2008 Woodie Awards
Tech tradgedy
Sunny Thomson
Issue date: 9/26/07 Section: Opinion
- Page 1 of 2 next >
I will forever remember Sept. 15, 2007, as the day my world ended. Melodramatics aside, that day will live in infamy because my beloved Mac iBook G4 died. Like many students before me, I experienced terror at the thought of losing all my iTunes, papers and pictures. My whole life was on that computer; I'd had it since my freshman year, and it had come to symbolize my growth in writing skills, taste in music, appearance and friendships. The once-standard Mac iBook G4 had become a unique extension of my personality and college experience, and I had no idea how to live without it. Despite all attempts by a Mac genius, my iBook joined the many other computers in the technology graveyard. The anguish I experienced at losing access to my computer seems to demonstrate how dependent students and people have become on technology.
Technology permeates every aspect of life, from school to church to even the most basic of instincts: eating. Students depend on computers, online libraries, printers and copy machines to make it through the day. Churches often project the lyrics of hymns onto a screen, so that hymnals are no longer essential to the worship service. Restaurants depend on credit card machines and computer systems to charge customers and place their order.
However, the best example of how technology has become so engrained in our everyday lives is the dictionary. Merriam Webster's Dictionary now contains a listing for the word Google as both a noun and a verb: "to use the Google search engine to obtain information about (as a person) on the World Wide Web." A word must have widespread use to be entered into a dictionary, which suggests that Google has become a phrase commonplace in conversation. Our language reflects our acceptance of and reliance on technological advances, including search engines that have made our lives more efficient.
Although efficiency levels are steadily increasing with each new version of Windows, Mac or iPod, what are the consequences of all these tech advances? Some would argue that the largest consequence is a loss of intimacy in human interaction since emails are far less personal than letters and text messages less personal than phone calls. It seems that in the spirit of efficiency, people would rather interact with a phone or computer than actually meet with a person.
Technology permeates every aspect of life, from school to church to even the most basic of instincts: eating. Students depend on computers, online libraries, printers and copy machines to make it through the day. Churches often project the lyrics of hymns onto a screen, so that hymnals are no longer essential to the worship service. Restaurants depend on credit card machines and computer systems to charge customers and place their order.
However, the best example of how technology has become so engrained in our everyday lives is the dictionary. Merriam Webster's Dictionary now contains a listing for the word Google as both a noun and a verb: "to use the Google search engine to obtain information about (as a person) on the World Wide Web." A word must have widespread use to be entered into a dictionary, which suggests that Google has become a phrase commonplace in conversation. Our language reflects our acceptance of and reliance on technological advances, including search engines that have made our lives more efficient.
Although efficiency levels are steadily increasing with each new version of Windows, Mac or iPod, what are the consequences of all these tech advances? Some would argue that the largest consequence is a loss of intimacy in human interaction since emails are far less personal than letters and text messages less personal than phone calls. It seems that in the spirit of efficiency, people would rather interact with a phone or computer than actually meet with a person.