A new, digital generation is rising, paving the way for a new information age for its members. These people are the members of a digital culture, living a lifestyle which relies on the use of new and advanced technology along with the Internet as a tool for communication and sharing information. Nevertheless, this new and advanced technology has also alienated the members of the new generation. Alienation is a sense of not belonging to one’s surroundings or environment. Conditions of alienation originate from the results of many situations. However, one of the most prominent situations is the isolation that results from an excessive use of technology and the Internet. Instances of alienation can be seen in many Internet articles, as well as
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The new technologies allowed for the meeting of peoples from across the country, and eventually from the other side of the world. The sharing of information was immediately an international activity; when something happened in America, people in Europe could hear about the event in a matter of minutes. But with this new boom of communication came an argument of whether or not this new technology was beneficial to society in all of its forms, and if it alienated one person from another more than it brought people together. In November 2009 the Pew Internet & American Life Project released a study about the effects of alienation brought about by technology. They stated, “People’s use of the mobile phone and the internet is associated with larger and more diverse discussion networks. And, when we examine people’s full personal network—their strong and weak ties—internet use in general and use of social networking services such as Facebook in particular are associated with more diverse social networks (“Technology and Society”).” This note states that with the use of new communication technologies, one now has a more diverse connection to the world. This study was designed to refute an earlier study conducted in 2006 by Duke University which indicated that “since 1985 Americans had become more socially isolated. …show more content…
For instance, instead of going swimming with a friend, one now reads on a website that one of their friends went swimming. This results in a disconnect, allowing for one to become alienated with the world one lives in. The more people change the world, the more the world becomes foreign for society, and the more people alienate themselves in such a world. For example, in John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath, as the farmers of Oklahoma were forced to relocate to California because of dying crops and wither land, the newly created tractors now tore down the houses of the farmers. These tractors were driven by old neighbors, now hungry for money in hard times. This is expressed when Steinbeck says, “The man sitting in the iron seat did not look like a man; gloved, goggled, rubber dust mask over nose and mouth, he was a part of the monster, a robot in the seat (Steinbeck).” This quote explains that the tractors that once helped the farms farm the land, now turned against them, and instead destroyed their homes. It also shows how the men operating the tractor are now “robots” unable to see the value that was once on the land, and unable to see that what they were tearing down was once their own homes and backyards. Despite an ever growing and faster technological evolution, the promise that technology will pave the way for a utopia has not yet been achieved. As a result, a many people
The new technologies allowed for the meeting of peoples from across the country, and eventually from the other side of the world. The sharing of information was immediately an international activity; when something happened in America, people in Europe could hear about the event in a matter of minutes. But with this new boom of communication came an argument of whether or not this new technology was beneficial to society in all of its forms, and if it alienated one person from another more than it brought people together. In November 2009 the Pew Internet & American Life Project released a study about the effects of alienation brought about by technology. They stated, “People’s use of the mobile phone and the internet is associated with larger and more diverse discussion networks. And, when we examine people’s full personal network—their strong and weak ties—internet use in general and use of social networking services such as Facebook in particular are associated with more diverse social networks (“Technology and Society”).” This note states that with the use of new communication technologies, one now has a more diverse connection to the world. This study was designed to refute an earlier study conducted in 2006 by Duke University which indicated that “since 1985 Americans had become more socially isolated. …show more content…
For instance, instead of going swimming with a friend, one now reads on a website that one of their friends went swimming. This results in a disconnect, allowing for one to become alienated with the world one lives in. The more people change the world, the more the world becomes foreign for society, and the more people alienate themselves in such a world. For example, in John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath, as the farmers of Oklahoma were forced to relocate to California because of dying crops and wither land, the newly created tractors now tore down the houses of the farmers. These tractors were driven by old neighbors, now hungry for money in hard times. This is expressed when Steinbeck says, “The man sitting in the iron seat did not look like a man; gloved, goggled, rubber dust mask over nose and mouth, he was a part of the monster, a robot in the seat (Steinbeck).” This quote explains that the tractors that once helped the farms farm the land, now turned against them, and instead destroyed their homes. It also shows how the men operating the tractor are now “robots” unable to see the value that was once on the land, and unable to see that what they were tearing down was once their own homes and backyards. Despite an ever growing and faster technological evolution, the promise that technology will pave the way for a utopia has not yet been achieved. As a result, a many people