Post by Meriah Rose on Aug 8, 2011 17:12:34 GMT -5
“Technology is taking away our privacy and our concentration, but it is also taking away our ability to be alone. Though, I shouldn't say taking away. We are doing this to ourselves.” An old man once said in his article The End of Solitude. I say “old” man because that’s exactly what this author is. Old. He has lived the majority of his life in a completely different generation. A generation with different values, different technology, and a different concept of the way a teenager should act. Technology has gotten such a bad reputation. The older generation’s continually compare the present day to days of their childhood and let’s face it: technology has come a long way since the 70’s. Contrary to William Deresiewicz’s opinion, technology is not taking away our privacy and our concentration nor is it taking away our ability to be alone. In fact it’s allowing us to make all these decisions for ourselves and not having to settle with a situation we dislike.
Technology allows people to express themselves in a way we’ve never been able to before. Social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter have open doors to personal expression. We can be in constant communication with our friends and family. We can say whatever we want whenever we want. All of the decisions are left up to us. We have the choice to say as little as we want. Fact is the youth of today aren’t as private as they once were twenty or thirty years ago. But why is that a bad thing? As young children we are always told to express ourselves and not keep emotions bottled up inside, so why should an easy outlet get such a bad reputation? Technology allows us to be there for a friend the moment her boyfriend breaks up with her, the moment his baseball team loses the big game, or even the moment her dog is hit by a car. Events that have previously been kept quiet can now be shared and as a result, our friends can be there with helping hand. Technology should be something we rejoice over, for it is helping the youth become a happier and more caring generation.
Yes, there are several times all of us have interrupted an important essay, or difficult math problem to check our Facebook’s or to respond to a text, but saying technology is taking away our ability to concentrate is just not true. As much as I’ve taken a break from homework to watch TV or call a friend, I’ve used technology to focus on homework just as much. Homework help calls and online study sessions are becoming more and more prevalent in modern education. Students are taking classes online or even their whole curriculum can be covered at home on the computer. Computers are coming equipped with calculators, grid sheets, PowerPoint, and other tools that allow students to focus on their studies even more. We don’t have to learn everything alone, without the help of our peers. Why study solely in solitude when there are so many other resources of knowledge we can access? Technology is not preventing us from concentrating; it’s furthering our ability to concentration and progress in our studies.
Being alone is something that, in accordance with Deresiewicz, is something the current generation has strayed from. Teenagers are spending less and less time alone. But in disagreement with Deresiewicz, this isn’t a bad thing. Teenagers should be living their lives to the fullest and spending time with their friends, because once college graduation rolls around there just won’t be as much free time. Our lives will finally start. We’ll be looking for careers, advancing in said career and begin families of our own. Friends will be placed on the back shelf, and we don’t want to have gone our whole lives without having truly lived them. As teenagers we should be expected to want to be with friends, and as adults we should be expected to want to be with work and family. Even with modern teenagers, solitude isn’t something that has been lost. We still enjoy our nights alone in bed, those precious moments after school relaxing on the couch before hours of homework, and the occasional evenings settled down with a good book. We’ve grown as generation and solitude isn’t something we have to experience every day; we get to make choices and decisions to do what is right for ourselves.
Technology allows people to express themselves in a way we’ve never been able to before. Social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter have open doors to personal expression. We can be in constant communication with our friends and family. We can say whatever we want whenever we want. All of the decisions are left up to us. We have the choice to say as little as we want. Fact is the youth of today aren’t as private as they once were twenty or thirty years ago. But why is that a bad thing? As young children we are always told to express ourselves and not keep emotions bottled up inside, so why should an easy outlet get such a bad reputation? Technology allows us to be there for a friend the moment her boyfriend breaks up with her, the moment his baseball team loses the big game, or even the moment her dog is hit by a car. Events that have previously been kept quiet can now be shared and as a result, our friends can be there with helping hand. Technology should be something we rejoice over, for it is helping the youth become a happier and more caring generation.
Yes, there are several times all of us have interrupted an important essay, or difficult math problem to check our Facebook’s or to respond to a text, but saying technology is taking away our ability to concentrate is just not true. As much as I’ve taken a break from homework to watch TV or call a friend, I’ve used technology to focus on homework just as much. Homework help calls and online study sessions are becoming more and more prevalent in modern education. Students are taking classes online or even their whole curriculum can be covered at home on the computer. Computers are coming equipped with calculators, grid sheets, PowerPoint, and other tools that allow students to focus on their studies even more. We don’t have to learn everything alone, without the help of our peers. Why study solely in solitude when there are so many other resources of knowledge we can access? Technology is not preventing us from concentrating; it’s furthering our ability to concentration and progress in our studies.
Being alone is something that, in accordance with Deresiewicz, is something the current generation has strayed from. Teenagers are spending less and less time alone. But in disagreement with Deresiewicz, this isn’t a bad thing. Teenagers should be living their lives to the fullest and spending time with their friends, because once college graduation rolls around there just won’t be as much free time. Our lives will finally start. We’ll be looking for careers, advancing in said career and begin families of our own. Friends will be placed on the back shelf, and we don’t want to have gone our whole lives without having truly lived them. As teenagers we should be expected to want to be with friends, and as adults we should be expected to want to be with work and family. Even with modern teenagers, solitude isn’t something that has been lost. We still enjoy our nights alone in bed, those precious moments after school relaxing on the couch before hours of homework, and the occasional evenings settled down with a good book. We’ve grown as generation and solitude isn’t something we have to experience every day; we get to make choices and decisions to do what is right for ourselves.