Destruction on Society

The article As Technology Gets Better, Will Society Get Worse?, published on the New Yorker---a magazine that contains essays on American society, argues that technology has brought many disadvantages to our world. The reading uses a story about the Oji-Cree people and the negative impact technology had on them as the text states “The Oji-Cree are literally being killed by technological advances”.

Thesis: Although technology has made life easier and more efficient for humans, new innovations have caused destruction upon society.

1. 

   http://blog.vistage.com/

   The article references a story about the Oji-Cree people. These people were nomads that lived in tents during summer and cabins in winter. In other words, they were very traditional. When new technology was introduced, the Oji-Cree people were very eager to have the new tools and advanced lifestyle. Unfortunately, “since the arrival of new technologies, the population has suffered a massive increase in morbid obesity, heart disease, and type 2 diabetes”. The nomads had changed for the worse.
   
   

2. Beside the health disadvantages the nomads experienced, they also “suffered other traumas, like colonization and the destruction of cultural continuity”. This means that the Oji-Cree people lost some traditional practices as they were distracted by new TVs and radios. This is similar to the younger generations. Instead of playing outside with friends or taking a bike ride around the neighborhood, kids and teens are trapped in the house watching TV or looking at social media on their phones.
   
   

3. The reading made an analogy of the Disney movie Wall-E as part of the movie shows what the future is like when technology takes over the world. The article says “The prospect of it makes it clear that, as species, we need mechanisms to keep humanity on track”. I found this quote and comparison interesting because the producers were making a movie to entertain kids, but no one really looked into the depth of the meaning behind making the future seem bad. They made everyone look obese, robots made mistakes, and the planet was ruined. We should put this into consideration when we choose technology over our planet.
   
   

4. “We spend most time to minimize pain and maximize pleasure. When it comes to technologies, we mainly want to make things easy”. This quote makes it seem like humans are lazy, and in some cases we are. Instead of taking the long way, we try to cheat and find shortcuts to limit time and effort. But sometimes, taking the long way might be the right thing to do to get the job done.
   
   

5. Another common issue that technology causes would be the “social problems: idleness, alcoholism, drug addiction, and suicide have reached some of the highest levels on Earth”. I think with the presence of bullies on social medias, it influences teens and kids to make bad decisions into some of the problems that are occurring today.