Neal Joslin ENG 111 October 14, 2013 Depression in the 21st century The 21st century has

been, so far, an explosion of change and development. Looking back at even the year 2000 it seems to be primitive in a technology and social standpoints, a lot has changed in thirteen years. With the world economies almost falling, constant country versus country conflict, and the current technology bringing all of these into the home today is a depressing place. People are currently are being bombarded negative images and news from every which way. The technology and negative social atmosphere of the 21st century is changing the way of life in a negative way. When technology enters a society it breaks down the traditional way of life and makes it more complicated. In the article The Telephone by Anwar Accawi he explains how his life was, before he moved to America, in Magdaluna. Accawi explains how life was not focused on time and everyone based time on when natural disasters happened. When Accawi asked his grandma how old Teta Im Khalil was she responded, Teta was born shortly after the big snow that caused the roof on the mayors house to cave in (Accawi 319). Life in Accawis village was simple, there were no roads so by that fact it can be assumed it was cut off from the rest of the world. This is an example of a way of life that was basically untouched by technology and they are happy about it. One day a guy in the village, Abu Raja, got a phone and plugged the tribe into the outside world. Technology can be seen as a benefit when it first arrives, while most people ignore the draw backs because of all the improvements. Soon people in Accawis village soon began to leave for better jobs and the promise of a better life. With this they leave the village an empty shell of the old and the maimed. The article explains that new technology almost always destroys the current way of life or culture. Anwar then goes on and says that he is still looking for a better life ever sense he left the village. It can be inferred that Anwar wished that the phone never

came to the village, as he says that it was the best years of his life where there and by that it can be conclude he isnt very happy currently. In Accawis village technology was just being brought into the village, but what happens when technology is everywhere? In the next article Flying Cars and Endless Playlists by Amanda Henerson she explains how the current society is completely revolved around technology. General idea can be confirmed by Accawis village, as the center of the village moved to Abu Rajas house because he had the phone. Henerson explains that her mom is addicted to her computer and is on it almost all day every day. Henerson mom talks to other people online, looks at the news and even plays video games for countless hours. This seems to be the same trend as the people in Accawis village as they all get addicted to the phone. Then Henerson goes on and explains her own habits with technology which includes a phone, ipod, and laptop and is on all the time. Henerson pointed out that people of the past actually went out of their way to make new friends and instead of making polite conversation people currently are stuck in their own little bubble. Henerson explains Socially we are heading for failure (Henerson 327). and this is true because people dont want to make friends they want to be glued to their technology. Walking down the street, almost everyone is on their technology blocking out social interaction. Henerson concludes the article with saying that technology is going to make jobs that currently need people not necessary, an example is bank tellers. This article is another example that technology is bad in the long run as it ruins the culture, in the way that people dont talk to each other, and makes it so that everyone is in their own little world secluded from everyone else. The news used to be the direct connection to the rest of the world, if its other countries political affairs or a fire in the community. Currently the news is more based upon celebrity gossip and non-relevant information which can be described as not actually news. In The article, "Don't Super Size Me... Dumbify Me" by Samantha Calarusse, she describes the changing of news in the past few years. Calarusse believes that the news shouldnt pry into peoples personal lives as the case of Britney Spears

little sister being pregnant being on the new station, CNN. As Henerson explains that people are glued to their phones which can be inferred this news is constantly being sent to them. Then Calarusse observed that people know more about celebrities than current world affairs. The example used in the article is issue of Bhutto being assassinated and only three out of ten people actually knew who it was. She goes on to tell a story about a young girl who calls a radio station and after a brief conversation she says she doesnt know who Martin Luther King is, but she knows snoop dog. After this she asks a question Was this the new America-dumbed down by pop culture instead of high culture? (Calarusse 360). The article as a whole is very disturbing as this younger generation is going to be leading the country someday. Another thing that the article doesnt talk about is that while these celebrities are always in the news, people constantly judging their lives against theirs. Even though it is almost impossible to be as successful as a celebrity, people are always seeing the other side of the social hedge that separates classes. Not only does this make people insecure about their current situation in life but it makes it seem like their doing their whole life wrong as their not as successful. With the current technology of the 21st century this obsession with celebrities isnt confined to the news, now its in everyones hand almost twenty-four/seven. As can be assumed when this grander way of life is shown all the time people that havent reached that point do not feel good about themselves. In the past few articles technology is looked at as a negative angle which not a lot of people do, as more people look at the positive sides of technology. In the article Surfing, Searching, and Social Networking: Redefining Digital Literacy with Facebook and Wikipedia" by Dustin Anderson, he talks about how technology is a great tool. Anderson first talks about how his mother uses google and how google is a great and powerful tool. Anderson doesnt talk about how google isnt a great source of information as anyone can put something on the internet, while books normally have more reliable information. Next in the article he Anderson explains Facebook and he only explains the positive sides of Facebook. While people can instantly update their profile and talk to their friends they are starting to be

in their own bubble as explained by Henerson. Another added draw back to this is, the information from these constant updates could be someones news which is why more people know about celebrities then the actually news as stated by Calarusse. Anderson then talks about a virtual world called second life which is basically what the name suggests. Anderson explains a way of chatting in the virtual world, Local chatting is a public conversation between two or more avatars, and can be heard by other users nearby (Anderson 296). This is a great example of Accawis destroyed culture as this is destroying the traditional face-to-face interactions between two people. Anderson in his article shows that technology is a great and powerful tool of constant information. While Anderson ignores very important negative effects of the same technology, it destroys the normal way of life, social interactions, and news. When technology is introduced to a culture, as seen in the article The Telephone, it destroys the traditional way of life. In the article Flying Cars and Endless Playlists, a culture that as had technology for a while is consumed by it and basic social interactions are ignored. While in "Don't Super Size Me... Dumbify Me", technology puts the news, which is now celebrity gossip, right in peoples hands. While there are many upsides to technology as Dustin Anderson tries to explain in the article Surfing, Searching, and Social Networking: Redefining Digital Literacy with Facebook and Wikipedia" but the overwhelming evidence that technology has a very bad side to it cant be ignored. Technology in the 21st century has changed the way of life for everyone that has come in contact with it.

Reference list

Accawi, Anwar. The Telephone Everythings A Text. Ed. Melzer, Dan. Coxwell-Teague, Deborah. New York: Opiela, 2011. 318-324. Print

Henderson, Amander. "Flying Cars and Endless Playlists" Everythings A Text. Ed. Melzer, Dan. CoxwellTeague, Deborah. New York: Opiela, 2011. 325-328. Print

Calarusse, Samantha. "Don't Super Size Me... Dumbify Me" Everythings A Text. Ed. Melzer, Dan. Coxwell-Teague, Deborah. New York: Opiela, 2011. 358-360. Print

Anderson, Dustin. "Surfing, Searching, and Social Networking: Redefining Digital Literacy with Facebook and Wikipedia" Everythings A Text. Ed. Melzer, Dan. Coxwell-Teague, Deborah. New York: Opiela, 2011. 266-273. Print