Tech Essay Part 2

750 Word-

There are more pancake people than cathedral people now, Nicholas Carr [CC1] mentions. He also mentions that in 2001: A Space Odyssey that people are so emotionless and machine like due to technology. His point is that technology in the world is making people emotionless and have no interesting things to them. That is simply not true. There are so many people filled with emotions and so many interesting people out in the world. He is quoting a movie that was made back in 1968 and did not have all of the technology that we do now and had no idea how the technology would affect us.[EL2] All I can say is that humans are not like how they were in the film, and I do not see us leading down that path. Technology is also huge and helps with so many things. I use it in my everyday life and will probably never stop.

People are seen expressing emotions all around even when using technology. Movies always bring out emotions in people. Like making people cry if an animal or their favorite characters die. Comedies are movies that make people laugh, even if the jokes are not actually funny. People will also become scared from horror movies and their jump scares. Now I do not always watch movies, but I do read books quite a bit, and these books always make me feel these different emotions. Carr mentioned how there are not a lot of “cathedral” people anymore. I have met so many different interesting people throughout my life. Even people I did not know [CC3] long told me things that have happened in their lives that makes them so interesting. Like [JG4] a guy on an airplane told me how his son went to a school for baseball and has had a scholarship for baseball at the University of Michigan since he was 14! It is so amazing that he has had that scholarship since a young age since it extremely hard to get into U of M. Of course, everyone is going to meet people that they found boring but other people could find them interesting. It all depends on your own opinions.

I have read from many people that they agree with Carr and wish they did not have to use technology as much as they do. Personally, technology has helped me so much, especially with staying in contact with my family. I am from Michigan which is about a 13-hour straight drive from the University of New England. With stops it can end up being a 16-hour long drive. Since I am so far away from home, having a phone where I can call, text, or facetime my family is amazing. Just the other day I was on facetime, and I got to sing happy birthday with my family to my aunt. I can also send them pictures of places I visit and just communicate with them so much faster than sending letters and such. Also, I get to hear the gossip from my old job, Pet Supplies Plus, from my old coworkers and managers.

It also helps me with schoolwork. Getting sick is common when going to school with a bunch of kids. Usually, people will get sick a couple times throughout the school year. If I miss school instead of having to wait to go to school the next day and getting behind with work, I can check online and see any work that I missed and try to do it online. Also, I would be able to contact any classmates through my phone or social media to try and get any notes that I missed. They can just snap a picture or share a document of the notes within seconds. Writing has become better and easier when I use technology. There are so many rules to writing that I sometimes forget some of them. Thankfully, there are sometimes suggestions through Microsoft Word and Google Docs that can be helpful. Writing with pencil and paper can tier my hands out really fast, so being able to type out on computer has helped. Not only that, but teachers can speak really fast and sometimes I cannot write as fast as I can type.

There has been a running theme that they agree that people are not turning into pancake people, but they think that technology is changing people for the worst. But I think technology has helped people come together. I have met friends online from different places not close by and that would not have happened without technology. Online shopping has become such a huge thing these last years. I agree I love shopping online. You can find so many cool items through the internet and get it delivered straight to your house. Not only that but you could find items from different countries and learn so much about different cultures through the world. I could find things from Japan, Sudan, Italy, or even Mexico and get those things delivered to my house in a short amount of time. That is pretty amazing to think about.

1000 Word-

There are more pancake people than cathedral people now, Carr mentions. He also mentions that in 2001: A Space Odyssey that people are so emotionless and machine like due to technology. His point is that technology in the world is making people emotionless and have no interesting things to them. That is simply not true. There are so many people filled with emotions and so many interesting people out in the world. He is quoting a movie that was made back in 1968 and did not have all of the technology that we do now and had no idea how the technology would affect us. All I can say is that humans are not like how they were in the film, and I do not see us leading down that path. Technology is also huge and helps with so many things. I use it in my everyday life and will probably never stop.

People are seen expressing emotions all around even when using technology. Movies always bring out emotions in people. Like making people cry if an animal or their favorite characters die. Comedies are movies that make people laugh, even if the jokes are not actually funny. People will also become scared from horror movies and their jump scares. Now I do not always watch movies, but I do read books quite a bit, and these books always make me feel these different emotions. Carr mentioned how there are not a lot of “cathedral” people anymore I have met so many different interesting people throughout my life. Even people I did not know long told me things that have happened in their lives that makes them so interesting. Of course, everyone is going to meet people that they found boring but other people could find them interesting. It all depends on your own opinions.

I have read from many people that they agree with Carr and wish they did not have to use technology as much as they do. I sometimes wish that too. Always hearing stories from adults make you feel bad about how much you are always on technology. I would start to wish that I would just go outside more lik [EL1] e my parents did and just do some fun activities. Sometimes I would go and do those. Other days I would not. Then I would think about how I grew up. Even though adults were always telling me that they never had technology while growing up and were always outside, they are the reason I am the way I am with technology. My dad was always playing video games and would let me too. My mom would always watch shows around me. We would always watch movies together. Lastly, they bought me my electronics at a younger age and allowed me to watch YouTube and Netflix on my own as a kid. Which enabled me to grow up on these electronics and led to me not being how they were when they were kids. It is not my fault about using technology. Personally, technology has helped me so much, especially with staying in contact with my family. I am from Michigan which is about a 13-hour straight drive from the University of New England. With stops it can end up being a 16-hour long drive. Since I am so far away from home, having a phone where I can call, text, or facetime my family is amazing. Just the other day I was on facetime, and I got to sing happy birthday with my family to my aunt. I can also send them pictures of places I visit and just communicate with them so much faster than sending letters and such. Also I get to hear the gossip from my old job, Pet Supplies Plus, from my old coworkers and managers.

