Ambivalent feelings on the topic of Technology: a position by Jodi Kirkner

Has technology affected you in a majorly positive way? Has technology ever inconvenienced you or hurt you? Maybe technology got in your way, slowed you down or even literally hurt you?

In this post I will explain both sides of my lifetime of conflict with technology, as well as the ways in which is has positively impacted my life. Because I may get carried away dissing online homework, I'll begin with the latter.

Technology has been a great factor in my life. Really, these days, it's hard to get away from. As a person who generally loathes my own company, I indulge greatly in the internet's ability to connect me with others. I can't imagine a life where my friends are no more than a thumbs-length away. Today's techno-obsession has helped me make friends in far away places, and discover cultures I wouldn't have a chance to experience otherwise. Technology, the internet specifically, has been a blessing to me, mainly because without it I would be missing a major part of my identity, and would never have been exposed to many of the defining experiences that I look back on today. Heck, I'd know two less languages. 

However, technology's aptitude to take over tasks and systems that work fine the way they are irks me on a daily basis. I like to ruffle the pages in my books as I read, and I absolutely treasure the feeling of my pencil on paper while doing my homework. Not only that, but all these online assignments are hard to keep track of. With a worksheet or bookwork, there's a 30lb reminder handing on my back all day. On top of that, all of these new substitutes for old systems have glitches. The worst that could happen to your homework 20 years ago was your new puppy's appetite. With online work, there's a whole new series of problems. Things like computer viruses, power outages, internet failure (thanks Time Warner), and the dreaded broken flash drive plague students daily. And because of the overuse of these excuses by lazy or flustered people, they're rarely accepted when they do happen. 

Ah- see, I called it from the start. I knew I'd get carried away on this topic. I'll wrap up this little spiel by relating technology to this anecdote my mom often recites to me on relationships (or in her words, men):

Can't live with 'em, can't live without 'em.


P.S. As I was writing this, I KID YOU NOT, my browser crashed and deleted a good bit of my unsaved work. Luckily, blogger is on top of it and autosaves every few minutes, so I was able to recover with minimal damage to my sanity. Thanks, technoloy.