Technology Contribution in Isolating People
Technology advancement is one of the significant improvements in modern society. In the contemporary community, people spent most of their time on the internet, communicating with different people and connecting with people globally. The use of mobile phones and computers to access different platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Twitter, and YouTube have transformed people’s spaces into mobile and privatized communication. Consequently, the question of whether technology create connection among individuals or has led to isolation arises. Although technology led to the globally connected population, it has come to my notice that most of the youths are dying as a result of depressions and other factors. An increase in death rate and open therapy sessions due to depression is ironic since their connection through technology is very high. Therefore, we can conclude that technology has mainly contributed to isolation among the population.
The use of technology has led to the isolation of children from their parents. For instance, in society, most parents buy tablets, computers, and phones for the children to keep them busy and destruct them instead of forming a connection with them through having the conversation. A child raised by the internet will prefer to google any question he or she has instead of asking the busy parent because no one listens to her and knows nothing about real conversation. As a result, the space between the parents and the children increases daily, leading to lack of bond between them; thus, the kids cannot consult the parents whenever she/he encounters a problem. The child feels isolated despite having thousands of friends on the internet because they cannot handle the gap of the unavailable parents to offer empathy (McLanahan, 2004). The child becomes lonely and later falls into depression, which can lead to suicide.
Additionally, technology has contributed to the isolation of humble people, especially the youth, from a poor background in society. For example, the use of technology requires one to buy an electronic gadget that is the phone, computer, or laptop, which costs are a bit higher. People from a humble background cannot afford the money to purchase laptops or phones, thus survive without them. However, almost everything in the modern world done using technology; hence the families cannot access information and other services offered to the public that owns phones and computers. As a result, the poor, isolated from the rich by technology. The children from the two classes cannot access the same level of education since the children from wealthy families can access educational information and additional classes or tuitions through the internet (Greenfield, 2004). Technology isolates the poor students in schools from the others due to poor performance and lack of enough resources to study.
In the early years before the invention of technology, people would prefer to hike in the mountains, visit the beach and interact with nature when they were free to meet and interact with new people. But this is not the case among the people now; people prefer to search for more like on Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram or watch a movie at home instead of meeting strangers in the mountains and beaches, this indicates that we choose isolation instead of interaction. The terror of being alone makes us keep in touch with our phones, despite where we are (Harvey & Myers, 1995).
In conclusion, technology has replaced the critical part of our face to face interaction and has developed into the people rescue place for loneliness. People are isolated from each other, and bond formation among human beings through interaction is no longer critical. Communication is key to every individual, and since technology has no feeling, it cannot replace crucial people in our lives. Thus, people must receive educated about the need to communicate with each other and facing the harsh reality instead of running.
References
Greenfield, S. (2004). Tomorrow’s people: how 21st-century technology is changing the way we think and feel. Penguin UK.
Harvey, L. J., & Myers, M. D. (1995). Scholarship and practice: The contribution of ethnographic research methods to bridging the gap. Information Technology & People, 8(3), 13-27. https://doi.org/10.1108/09593849510098244
McLanahan, S. (2004). Diverging destinies: How children are faring under the second demographic transition. Demography, 41(4), 607-627.