Argumentative Essay: Does Technology Make You Alone?

Improved Essays
Technology has been around for thousands of years, and allows people of all kinds to advance and compete with one another. Recently, it has reached a new high of abilities and ways of communication. Many could simply not live without it, while others are completely opposed to this and hate phones, tablets, computers, and every console drawing out people’s lives. However, to many, it is logical to see that technology can bring both beneficial and negative factors into people’s lives. For instance, young adults spend nearly nine hours every single day consuming the media and staring into a screen (CNN). There are many more reasons to support this side of the argument, such as lack of exercise, leading to a growing obesity rate in the United States. …show more content…
It is easy to get immediate homework or study help to get better grades in school. Due to this easy access, any person can call for help in dangerous situations, have their locations tracked if needed, and communicate with friends and family to hold bonds, give important information, or make simple plans to go out that Saturday night.

Some people might think that technology does not make you alone but it really does.Technology does make you alone, all because it affects teens kids and sometimes parents. For example being antisocial because teens spend more time on social media and forget about the outside world around them and don't talk to anyone. Another example is, people that get really unhealthy. So technology does make you more alone so, don't think it does
…show more content…
It is easy to get immediate homework or study help to get better grades in school. Due to this easy access, any person can call for help in dangerous situations, have their locations tracked if needed, and communicate with friends and family to hold bonds, give important information, or make simple plans to go out that Saturday night.

Some people might think that technology does not make you alone but it really does.Technology does make you alone, all because it affects teens kids and sometimes parents. For example being antisocial because teens spend more time on social media and forget about the outside world around them and don't talk to anyone. Another example is, people that get really unhealthy. So technology does make you more alone so, don't think it does

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Technology keeps advancing and every time it does it keeps pushing people away from each other. Technology is a great thing humans made as in helping people and the world all together, but it does have its flaws. In addition, It has brought advances to science! It has also caused loneliness. The art of technology brings the feeling of being ignored, lack of responsibility, and separation from others.…

    • 717 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    She starts with a 2015 study by the Pew Research center, where they concluded most people feel like they hurt the last social event they were a part of due to using their phones. She next uses a survey conducted by The University of Michigan over the course of thirty years to reinforce her claim by revealing a decrease in the rate of empathy in the college environment. The author then uses Psychologist Yalda T.Uhls study of a device free camp to help introduce the topic of solitude. After a claim arguing that technology can’t be bad if you use alone. Turkle brings to attention that the time we spend alone is being outsourced to technology. To support this claim, she uses a study by Timothy D. Wilson from The University of Virginia on the human capacity of solitude which supports her claim. To help support her claim even further, Turkle uses a 2014 Pew study that found using social media puts just as much pressure on people as regular conversations do. Turkle then reflects on what Psychologists Howard Gardiner and Katie Davis had said people losing their patience and expect things to be quick and efficient; this has been coined term “The app generation”. In conclusion, this explains how the presence and even the absence of technology can be detrimental to the way a conversation is carried out as well as the valuable time we have for…

    • 1244 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the reading Growing Up Tethered by Sherry Turkle she describes her experience of talking to high school students about being more connected to a cellphone than the world around them. I completely agree cellphones and other devices that keep us connected via web, text or call causes us to lose necessary physical interactions with other people. So much attention can be drawn from cellphones without having to leave the house, some people have friends all over the country that they may have never met. Cellphones give a sense of popularity being able to talk to people and express feelings without being face to face gives some people more confidence. Turkle states “but they also view it as one might the weather: to be taken for granted,…

    • 1135 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    This causes us to be alone as Turkle explicitly states in her essay. Our reliance on technology has shifted us away from personal interactions with others. The absence of human nature greatly affects us; interacting with others behind a screen isn't the same personally. I've learned the harsh reality of the impact of technology on personal interaction and it isolated me from other humans. With the rapid improvement of technology flooding every year and new discoveries awaiting us, who knows how our form of communication will be in the…

