Lost in Convenience
From the beginning of time people have made advances in technology for the sake of convenience. With the advancements of knowledge in our ever changing world inconvenience has become a thing of the past, or has it? In almost every aspect of one’s life we deal with technology. It is how we deal with that technology decides whether it is useful or not. In this essay, I will address the ways technology has affected my life and the lives of my friends and family through my own observations, experience and actions.
Thinking of both convenience and technology in terms of comfort, it can work for us or against us. Technology has taken us away from the discomfort of everyday life that is now a thing of the past. Presently, people no longer know how to be self sufficient; technology has made us incompetent and unable to function without it. The convenience of technology brought us the remote control, so we now no longer get off the couch. Striving for comfort has removed us from the dinner table and into a fast food drive-thru. This quick and easy route has taken us away from quality time spent with the family. Technology has made us lazy, overweight, and unprepared. We have let technology take over our lives with and create a demand that if taken away would topple our society, so much so that people involve every aspect of their life, from their business and their children, with the technology.
Now more than ever inventions are being made to make life easier, and make people more comfortable in the modern world. Technology has changed people's lives in many ways. Through its progress, technology has enabled us to live with limited difficulties. Technology has benefited us with the development of the computer and the internet, with these you can now access information and buy things on line instead of shopping in a real store. With the evolution of technology people are using digital devices more now than ever before to make their lives more convenient.
This is not a necessity, but a luxury, our society loves its gadgets. From cell phones to computers giving us 24 hour access to global information at a touch of a switch, this is more than we need or can handle. With all the technology in the world today one would think that nothing is inconvenient and everything is accessible, but what is inconvenience? Is a baby or your pet an inconvenience, taking care of your parents, an inconvenience? It all depends on how we perceive these inconveniences or disturbances, and whether or not something is viewed as an inconvenience or convenience. I’ve looked at having several items in my life that are convenient and not convenient. From my car to my credit card these and more are convenient. It’s all the things involved with the convenience that make them inconvenient. Like getting the money to keep up the maintenance and put gas in the car, to maintaining my balance for my credit card to have the money for my car. It is the convenient possessions that make the inconvenient belongings better. I wonder sometimes if the opposite is true then convenient things are inconvenient and the inconvenient things are extremely convenient. I looked at some of my own gadgets and thought are they actually convenient. Everyday a new advancement or gadget comes out that is run by machines to where one wonders when they will take over if they have not already. Just look around you and notice all things you use to do that can now be done by machines. Imagine communicating without a phone or watching television without the screen. Will people evolve technology, so much so that convenience takes over and we all become obsolete? Will people live in isolation and just interact through surrogate robots? It is not if these Things are going to happen, but when and to what lengths will we go just to have convenience in our life.
We have gotten so used to technology being convenient that most are necessary just to do everyday life, and without them most people wouldn’t know how. You can’t have one without the other. We deal with convenient and inconvenient things all the time, but which is better on one hand we can argue for and the other against. I don’t know if I would have been able to survive without all the conveniences that came because of technology. The one thing I think about is how to get more time for myself and my family with technology. We think by adding more technology that will give us more time. When in reality it takes the time away from us. This type of compromise we must make on a daily basis. Some choices are more convenient than others, but it is the inconvenience of some of the convenient that are considered in making those choices. Where in today’s society everything is fast and immediate, people seldom slow down to take the time they were trying to get in the first place. We have become so attached to technology with convenient things that we can’t imagine our lives without it. I guess you can say that convenience is comfortable and that inconvenience is uncomfortable.
So it basically comes down to needs and wants, the hierarchy of needs. The belief that some needs are more important than others and that the benefits are more important than the wants. In conclusion, I believe that in this hectic constantly changing world technology in our modern life makes things more convenient, and has made the world a better place to live by allowing added convenience which makes for an easier and healthier life, but there are advantages and disadvantages. The effects of technology on me and others make most people think that the advantages are more than the disadvantages. There is no argument that life in the past was simple and easy, but there were more difficulties long ago than in today’s modern life. Thanks to the advancements of modern technology, People now live longer than before and most illnesses can be cured which contributes greatly to our quality of life.