The Digital Coup D'état

The human race is innovative, progressive and constantly evolving. The never-ending flow of ideas produces a never-ending flow of new technologies that make our lives more and more convenient. However, all of this progress has done more than advance humanity. Technological progression has also created intellectual regression. The increasingly prevalent presence of technology has served as both an advantage and a detriment to our ability to provide our own solutions. Many students shout the merits of a spellchecker – and so do their grades – but can it truly be considered meritorious if those students cannot spell that selfsame word when putting pen to paper?  Technology has provided for us a high level of comfort, improved working and living conditions, and all-around day-to-day convenience. However, by surrendering to that convenience, many people seem to also surrender their ability to operate independently of these digital assistants. To technology, we humans act as both master and slave.

In an article written by BBC News’ Bill Thompson, an experiment performed by psychologist Christof van Nimwegen is described and yields extremely interesting results. Thompson explains, “Van Nimwegen’s investigation focused on the ways in which externalizing interface information influences a user’s performance in solving problems requiring planning”. The experiement involved two groups of users who were asked to solve a complex puzzle where they had to move two differently colored balls using a dish. Two different versions of the game were made, one with more guidance than the other, and were distributed to the users. The results were that those users provided with less support performed better at the puzzle than those who received help. Those with less support were even able to remember how to play the game better after an eight-month gap. This experiment shows that in regards to technology, less help is sometimes more beneficial to people in the long run. However, technology is continuing to grow more and more helpful to the point of being unhelpful.

Far be it from me to pretend that I am removed from this technological fascination. I am the first person to admit that I am regretfully reliant on my electronics. When I’m not talking on my phone, I’m checking for new text messages, Twitter updates, e-mails, text messages again, more Twitter updates, more emails, lather, rinse, repeat. Society is in a constant cycle of communication, everyone always in touch with everyone else. If my phone dies, I am immediately cut off from my social media network. Any teenager can relate to the “tragedy” of a dead cell phone battery. But I have to wonder why it is such a tragedy? What can’t I find as much entertainment and pleasure in the physical world around me as I find in this tiny device that fits right in my hand?

In the study “Teenagers: AGeneration Unplugged”, conducted in July 2008 by Harris Interactive and CTIA, teenagers across the US were asked to complete a survey of more than 100 questions about mobile phone usage, attitudes, behaviors, and desires from the future of technological communications. According to the study, 57% of teens view their cell phone as the key to their social life. The study also found that texting has begun to take the place of talking. Teens admitted spending nearly equal time each month texting as they did talking face-to-face. If texting were no longer an option, 47% of teens feel that their social lives would end.

Technology has become so prevalent in the lives of digital natives that they feel unable to function socially without it. No one is directly to blame for these feelings in the digital natives. All technology developed – writing, language, tools – were created and put to use for the sake of convenience. Technology made life easy, and when you are born into a world surrounded by such convenience, you become wholly accustomed to it. We didn’t have a choice in the matter. As we live life assisted by technology, we became reliant on it to perform tasks that older generations used to be able to perform independently. We now need to use technology as much as it needs to be used by us.

Technology is so beneficial to society and is testament to the inventiveness of humanity. I am excited to see what bigger and better things are to come as humanity continues to advance their technological prowess and as we dive deeper into a digital culture. However, a part of me is also wary of that dive – if we go too deep, won’t we drown? What if our own technology out advances us? In Isaac Asimov’s short story “Runaround”, published in his popular collection of science fiction stories entitled I, Robot , humans have created robots so advanced that they wrench control of a facility from humans because they feel the humans could not perform the task satisfactorily. The robots were stronger, faster, smarter and the humans were powerless to escape their robotic captors. I want humanity to grow and flourish as the advanced, futuristic, Jetsons-like society that people have envisioned for years. But if we continue down this path of ultra-convenience, I can’t help but wonder if eventually humans will become mindless, insufficient blobs of flesh and bones with superior computers doing all the thinking for us.

Ultimately, I do think that technology has done more help than harm and I am glad to be a part of this digital culture. The future holds great things for humanity and I am excited to see where we dare go next. In the meantime, I intend to strive for balance between the digital and the physical realms of my life. There is a whole other world beyond the electronic one sitting in my hand, and I intend to explore and discover all I can about both of them.