    • 865 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In today's society, community is a small part of happiness. The more friends someone has or the more liked they feel, the more they enjoy life. They are happier because they feel wanted and popular. This feeling often feeds ego, but it also makes people able to enjoy more things in life. In the article “ End of Solitude” by William Deresiewicz, Deresiewicz says “Technology is taking away our privacy and our concentration, but it is also taking away our ability to be alone.” (Deresiewicz) This is true. Technology is taking away our ability to be alone, and our ability to learn many people dislike this, and so addicted to technology, they began to feel lonely, lost, and depressed when they are alone or with out technology. People have a need to be wanted and a need to have approval from their peers and those important to them. It becomes a drug to them. It acts just like other drugs by releasing a hormone in the body to alter your brain and the way you feel.…

    • 702 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The use of technology causes us to meet face-to-face with much less frequency, resulting in a lack of much needed social skills. We lose the ability to hold conversations and end up getting distracted by our phones. In the article, "Social Media as Community", Keith Hampton argues, "However, this has not slowed arguments that social media is increasingly a part of these prosperous societies and that this new tool is responsible for a growing trend of social isolation and loss of intimacy." This means that social media sometimes prevents us to socialize in real life. More teenagers seem to choose to use their technology rather than socializing in real life. Not everyone agrees with this view. Some would argue that people make more friends through social media than in real life. Also, that their relationships are more persistent and…

    • 547 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Technology has disconnected everyone from the world to where if they want to connect they could only use technology which would make them even lonelier. In the article “ The Tethered Self: Technology Reinvents Intimacy and Solitude” by Sherry Turkle say, “Often, our new digital connections offer the illusion of companionship without the demands of friendship. We become accustomed to a connection at a distance and in amounts we can control” (Turkle 493). Technology just makes us even lonelier because it gives us false friendship and never human contact. Turkle also says that we hide behind our computer or phone screens even though our friends or family are a message away (Turkle 493). Every person does this without even knowing they hide behind adults and kids do this too. In Turkle article he also says, “ Teenagers grew up in a culture of distraction. They remember that their parents were on cell phones when they were pushed on swings as toddlers” (Turkle 493). Kids are taught at a young age to disconnect from human contact and connect through technology. Even though in the article it says, “Connectivity offers new possibilities for experimenting with identity and, particularly in adolescence, the sense of a free space, what Erik Erikson called the moratorium, This is a time, relatively consequence free for doing what adolescents need to do: fall in and out of love with people and ideas. Real life does not always provide this kind of space, but the internet does” (Turkle 493). Yes the internet does help children express themselves and experiment with things but doesn’t mean that it's a good thing. Just like it says in the article “ Does the Internet Make You Smarter or Dumber?” by Clay Shirky says, “ But some people who gain fluency in expressing multiple aspects of self may find it harder to develop authentic selves. Some…

    • 1128 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    The essay “How Not to be Alone” by Jonathan Safran Foer backs up the idea that sometimes technology brings people closer by being able to communicate with someone across the globe with a touch of a button but at the same time technology separates people because in some cases we now prefer to text someone instead of actually meeting them in real life. Foer develops his claim by referring to experiences in his past, making comparisons to the present and to the past, also by stating the positive and negative impact that technology has had on people. The use of emotional strategies is effective because Foer is able to make a connection with the reader who has gone through the same situations that Foer is explaining . Overall by the use of strategies like antithesis, anecdote, and counterpoints the author creates a piece of writing that connects with the reader and tries to convince them that technology is bring us together but at the same time it is hurting us.…

    • 580 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Decent Essays

    I agree that technology can affect the interpersonal skills developed when people spend quality time together in different scenarios. First and foremost, as demonstrated in the YouTube video The Lonely Experience: “I forgot my Smartphone” displaying the lonely effects of being in the presence of others yet alone. I myself have been in a particular situation not having my smart phone, though I was surrounded by friends, being as if I were not in the room. I was left feeling as though I were in an unfamiliar place with a group of strangers, even though were considered to be really close friends. Being without my smart phone isolated me from my peers causing a sense of loneliness, being left out, outcast, and feeling unsocial. In the Sherry Turkle talk “Connected, but Alone”? She made many valuable points on technology and our sense of self, others, and being alone. I can completely agree with her analyzation on society and how we tend to turn to technology to fill voids in our life in place of actually person to person social connection. Sadly, I came to realize how I have tried to use technology in place of having human connections. I became consumed in the usage of my smart phone in order to mentally be in another…

