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Russell Bolender
English M-W
3 November 2015
Wyman
Society's Growing Dependence on Technology
Nowadays an increasing number of kids abandon their time outside to sit on their
couches and waste the day away playing video games. The majority of nine to twelve
year olds today own a gaming console. There are less swingsets in backyards and more
and more video games stored in our homes. Kids are developing these habits in their
early years, but it does not stop there. The majority of college aged males report an
average of 9.5 hours a week gaming: around 35 hours a month. It is clear to see that
obesity is rising and so is the advancement of technology; these two trends go directly
hand in hand.
Technology is advancing quickly, causing us to waste our day on the latest phone,
blog, and video games. We all want the latest and newest gadgets. Whenever a new
iPhone is released, lines are out the door; the new Fifa 16 game had waiting lists to
purchase it. We spend more time worrying about having the coolest and newest amenities
rather than focusing on whats more important like our physical health and education.
Nicholas Carr talks about, in his article, Is Google Making Us Stupid? how technology
is ruining our society in an educational sense. In this quote, My mind isnt going-so far
as I can tell- but it's changing. Im not thinking the way I used to think, and I can feel it

most strongly when I'm reading.I get fidgety, lose the thread, and begin looking for
something else to do, Carr admits that the advancement of technology even affects his

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mind (370-371). Carr talks about our lack of ability to read informative papers, and
comprehend in a practical sense, the information presented before us. When one really
takes the time to think about this generation and how reliant most young people are on
technology, as well as how much they let technology consume their everyday tasks, many
can find themselves agreeing with Carr. Students become immersed in class with their
phones, computers, iPods, and tablets thus breaking their concentration causing them to
miss crucial information. Another author that may agree with Carr is, Caryl Rivers, the
author of The New Media Politics of Emotion and Attitude. In this article she says
There is no page one staff meeting to determine whats important and whats trivial.
The critical issue is whats available now, and whats sexy or sensational(398). This
quote lends proof that Rivers would agree with Carr in the fact that quick information is
better than correct information.
Technology has evolved over time to present information so as to skew our view
towards the way the author wants it. We hear of a current event, and have the ability to
instantly search it on the web, and often times we believe the first article we read.
Bloggers, authors, and news reporters all share similar tactics as to how they pull us into
their misleading information. They will post a crazy headline, a hook, that makes us
interested so we continue to read and believe their lies. A good example of this lies in
Caryl Rivers article, The New Media Politics of Emotion and Attitude. She states,

More and more Americans are moving to hot, emotion-laden methods of getting news,
and away from cool, more objective forms of information...(398). Big time video game
producers follow these same tactics. Commercials for that specific new video game is
released, causing every single kid to think he or she must have it immediately. They
believe in all
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the features it comes with, and beg their parents to buy it for them. Just as Rivers states
how adults believe in the news, kids also do in videogames. Along with Rivers, Mike
Rose also would believe that information that is quick and easy to access if more
appealing than information that is indepth, and takes a while to read through. This is
apparent in this quote from his article, I Just Wanna Be Average, All the hours in
class tend to blend into one long, vague stretch of time(300). This shows that he thinks
that concentration is easy to lose. Most people get their information through technology
and no longer go out and listen to a speaker like in the past. Technology evolves in every
field affecting us in different ways. Many kids see a commercial for the latest game, and
only focus on that game for months until the next one drops. There is no longer going
outside for fun. It seems as if many hide behind the screens of technology and are content
with living that way.
Not all games and technology is bad, however. Technology is being used more
and more every day in schools and for educational purposes. Kids think that games and
technology are cool and exciting, so when they play these educational games it makes
learning fun and easy. Michael Rose who wrote the article, I Just Want to be Average,

talks about the many struggles that he faced growing up and going through school. In
school, if Michael struggled with a subject, he would just refuse to listen so he did not
become frustrated; he soon found school to be terribly boring and miserable. It is almost
impossible to learn when a student is not engaged with their class or their teacher, and it
is very easy to become disengaged when a teacher is standing in front of the classroom
preaching hour after hour. Technology is now making every kid engaged with what they
are learning, they have to go through the steps and problems themselves on their own

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computer. Kids are not the only ones to blame for the rise in obesity and the time spent
playing video games. Parents are not as active or around their kids as much as they used
to. Before the last fifty years there was almost always a stay at home parent with the kids,
usually being their mother. This is no longer the case, today 58.6 percent of women work
today (WB). When parents arent able to be home to supervise their children they often
require their children to stay indoors for safety reasons. In many cases technology
becomes the babysitter and children spend countless hours in front of a gaming council
eating snacks and playing video games. Gone are the days of
kids playing baseball at the park, or riding their bikes around town and this sedentary
quick fix has contributed to the obesity epidemic.
Overall, technology may be ruining us as a society and all the authors talked
about would, in a sense, agree. Most people are all too reliant on technology, and cannot
concentrate to learn the way society used to. People would rather consume their lives
living in their phones, playing their video games than doing things the old school way.

You no longer hear parents telling their children to burn some energy outside so they can
calm down. No, the solution no a days is to place some form of technology so they can
play a video game and be quiet for the next few hours. Children are no longer getting the
exercise they need and it is clear to see. Children who are obese are more likely to be
obese as adults, and are therefore more at risk for adult health problems. One study
showed that children who became obese as early as age two were more likely to be obese
as adults. Overweight and obesity are associated with increased risk for numerous types
of cancer, including cancer of the breast, colon, endometrium, esophagus, kidney,
pancreas, gall bladder, thyroid, ovary, cervix, and prostate, as well as multiple myeloma
and Hodgkins lymphoma.
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(Freedmon) As we push forward and strive to produce the next best thing or the newest
technology, we are putting ourselves in a deeper and deeper hole. Our country is
becoming more and more overweight along with our advancement in technology. Yes the
technology makes our lives simpler everyday but is our advancement in technology
something we should be trying to continually build on considering how influential
technology is to our health?

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Works Cited
Alford, Barry. "Exploring Relationships: Globalization and Learning in the 21st Century.
"Freirean Voices, Student Choices: 279-82. Print.
Carr, Nicholas. "Exploring Relationships: Globalization and Learning in the 21st Century.
" Is Google Making Us Stupid? (2008): 370-77. Print.
Freedmon, Wang D. "Childhood Obesity Facts." Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 27 Aug. 2015. Web. 12 Oct.

2015
Rivers, Caryl. "Exploring Relationships: Globalization and Learning in the 21st Century.
" The New Media Politics of Emotion and Attitude (2009): 398400. Print.
Rose, Mike. "Exploring Relationships: Globalization and Learning in the 21st Century.
" I Just Wanna Be Average: 295-312. Print.
Welch, Matt. "Exploring Relationships: Globalization and Learning in the 21st Century.
"Blogworld and Its Gravity (2003): 400-07. Print.
"Women's Bureau (WB) - Quick Facts on Women in the Labor Force in 2010." Women's
Bureau (WB) - Quick Facts on Women in the Labor Force in 2010. N.p., n.d. Web. 21
Oct. 2015.