Technology has always been a popular luxury that was mostly associated with youth, but over the years it has transformed to a fully capable and living force. It has pushed society forward and controls what sells and thrives. Whether or not you agree with the push for new technology, it has truly become the new medium for the twenty first century.
I made this initial discovery at, of all places, a Red Robin.
My father exhaled a long, frustrated grunt as he viciously typed on his iPad. Then suddenly, surrounded by an oversized BBQ burger and a beer, he exclaimed,
“I CANNOT believe they don’t have WiFi in here!”
“In a Red Robin?” I looked over to him hoping that the sarcasm would be understood, but the gravely serious look on his face said otherwise.
Obviously, there was no wifi in the Red Robin. He aggressively scanned the decorated walls as if he could create a router out of thin air. Who knew? Maybe there was a secret wifi source behind the retro 1950’s Coca-Cola poster? In this day and age, you can never be sure.
Technology has touched base in most every consumer category available. Technology is in television programming, electronics, business’, exercising equipment and home appliances. Of course, the most progressive and in demand is the internet. Everyone now uses the internet. The college student, young kids, grandparents, adults and parents all use the internet on a daily basis to Tweet, Facebook, blog, get news, contact others and email. There are even new verbs. You can ‘Google’ anything or ‘Facebook’ someone to keep in touch. It has started a revolution. Now the only thing we have to do is follow where it leads in hope that we won’t arrive to any serious consequences.
If we can’t stop the inevitable, we at least have to pick a stance on the growing resource. There is more to think about than whether or not you have a Twitter account, but truly weighing out the consequences of going viral.
The pros? It’s quick and readily available, although it’s not always accurate. It also gives us opportunities we would never have ten years ago. The internet and social networking sites make marketing yourself for the job market simple and give you more outlets to share you talents and experiences.
As a student who is going to have to rely on marketing herself in a few years, I take full advantage by sharing on the internet. My first year writing for The Rocket, family members would share my articles from The Rocket’s website and email each other. When it came to Christmas, I was getting compliments from family members I haven’t seen since I was five years old. The internet works off the idea that people will share something they like. So, if you have or make something that someone does want to share, it creates more of a social web for you to weave and profit from.
Any skill or thought that puts you above the rest can be published for the world to see and makes it easier for you to get noticed. It’s those small details that will make your more marketable for a future career, no matter what the profession.
But the idea of everything being in the palm of our hands has an effect on society. We all want instant results. It’s not known which one came first: the technology or the demand, but whatever the origin, technology has created a demand for immediate gratification. This isn’t always a negative, but it can overshadow the need for quality. We confuse convenience for durability. Technology can change our priorities and confuse quantity for quality.
Technology also puts face to face conversation on the back burner. Call me biased for choosing communication as a future career, but I believe that our ability to text someone rather than call, or even send them a Facebook message instead of a letter can be endangering real life communication. If technology is balanced correctly, the pros will overshadow the cons, but something struck a cord in me when a grown man cursed a Red Robin for not having WiFi.
I will say that I’m for the expansion of technology, but also try and keep my personal skills in high demand.
The internet is only one branch of the constantly growing technology tree, but it is a prime example of how technology is a major part of our daily lives.
Although I will forever oppose Kindles. Anyone can get them if they like, but I will always take comfort in my paper books.
