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David Heredia

Professor Enrique Wong

Composition and Rhetoric

05 Oct. 2019

What is causing us the technology?

In recent years we have been able to show and even be participants in the imminent
evolution that technology has had, mainly the internet. We have lost the physical social touch that
we used to have with other people, changing the sight of a person fixedly in the eyes, to see it
through the blue screen of an electronic device or even stop having contact with real life by being
cybernetically connected all the time; Joanna Kavenna makes this point clear to us with the case
of Harris, a full-time journalist, who spends his days sending emails, tweeting or watching videos
of cats dancing among other activities on the internet but at one point he becomes aware of the
large number of windows you have open on your computer, and a text from a friend of yours
appears asking if you are alive (Kavenna). With this example we can realize the great attention we
put to our activities on the internet and neglect the social interactions we have daily. This could be
due to the ease that exists now to obtain a mobile device connected to the Internet, thus replacing
the personal interactions of yesteryear.

On the other hand, we can also see the influence of social networks in our mind, today there
is no person who does not have an electronic device, mainly a cell phone, this can be given as
evidence in Chen's article, where we indicates that in 2012 about 50 percent of the population in
the U.S. owned smartphones, and in 2015, just 3 years later, this increased to 85 percent (Chen).
We live in a time dependent on mobile devices, but this has not been entirely positive, as studies
have indicated that this exponential increase in cell phone use has gone hand in hand with the
increase in the rate of depression of young people. Chen tells us about this:

“The study conducted by Twenge collected data on the electronic

devices of more than half a million American teenagers and the online media
habits of two national surveys conducted annually since 1991 and in which
people aged 13 to 18 participated. When Twenge compared the same reports
from those same teenagers of having thoughts or a plan to commit suicide,
or making real attempts, a third of teenagers who used devices at least two
hours a day recognized at least one of these behaviors. That number rose to
almost half among teenagers who used devices for five or more hours a day”
(Chen).

One of the key points that have been influential in the high growth of depression in young
people has been, the easy interaction with other users, so rumors and trends are created, where if

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David Heredia

Professor Enrique Wong

Composition and Rhetoric

05 Oct. 2019

a person is not connected to some type of network social is already considered a "weirdo", and
they exclude him from any type of activity, Chen also mentions this "If you don't have a Snapchat
[account], you're not connected to anyone at school," says Aashima, a high school student 16 years
old (Chen).

But these rumors not only occur in schools, they have gone much further affecting even
governments. Political rumors have occurred at all times, but the impact they have today has never
been seen, this is due to the easy dissemination of information; We are all connected and in a
matter of seconds I can tell a friend who is on the other side of the world what I am doing, but in
the same way on the web we can find countless deception or lies which distorts reality, creating
conspiracy theories; Baraniuk, in his article “Web of lies: Is the internet making a world without
truth?” Shows a clear example of the Operation Jade Helm 15 case, where without even having
begun, images of armed troops were already being disseminated with the message that everything
is an Obama’s plan to wage a war against the American people, all this spread through social
networks, was so widespread that it even reached the governor of Texas ordering the state guard
to monitor military activities (Baraniuk). So much is the impact that social networks have on the
day to day that not even public officials have managed to get rid, falling into these false theories
that only create enmity and malaise in society.

Even Islamic State groups have frequently been active in social networks to spread
recruitment campaigns, so differentiating information and misinformation is a problem. Baraniuk
quotes Robert Epstein, a psychologist at the American Institute for Behavioral Research and
Technology in Vista, California "Technologies are rapidly evolving and can affect the behaviors,
opinions, attitudes, beliefs of large-scale people, without their conscience" (Baraniuk). We are all
vulnerable to being victims of these changes in behaviors, opinions and beliefs, and much more if
with the direct contact of technology.

Technology is a very useful tool today, but it is in us to know how to use it consciously and
productively since we can easily be exposed to misinformative issues that change the way we see
reality, creating unnecessary conflicts. On the other hand, it has been shown that it influences the
mood of several young people creating dependence on social networks and separating them from
reality, but you can look for ways to use it correctly as looking for help groups for young people
suffering from depression which has been shown that it is helpful to be in contact with people and
have someone to talk about problems. It is important to know how to differentiate information by
looking for reliable sources, and not to create a dependency on the internet, to see the internet as a
tool but not as a lifestyle.

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 Heredia 3
David Heredia

Professor Enrique Wong

Composition and Rhetoric

05 Oct. 2019

Works Cited

Chris Baraniuk. “Web of Lies: Is the Internet Making a World ithout Truth?” NewScientist.
17 Febrary 2017. www.newscientist.com/article/2077405-web-of-lies-is-the-internet-
making-a-world-without-truth/#ixzz61XQKHWoY. Accessed 30 September 2019.

Joanna Kavenna. “How to be Genuinely Yourself when Always Online.” NewScientist.

24 September 2014. www.newscientist.com/article/mg22329880-800-how-to-be-genuinely-
yourself-when-always-online/#ixzz61XRAYuQM. Accessed 30 September 2019.

Angus Chen. “Social Notworking: Is Generation Smartphone Really More Prone to

Unhappiness?” ScientificAmerican. 13 December 2017.
www.scientificamerican.com/article/social-notworking-is-generation-smartphone-really-
more-prone-to-unhappiness/. Accessed 30 September 2019.