Revised-

Kayleena Calm

English 110

Jesse Miller

Technology is not Ruining People

There are more pancake people than cathedral people now, Carr mentions. He also mentions that in 2001: A Space Odyssey that people are so emotionless and machine like due to technology. His point is that technology in the world is making people emotionless and have no interesting things to them. That is simply not true. There are so many people filled with emotions and so many interesting people out in the world. Besides Carr’s paper I also read Caden’s and Mia’s essays. All I can say is that humans are not like how they were in the film, and I do not see us leading down that path. Technology is also huge and helps with so many things. I use it in my everyday life and will probably never stop.

“In the world of 2001, people have become so machinelike that the most human character turns out to be a machine,” Carr mentions. He is quoting a movie that was made back in 1968 and did not have all of the technology that we do now and had no idea how the technology would affect us. Though the people are like this in a movie from 1968, that does not mean that everyone who uses technology will turn out like them. People are seen expressing emotions all around even when using technology. Movies always bring out emotions in people. Like making people cry if an animal or their favorite characters die. Comedies are movies that make people laugh, even if the jokes are not actually funny. People will also become scared from horror movies and their jump scares. Now I do not always watch movies, but I do read books quite a bit, and these books always make me feel these different emotions. Another thing Carr said was “Foreman concluded, we risk turning into “‘pancake people’—spread wide and thin as we connect with that vast network of information accessed by the mere touch of a button.” There was an essay by Caden that I read, and he said, “I would say I agree with Carr in a sense saying that we are turning into pancake people.” I cannot find myself agreeing with either Caden or Carr. I did find myself agreeing with Mia, who said, “Carr uses the example of “pancake people” in his article and argues that becoming these so-called pancake people is going to be our outcome, yet he fails to recognize that without those objects nothing would be as we know it today.” I have met so many different interesting people throughout my life, who all still use technology. I do not think people are at risk for turning into “pancake” people. Even people I did not know for long told me things that have happened in their lives that makes them so interesting. Of course, everyone is going to meet people that they found boring but other people could find them interesting. It all depends on your own opinions.

I have read from many people that they agree with Carr and wish they did not have to use technology as much as they do. I sometimes wish that too. Always hearing stories from adults make you feel bad about how much you are always on technology. I started to wish that I would just go outside more like my parents did and just do some fun activities. Sometimes I would go and do those. Other days I would not. Then I would think about how I grew up. Even though adults were always telling me that they never had technology while growing up and were always outside, they are the reason I am the way I am with technology. My dad was always playing video games and would let me too. My mom would always watch shows around me. We would always watch movies together. Lastly, they bought me my electronics at a younger age and allowed me to watch YouTube and Netflix on my own as a kid. Which enabled me to grow up on these electronics and led to me not being how they were when they were kids. It is not my fault about using technology. I read Mia’s essay and I found myself agreeing with one thing she said. She mentioned “For one, communication has never been so easy as it is today. One quick press of a button and you can call anyone you want without having to remember a single phone number.” Communicating with my family from long distance has never been easier. I am from Michigan which is about a 13-hour straight drive from the University of New England. With stops it can end up being a 16-hour long drive. Since I am so far away from home, having a phone where I can call, text, or facetime my family is amazing. Just the other day I was on facetime, and I got to sing happy birthday with my family to my aunt. I can also send them pictures of places I visit and just communicate with them so much faster than sending letters and such. Also, I get to hear the gossip from my old job, Pet Supplies Plus, from my old coworkers and managers.

There has been a running theme that they agree that people are not turning into pancake people, but they think that technology is changing people for the worst. Caden said “I would say reading all three of these essays the negativity outweighs the good in this sense.” Personally I think the pros outweighs the cons. I think technology has helped people come together. I have met friends online from different places not close by and that would not have happened without technology. Online shopping has become such a huge thing these last years. I agree I love shopping online. You can find so many cool items through the internet and get it delivered straight to your house. Not only that but you could find items from different countries and learn so much about different cultures through the world. I could find things from Japan, Sudan, Italy, or even Mexico and get those things delivered to my house in a short amount of time. That is pretty amazing to think about.

There were three different essays that I read. Out of the three I found myself agreeing with Mia more than Carr and Caden. People will not become emotionless machines like in a movie. Not only will they not become machine like there will never be a thing called pancake people. There may be some negatives to using technology, but there are more positives. Technology helps people stay in contact with people, and even meet new people. It also helps people get caught up on schoolwork if they have to miss class, since people get sick easily while attending school. You can also order many things from different countries.

Work Cited

Carr, Nicholas. Is Google Making Us Stupid? 2008. The Atlantic,

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/print/2008/07/is-google-making-us-stupid/306868/.

Colburn-Hilliker. “Technology Essay.” UNEportfolio,

https://ccolburnhilliker.uneportfolio.org/essay-1-part-1/. Accessed 30 September 2023

Lucci, Mia. “Technology Essay.” UNEportfolio,

https://mlucci1.uneportfolio.org/technology-essay-final/. Accessed 30 September 2023

Reflection:

My intent was to capture how technology is still really important in life and helps in everyone’s life every single day. I wanted to give different examples on how they personally help in my life. Even though there are negatives to using technology, I wanted to show that there were more positives. Although I did use someone who disagreed with me, I think it did show what my opinion on the topic is more of. My intent on the paper did not change overtime. I still tried to stick with what I was saying before and try and show people that I will never stop using technology and my reasons why.