Are we becoming too reliant on technology?

Question

Open question so naturaly there are no right or wrong answers! But what is too far and why?

Answer 1

We already ARE too reliant on technology. The military have already realised this, with all soldiers not only learning how to use GPS but also the classic, reliable maps.

If there was a huge electromagnetic storm, billions and billions would be lost from the economy, everything imaginable would be in complete disarray. Cars unable to start, no electricity. Everything that needs a circuit board to work in some form or another on Earth and near Earth would be ruined, modern communication would fall without satellites. Nevermind the unlucky souls who would be stuck in the Internation Space Station.

Overall, we'd be back in the stone age if disaster struck.

Answer 2

Why yes, we are

we depend on technoloogy to:

help type our papers

be an dictionary

go shopping ((no problem wit dat though))

and easy stuff we can do by ourselfs

i admit................i am adicted..........................lol

Answer 3

LOL ... it IS ironic that you use a computer to ask this.  But to answer your question.... yes, I think we are becoming too dependent on technology.  It's hard for me to remember when I used to have to look things up in books or go to the library.  Now I just Google search everything.  I have a hard time doing simple math because I use calculators all the time.  I always have my cell phone on me so I am in constant touch with my friends and family.  People will forget how to use an atlas because we have MapQuest and TomTom to do it for us.  There are families out there now who are having "unplugged" time.  Like, an entire weekend with no electronic devices.  I think this is a good way to reconnect.

Answer 4

In today's world, we are very reliant on technology, but it helps us.  We use cars to travel up to 500 or so miles per day, or we an use planes to fly to anywhere in the world in less than a day.  We use computers at work, at home, in school, and in transportation.  We use the Internet to communicate with others around the world, run a business, hold meetings, and for homework.  This technology all helps us, and we would not be able to do much without it.  For example, in the 1800's, family members who lived across the country were never seen.  Today, we can see family members from across the country any time we want.

I think that being too reliant on technology would be the point where you cannot step back and take a break from anything without technology.  If you cannot go on a camping trip (or something like that, if you don't like camping) without pining for your cell phone, you're too reliant on technology.  It is perfectly fine to use technology, but don't let technology use you.

Answer 5

It's a very subjective question. How are you defining "too reliant?" Is this about arrogant humans foolishly trying to interfere with God's Will? Is it about offending someone's nostalgia-driven sense of how people should live and behave for all time, regardless of circumstances? Is it the result of watching too much alarmist news?

Most fans of Thomas Malthus over the last 200 years have said that we're on the verge of running out of agricultural capacity and returning to subsistence living, after most people have already starved to death of course. But every time this defeatist view of human creativity regains popular awareness, somebody invents a new way of growing, sorting or storing food and catastrophe is miraculously averted once again.

I think this just boils down to ignoring the fact that technology is self-correcting. We invent something, we mess something up due to ignorant usage of the invention, we realize we're creating a new problem, so we invent something else to deal with the new problem.

For me, we could only become too reliant on technology if it prevents us from finding new technologies to fix the damage we caused with prior technologies. It's not like we really have the choice of going backward technologically anyway. It's too late to put the genie back in the bottle, we're in an ongoing technological race to keep up with the resource needs of our growing population.

For at least the next 1,000 years, my bets are on the creative people. They've been saving our collective butts from starvation ever since the the first stick was used as a tool to get hard-to-reach food. And there are a lot more of these creative people now,  they are even more self-correcting in shorter time cycles because of peer review and this wonderful near-instantaneous communication system we call the Internet. If you're familiar with baseball, these folks are batting about .900 right now. Why bet on the other team, especially given what happens if they win?

Answer 6

lol.. talk about irony