The Place of Technology
by Andrew Trent
comment...

As I sit here, typing on my computer, I am reminded of just how much technology has evolved over the past two decades. I remember, thirteen years ago, when the Internet was merely a repository for images and pictures---there was very little, if any, interactivity for users to engage in.

In the years after 1995, the Internet slowly began to take on a household name, and it was not uncommon to see web addresses printed at the bottom of magazines and newspapers, directing readers to an organization’s electronic media. Gradually, the onset of globalization manifested itself in the rapidly evolving ways ordinary people used the Internet to communicate and share information. The mid- to- late- nineties ushered in the era of the “Information Super Highway.”

Enter the year 1999---many people throughout the world were petrified at the prospect of a massive Internet shutdown brought about by that infamous tongue-in-cheek “millennium bug” that we have all come to know and remember: Y2K. Nine years ago, people were stockpiling provisions in preparation for an event that would have shown just how reliant the world had become on the cyber “superstructure” wrought by the realm of the Internet. Fortunately, nothing happened and the problem was solved. All our worries were for naught, and cyberspace continued to grow and evolve.

In the intervening years since the Y2K scare, we have seen some major developments in how the Internet augments human necessity. It is now no longer “hip” to carry a Sony Walkman CD player in a train or on a bus, as virtually any song that has ever been recorded can be downloaded to an Ipod in a matter of seconds. Movies can be easily downloaded and viewed from a computer screen, and up-to-the minute news broadcasts can be viewed at a user’s leisure. Social networking sites such as My Space, Face Book, or LinkedIn allow people to communicate from all corners of the globe, and interactive social media is displayed in enormous quantities on sites like YouTube and its ilk. Newspapers, magazines, CDs, and even books face possible extinction as electronic media becomes the dominant form of communication.

However efficient the fruits of globalization have made our lives, it behooves us to take a step back and think about our essential humanity. By all means, embrace the innovation and convenience that is presented to you by the mere touch of a few keys, but know this: Nothing can replace direct, face-to-face human interaction that forms the crux and the heart of who we are as social beings. Never lose touch of the physicality of existence---pick up an old, dusty book and cherish the touch of the pages, pick up an old vinyl album and place it in the record player. The words and the music take on a truly authentic quality that can never be replaced by the realms of the electronic frontier. As the cultural landscape changes by keeping pace with the innovations offered to us by cyberspace, we must always remember our roots as human beings. Yes, technology can be used to augment human behavior, but it can never become the medium to which we submit our souls to.