    • 352 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Although technology has its benefits, it does in fact make it harder for people to integrate themselves in the real world that they have in front of them. Seigel uses a quote that states, “Sometimes you simply want to be alone, yet together with other people at the same time…But sitting absorbed in your screenworld is a whole other story”. Seigel is making a distinction between wanting to share solitude yet still being aware, and total detachment from the world you are in to an artificial…

    • 825 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    I believe technology is making people less likely to interact with one another; it is creating more lonely people. Firstly, more people are forming online relationships than physical ones, and they are more interested in spending time with them online then in reality. We interact online because we are either scared to talk to one another or we do not know how to anymore. Secondly, no one talks to each other anymore. Everyone would rather text or email than have a face-to-face conversation or pick up the phone and call someone. Finally, as much as technology is helping us to communicate with another person it is also hindering our ability to properly communicate and listen. We no longer talk face-to-face and because of that we are hiding behind…

    • 159 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In this Ted talk "Connected but alone?" Sherry Turkle licensed clinical psychologist and professor of Social Studies of Science and Technology at MIT, try to answer this question, as she explores this idea in her book also "Alone Together.” As the rise of technology has increased within the past years in the society, which significantly occupied us with its high capabilities. Turkle,…

    • 314 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    31% of teenagers send 100+ texts a day instead of spending that time hanging out with friends and connecting with them in person. Texting is usually referred to as "easier" than getting together with others because you don 't have to leave your house to communicate with them. This can make it to where you are so used to communicating with others through technology, when you meet them in person it is "awkward", and this is a way in which social skills decrease. Although you are able to communicate with them through cell phones or other technological devices, you are unable to communicate with them in person. Technology can cause a change in behavior. There is a 40% decline in college students in measurements of empathy in the past 20 years. On the contrary, Teens Fact Sheet states, "there are 19% of teens who believe that using social media makes them more sympathetic to others," proving that there are statistics to show the positive effects to technology. Teenagers are becoming "obsessed" with technology. In an interview with Katie Couric, Jim Steyer, and Sherry Turkle, we are told that, "95% of all teens ages 12-17 are online and 78% of all teens have a cell phone," which tells us exactly how much of our community is affected by technology. Teenagers are spending too much time with technology and it has a major affect on them…

    • 1377 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    As we grow older and older, technology seems to be taking a toll in our daily lives. Everywhere we go, we see people glued on to their cell phones, ipads and laptops. Many of us can agree with the fact that at the dinner table everyone is on some type of electronic device. Everyone seems to be more interested in checking emails, taking phone calls and even playing games on their phone. Technology has everyone stuck on their phones instead of carrying on a conversation with each other about their day. It seems as if everyone is in thier own little world. In the article “Attached to Technology and Paying a Price ”, Matt Ritchel argues that technology has become a big part of society, and it’s impacting not only ourselves, but our families and…

    • 1247 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Technology is an important need in everyone 's life. Without technology our life would not have been the same. Technology like Internet has helped people to communicate globally, and it also helped people to find information. Mary Franke stated in her article that "Technology allows us to find creative alternatives and innovations to using nonrenewable and costly resources. From hybrid vehicles to energy efficient light bulbs, there are ways to save everywhere. One machine can do today in minutes what in years past would have taken days to accomplish." When we use technology wisely we can save more time to enjoy and have fun. We can do everything faster using computers, and emails can help us communicate quickly. Back in the days it was difficult to find date and information, since we have computers now we save hours and hours. Knowledge has spread more quickly around the world by technology. Student who find information from internet are more independent. Many simple tasks that workers used to do are now done by machines, and that help to save time. As students use technology as a means of communicating with others; they gain more information rather than the information given by a teacher and textbook. The student strongly makes choices about how to access, manage, or achieve information. Using technology allows students to think about information, make a great choice, and be motivated than a…

    • 1579 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays