People Overly Dependent on Technology

Chase Rosenglick

Instructor Zwieg

ENC 1101-OAC

09 November 2013

People Have Become Overly Dependent on Technology

Today, almost every human activity depends on various tools, machines, or even robots to help efficiently complete tasks in a timely manner. A majority of the people on this planet has become overly dependent on technology and will never admit or even realize it. Most of us can’t even spell correctly because of spell checking software. The rapid growth and constant innovation of new, more sophisticated technology is resulting in the human race becoming lazy and illiterate. The first thing most people do before they even get out of bed in the mornings is look at their phones to see who has sent them a text, email, or tweet.

Technology is not bad itself, it’s the way people of the twenty-first century misuse it. We have applied all types of technology into every second of our lives. Rather than go outdoors for a friendly game of football, or a peaceful eighteen rounds of golf, most people today rather stay cooped up indoors to play Xbox or PlayStation. It’s just as Mary Ann Sala stated, “Though technology has allowed us to improve and modify traditional tasks, it has also clouded our realization of the dependency we have on it.” If there was a catastrophic power failure and the whole world was to lose power, a majority of businesses, schools, hospitals, and government facilities wouldn’t be able to operate and would be forced to shut down.

Statistics show that ninety percent of the American people today own a cellphone; and seventy-five percent of American adults own a computer or laptop. A recent poll shows that eighty-four percent of the people worldwide say they couldn’t live even a day without their phone. People are acquiring serious addiction problems to technology. One in four people check their phones every thirty minutes, while one in every five checks every ten. Nancy Gibbs wrote in an article, “It’s hard to think of any tool, any...