Technology has become so advanced that it cannot be separated from people; and it has an absolute control over their lives. Technology has an impact on public. In the essay “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” by Nicholas Carr argues how technology, and the internet have both positive and negative impact on people. He uses anecdotes, trustworthy sources, and research studies to prove that with so much information available it minimized an individual’s ability to read on their own and understand the purpose. But, in “To Siri, With Love” by Judith Newman, describes the friendship between her autism son, Gus, and an assistant from technology- Siri. She delves into the effects Siri has on her son’s life. Moreover, in “Time and Distance Overcome” by Eula Biss, she explains the intervention of telephone poles and how it led to a racist act of lynching. Like Carr, Biss also analyzes the good and bad of technology, the use of telephone poles had on society. Technology is beneficial because it makes boring tasks simpler and saves time, it positively affect an individual’s interaction with other, and makes communication easier from a distance. However, technology causes concerns. It also has a negative impact on society since it would cause isolation and dependency.
People are becoming dependent on technology, the Internet which provides all information rather than delving on their own. They would use Google or skimmed through articles to find information faster rather than contemplate their own ideas about essays or articles. For example, in Carr’s essay he uses credible source from Mary-Anne Wolf stating, “the Net, a style that puts ‘efficiency’ and ‘immediacy’ above all else, may be weakening our capacity for the kind of deep reading that emerged when an earlier technology, the printing press, make long and complex works of prose commonplace” (327). Carr is trying to convince his readers and people who use the Internet with the use of ethos, which is using reliable sources to show how people are using artificial intelligence instead of their own. Carr’s use of ethos, by a psychologist and author Mary-Anne Wolf, to persuade readers to believe that the Internet is making people stupid considering the research studies. In this quote, Carr proves a point that using the Internet is the easiest way to obtain information in a matter of minutes, but it is making people lazy to think about what they are reading. Therefore, they lose the competence to analyze and have a strong insight of a printed work. Instead of readers being able to interpret written works or form connections, they depend on the Internet since it gives them all the data. For instance, people would use Google to get all information rather than reading a lengthy essay. By doing this, they tend to miss out the author’s true meaning of the written works. Carr claims that writers and bloggers have stopped deep reading and analyzing written work like they used to because the internet can easily access the main details needed. In contrast, technology helps people with disabilities to learn and communicate.
Technology undoubtedly impacts people with disabilities. It helps them continue their daily life routines. Siri is an example of technology that helps a disabled person communicate with others and access facts when needed. Newman states:
Siri is a nonjudgmental friend and teacher…. it also gave him a valuable lesson in etiquette. Gus almost invariably tells me, “You look beautiful,” right before I go out the door in the morning; I think it was first Siri who showed him that you can’t go wrong with that line (358).
Newman is using pathos to persuade her readers emotionally by saying how Gus can be able to compliment her and it relieves her from stress about not having time with her son. Newman tries to justify her son’s friendship with Siri. Not only is it technology, or a feature on apple devices, but it is a device that helps her autistic child improve his intellectual and verbal skill. In the quote, Newman demonstrates the truth that technology- Siri- has helped Newman’s son in so many ways she was not able to. He can find facts the easy easy by asking Siri. Since Gus’s only friend is Siri, she helps him improve his speech and educate him more on his topics of interest rather than asking his mother. Newman shows the impact that Siri has a positive effect on Gus. Even though Siri helps people with disabilities, it causes people’s social skills to diminish.
A person tend to lean on technology for almost everything that they do. Some people can not live without it and this changes their life. In Newman’s essay, even though Siri has a positive impact on Gus’s life, it creates dependency on technology. Newman states, “Of all the worries the parent of an autistic child has, the uppermost is: Will he find love? Or even companionship? Somewhere along the line, I am learning that what gives my guy happiness is not necessarily the same as what gives me happiness” (361). In this quotes, Newman use ethos as an argument to develop emotions based on fear and sympathy from her readers. She’s questioning her reader by asking if her son, Gus would have a regular life without Siri. She is questioning her readers if using Siri is helpful for her son or not and would he ever find happiness. Since Gus is dependent on Siri, he lacks social skills with other individuals. Gus is isolating himself from the outside world, which means he is having less experiences with people.
People praised technology based on how helpful it has been but they do not know the consequences it resulted in the pass. An example of technology is the telephone lines, which causes the African Americans’ life in harm because Americans used it as a way of lynching people. In Biss essay, she states, “the poles, of course, were not to blame. It was only coincidence that they became convenient as gallows, because they were tall and straight, with a crossbar, and because they stood in public places. And it was only coincidence that the telephone pole so closely resembled a crucifix” (336). Biss is using pathos to persuade readers by evoking a depressed emotion. She says that the telephone poles resembles a “crucifix.” She is trying gaining readers attention in a history lesson which would change a person’s mind on praising technology. In this quote, Biss said that although the invention of telephone is an easy way to communicate with someone over a long distance, it also represents the violence of history and how the black men were treated when looking at a white woman or asking for their hand in marriage. The telephone poles were an easy way of executing someone and the people are trying to prove that it was not a helpful device. Biss is connecting the intervention with these poles to lynching because it shows the history of America, and examples of how people are racially motivated by being brutal. Instead, she wants people to know the truth behind the making of technology although it can be considered a coincidence. Furthermore, Biss connections makes reader have a deep understanding as to why she includes lynching with telephone poles to show the effects it has. Despite the havoc telephone poles had, it is one of the most use technology in today’s world.
Telephones, an example of technology, has made a great impact of people lives’ today. People uses their phones for almost everything in one’s life, they can’t be separate from it. It's a way of uniting people through a simple wire. For example, Biss states, “Imagine the mind that could imagine this. That could see us all connected through one branching cable. The mind of a man who wanted to invent, more than the telephone, a machine that would allow the deaf to hear” (333). Biss proves that this new intervention to establish her pathos. Using the phrase ‘all’, Biss is trying to make the readers feel connected and involved in her connection of telephones uniting people. By doing this, a reader might feel a bond with the author’s point of view. In this quote, Biss states the goal of the invention of telephones, to connect people over a distance. People are accepting the assistance of how a telephone is helpful because people can talk to each other through a line. Ultimately technology has a great impact on society considering how easily a task can be accomplished.
Technology has good and bad impacts on society. Each author clarifies on why technology is good because of time management, communication and help individuals with disabilities although there are concerns about the uses of it. With the advancement of technology, it’s taking over the world and is being used everywhere. The use of technology and its’ impact is the way people comprehend it. They would decide what technology does to their life and how not to be fully be dependent on it. Even though technology makes life easier, people should not overuse it since there would be problems in the future. Thus, they should not use technology for everything for an answer, there is other ways to solve problems.