Modern Technologies Such As The Internet And Mobile Telephony

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Modern technologies such as the internet and mobile telephony have played a crucial role in making the members of different communities to lose the social ties and relationships that were initially considered to be of critical essence in initiating human interactions. In the article “ The Flight from Conversation”, Sherry Turkle explains that while these technological platforms have increased the ease with which messages are conveyed from one person to the other through texting, chatting, emailing and social networking, they have imposed great negative effects based on their underlying abilities to strain human relationships and to limit personal contacts. As a result, the current generation comprises of people who are physically present in a social gathering with minds wandering in other areas of life. On the other hand, Crawford’s article “The Case for Working with Your Hands” reinforces the ideologies put forth by Turkle by revealing that the underlying technology platforms have also played a crucial role in changing the ways through which people in societal settings view and appreciate work and their environments of work. This explains the great changes in educational materials and methods of instruction adopted in academic institutions where students were traditionally trained and prepared for the real problems facing the world. This could be done by presenting them with skills that would initiate them into knowledge employees. The current study seeks to undertake a critical analysis of the extents to which modern cultural and societal aspects have played a role in changing human perspectives as well as the inception of deviance from the real world that surrounds us.
Modern technologies have imposed great negative effects on the social ties and interactions fostered among human beings. The current world is made up of people that want to connect with one another but are also linked with the other avenues in which they would like to be. The fact that the underlying social traits of human beings have undergone great evolutions to accommodate newer priorities explains why people may be “when you are out to dinner with friends … everyone puts their phones next to them when they eat. And they are always checking them… they want the company of their friends in the dinner hall and they also want the freedom to go to their phones” (Turkle 19). Modern technological platforms such as the internet and mobile phones have been of critical essence in weakening the meaningful interactions that were traditionally considered as avenues through which human beings would imitate strong bonds. As a consequence, such loosened relationships have disconnected human beings from the immediate worlds that surround them; an aspect that has stirred a significant growth of the sense of isolation. For instance, the current generation is made up of people who would rather call, text or initiate online chats with their friends and family members instead of taking part of their time to spend with these people. Turkle explains that while sending a text message is fine, there is a great negative effect associated with the act of texting particularly when initiating personal interactions through conversations. The mere presence of a mobile phone in a place where people are meeting plays a significant role in deviating people’s minds from the real subjects of the intended meetings. If we think we might be interrupted, we keep the conversation light on topics of little controversy or consequence. In addition, conversations with phones on the landscape block empathetic connection. If two people are speaking and there is a phone on a nearby desk, each feels less connected to the other than there is no phone present. While the society is exponentially losing its initial foundations as its cultural perspectives move away from the real world that surround us, there is need to blame the schooling system. There are tendencies that “schools create… artificial learning environments for our children that they know to be contrived and undeserving of their full attention and engagement…a gifted young person who chooses to become a mechanic rather than to accumulate academic credentials is viewed as eccentric, if not self-destructive…Because the work is dirty, many people assume it is also stupid” (Crawford 1). In this case, the digital world has im...