Post #2: Society Shaping Technology or Technology Shaping Society?
I believe that most technology has been created, or can be used, to solve an existing societal problem. Cell phones help us communicate (and as they continue to develop new capabilities, they solve a whole host of other problems). Cars enable us to move from place to place easily. ICTs provide a platform for sharing ideas and communicating with individuals globally, which we would not otherwise have access to, along with providing a wide variety of other uses that make the completion of daily tasks easier. This argument, that technology is created to solve existing societal problems supports a soft technological determinist point of view; In short, culture and society are influencing the creation and development of technology.
However, I was particularly struck by the video "5 Crazy Ways Social Media is Changing Your Brain Right Now" by ASAPscience. This video provides strong evidence that supports a hard technological determinist standpoint that some technology, like social media, is actually causing problems and not just solving them. Social media can cause a psychological addiction that has similar effects on the brain as a chemical addiction in terms of perpetuating a dependency. According to a 2017 New York Post article, "Americans check their phone on average once every 12 minutes - burying their heads in their phones 80 times a day, according to new research." This constant need to check for messages can also be evidence of a dependency and addiction. I was also fascinated by the video's presentation of the "phantom vibration syndrome," the notion that phones are rewiring our nervous systems to perceive phone vibrations in place of an itch.
While arguing for a harder technological determinist position, I also concede that technology can be solving problems while also shaping society at the same time. As a teacher, I have found that children are obtaining cell phones at earlier and earlier ages each year. I am certain that most individuals born before 1990 can agree that they did not have a cell phone growing up, and didn't get one until they were high school aged or later. Since cell phones weren't as prevalent for children than they are now, parents and children simply lived without them and didn't feel any less safe. Now, however, parents are providing their children with cell phones as early as 1st or 2nd grade because of a perception that it will make their child safer to be able to communicate with their parents at all times. In reality, there really isn't an added safety benefit for providing a 6, 7, or 8 year old child with a cell phone for the purpose of increasing safety because when children are at school their devices are either powered off and stored in their backpacks or they are collected and returned at the end of the day. Parents must still rely exclusively on email or phone communication with the school in order to provide information to their child, but this does not stop parents from giving their children phones. In this case, an argument is made that the phone is for a child's safety after they leave school, but I cannot envision a time when a 1st, 2nd, or even 3rd grader would be without adult supervision in the transition from school to home. In this day and age, a cell phone provides a level of comfort and can be anxiety producing if it is lost, forgotten, or has died. Without a phone, people can feel lost and less safe. In this sense, technology is shaping society.
However, I was particularly struck by the video "5 Crazy Ways Social Media is Changing Your Brain Right Now" by ASAPscience. This video provides strong evidence that supports a hard technological determinist standpoint that some technology, like social media, is actually causing problems and not just solving them. Social media can cause a psychological addiction that has similar effects on the brain as a chemical addiction in terms of perpetuating a dependency. According to a 2017 New York Post article, "Americans check their phone on average once every 12 minutes - burying their heads in their phones 80 times a day, according to new research." This constant need to check for messages can also be evidence of a dependency and addiction. I was also fascinated by the video's presentation of the "phantom vibration syndrome," the notion that phones are rewiring our nervous systems to perceive phone vibrations in place of an itch.
While arguing for a harder technological determinist position, I also concede that technology can be solving problems while also shaping society at the same time. As a teacher, I have found that children are obtaining cell phones at earlier and earlier ages each year. I am certain that most individuals born before 1990 can agree that they did not have a cell phone growing up, and didn't get one until they were high school aged or later. Since cell phones weren't as prevalent for children than they are now, parents and children simply lived without them and didn't feel any less safe. Now, however, parents are providing their children with cell phones as early as 1st or 2nd grade because of a perception that it will make their child safer to be able to communicate with their parents at all times. In reality, there really isn't an added safety benefit for providing a 6, 7, or 8 year old child with a cell phone for the purpose of increasing safety because when children are at school their devices are either powered off and stored in their backpacks or they are collected and returned at the end of the day. Parents must still rely exclusively on email or phone communication with the school in order to provide information to their child, but this does not stop parents from giving their children phones. In this case, an argument is made that the phone is for a child's safety after they leave school, but I cannot envision a time when a 1st, 2nd, or even 3rd grader would be without adult supervision in the transition from school to home. In this day and age, a cell phone provides a level of comfort and can be anxiety producing if it is lost, forgotten, or has died. Without a phone, people can feel lost and less safe. In this sense, technology is shaping society.
ASAPscience. “5 Crazy Ways Social Media is Changing Your Brain Right Now.”
SWNS. “Americans check their phones 80 times a day: study.” New York Post. Published on 8 November 2017. Retrieved on 17 September 2018 https://nypost.com/2017/11/08/americans-check-their-phones-80-times-a-day-study/
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