe it will never be found. Just like the prototypes and algorithms that went into making it, the impact technology has on the world has many layers and countless facets. However, there is one thing all technology (thus far) has in common: it is inanimate. Although it seems like Siri is your best friend, she does not think for herself. She cannot tell you her hopes and dreams or her innermost secrets.

Maybe, then, we should be asking a different question: Can we really fault technology for the negatives that have followed innovation? Facebook itself did not write the disparaging and defamatory messages sent to Phoebe Prince by her classmates. Steve Jobs did not create a program on the iPhone that sends insulting text messages. Humans are behind these acts. The arguments against technology aren’t against the machines themselves, but against the people who operate them. Maybe Facebook does give a forum through which people can articulate their negative thoughts, but these thoughts were present regardless. Eventually, even without technology, the thoughts would escape the mind, attacking their intended victims with the same intensity. We need to reform the way people use technology, not the technology itself.

When I think back to my ninth grade obsession with Facebook, I can’t help but laugh at that naive blonde girl who would spend hours wondering who had seen her pictures, or her best friend who would call her immediately when the hottest boy in school made a status update. For the most part, technology manifests itself in harmless acts like these, furthering the musings of teenage girls. When these musings turn to attacks, technology shoulders the blame and the criticism, taking attention away from the real culprits: the people.

This class aims to make you a more compelling, confident writer as well as a more critical reader, meaning you’ll get more—information, knowledge, enjoyment—out of what you read. To achieve these goals, you’ll read, write, and talk…a lot.

Thursdays we’ll discuss a cluster of essays with an eye toward you writing your own on the same general theme. During these discussions, we’ll identify key elements of these essays as well as analyze their specific rhetorical strategies. Talking about essays prepares you to write them: you practice making claims, supporting them with evidence, and considering alternative perspectives.

You’ll then write an essay on the week’s topic over the weekend, posting it to the class blog by midnight on Sunday. While this is a blog, you should treat these assignments as formal (polished, interesting, complete) essays. We’ll workshop these essays and discuss craft readings on Tuesdays.