”How many of your friends do you text daily? Okay, now keeping that in mind answer this: Do you have more conversations through technology, than you do in person? It seems that more and more people are moving away from face-to-face interactions, but instead moving towards a more technology-driven way of life. Myself included, society almost needs to use technology to communicate. Without it, we would be completely lost with minimal communication. Of course, this is society as a whole…majority rules.” (Inspire mag)

I read this article after our very first workshop and it made me think how I and the majority of people around me are dependent on technology. Although it seems like technology has had a huge negative impact on our basic human skills, it is crucial to acknowledge its benefits. For example long distant communication is faster and far more efficient with the use of Skype, text messaging, directing messaging on social media and email; it has also made knowledge incredibly accessible to anyone, with a communications devise, at any time. Therefore opening the doors for a much greater education then what may have existed in the past; technology as feed the growth of many fields from medical to entertainment, which is magnificent because the larger occupational fields grow the more jobs there are available for people. However on the other hand, as the article highlights, technology has had an equally negative effect on our generation. From personal experience and from observing the world/ society around me, it has become evident that we live in an era where we would rather text and call then go out and meet. On many occasions you will witness groups of people ‘spending time together/ bonding’ yet everybody within those groups are drawn into a technological world through the device that has gained their undivided attention, oblivious to the surrounding that they a physically present in. Physically they are in a place/ location yet mentally they are in a completely different world. It makes me wonder if one day texting will become the new way of speaking. Instead of using my mouth to say ‘hello’ to the person standing in front of me, I would have to use my mobile phone or tablet to text them ‘hello’.  With this said, think for a second how many times you may have passed somebody in the street that could have been a major influence in your life, but you missed them because you were looking down at your phone.

Zorzini, C. (2013). Technology’s impact on society in today’s generations. Available: http://inspiredm.com/technologys-impact-on-society-in-todays-generations/. Last accessed 10/02/2015.