How can a focus in identity community or competition help us

How Technology Affects People’s Identities and Social Relationships
Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliation

How Technology Affects People’s Identities and Social Relationships
Catherine Latterell’s “Introduction to Technology” portrays how technology affects people’s daily lives and the assumptions that individuals make about it. The author argues that technology is advantageous and that it can be perilous or causes the breakdown of societal norms. The three primary assumptions discussed by Latterell in the essay are that technologies comprise of machines, they bring peril or progress, and that they are neutral. Similarly, Langdon Winner’s “Technological Somnambulism” depicts that technologies are not mere tools that help people to perform their activities, but they are significant forces that shape individuals’ lives. In particular, the author claims that technology is neutral and that users are the ones who decide what to do with it. For example, Winner and Latterell affirm that one can use a knife to stab a person or slice loaves of bread. Technological somnambulism reveals how individuals have been sleepwalking in their mediations of what is technology. Technology unintended applications can be detrimental to societies, even though machines are developed to improve human lives. For this reason, technological somnambulism enables people to perceive technology as tools that can be avoided without considering their effects on people.
Individuals should understand that technologies comprise both tools and processes that enable them to perform various activities with ease. Technologies are computers or machines, social organizations, and technical activities that people use in their daily lives to perform various activities. Latterell borrows the definition of technology from a 2002 report that was written by the Committee on Technological Literacy and the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) entitled “Technically Speaking: Why All Americans Need to Know More about Technology.” Based on the study, technology refers to “the process by which humans modify nature to meet their needs and wants” (Latterell, 2009, p. 414). As such, it comprises of different things that individuals use to make their work easier. For example, a student uses a computer or tablet to access his or her online course at home instead of going to school, which might be located many miles away. Latterell argues that technologies are machines that are supported by the technical knowledge of people. Additionally, social organizations such as schools, hospitals, and governments use tools to run their daily operations smoothly. Winner says, “The deceptively reasonable notion that we have inherited from much earlier and less complicated times divides the range of possible concerns about technology into two basic categories: making and use” (Winner, 2014, p. 437). At this juncture, the author asserts that individuals believe that technology improves how people do their work. As such, repairers, engineers, and technicians come up with different tools and maintain them to ensure that users benefit from them. In most cases, individuals who use machines do not want to understand the processes involved in making such technologies. Instead, they are interested in knowing how such tools enable them to accomplish their duties efficiently. Consequently, Winner and Latterell portray that technologies can significantly influence people’s identities. 
Technology is a double-edged sword where one side is beneficial while the other is damaging. Latterell depicts that “You could argue that bioengineering has the potential to cure disease; you could also argue that it is potentially hazardous in terms of the development and spread of new diseases” (Latterell, 2009, p. 416). Here, the author means that people have different views about the usage of technologies. In some cases, technology has unexpected adverse consequences. Latterell uses a clear example of the introduction of cleaning products and washing appliances, such as dryers and dishwashers, in the 1950s. However, although these things made it easier for women to carry out their household chores, they destroyed social networks. Besides, females formed groups with their friends and families when washing clothes. These groups are no longer there since the introduction of the washing technology. Winner means the same thing when he asserts that “If the experience of modern society shows us anything, however, it is that technologies are not merely aids to human activity, but also pow...