Technology: Making things complicated
By: Leeanne Bispo
Issue date: 10/26/09 Section: Entertainment
Everyday we hear about new and exciting technological "toys": phones, computers and even kitchen gadgets. All of this technology is supposed to make our lives easier and run so much more smoothly; however all it really does is give us more complications and more frustrations in our lives.
All of the days of frustrating hand cramps from writing four page letters to our loved ones are gone, although ushering in on the heels of those days are the days of banging your hands on your desk or screaming at your computer when it fails in the middle of typing up that 15-page paper due in about six hours.
The internet, another wonderful piece of technology, has become something that every single college student, even most young to middle aged Americans rely on.
People don't call each other any more. We all e-mail, instant message, or text message one another. Along that line, texting no longer requires a phone and instant messaging can be done from more than just your computer. There is no longer that physical interaction between people because all they have to do is turn on a machine and they are "face-to-face" chatting with them via webcam. People don't even go out and meet others in a romantic fashion, instead they just post pictures of themselves on the World Wide Web and just wait for someone else to see their photo and e-mail them.
Yes, this all sounds amazing - keeping in contact with associates, family, and even meeting new people with the touch of a button; but what happens when that wonderful invention, the internet, fails? What happens when you need to submit an assignment via the internet and your computer tells you it cannot connect?
Right now, I have an older desktop as well as an older laptop. The laptop has internal wireless therefore I can connect to the internet pretty much anywhere that I have a password and the right to access it; however, my desktop does not have wireless internet. I have been running the internet to it with a USB plug-in adapter that no longer works. This little tiny adapter was a costly piece of equipment, about $30 for a little bit of plastic and some internal pieces that most likely costs around two dollars to make. I think the packaging costs more than the actual equipment. Now when I am sitting at home instead of turning on my at home computer and just clicking the Internet Explorer logo I have to unpack and plug in my laptop just to get any homework done or even to just surf the internet.
Don't get me wrong I love the convenience of cell phones, the internet, and technology in general just as much as the next person, but I do wonder about how much people depend on them and how life would be if all of the computers in the world quit working.
Would people be able to continue doing the jobs they have? Would the students here at Eastern New Mexico University, or any other University for that matter, be able to write a simple two-page paper? Heck, would some people even be able to cook their own food without a microwave?
All of the days of frustrating hand cramps from writing four page letters to our loved ones are gone, although ushering in on the heels of those days are the days of banging your hands on your desk or screaming at your computer when it fails in the middle of typing up that 15-page paper due in about six hours.
The internet, another wonderful piece of technology, has become something that every single college student, even most young to middle aged Americans rely on.
People don't call each other any more. We all e-mail, instant message, or text message one another. Along that line, texting no longer requires a phone and instant messaging can be done from more than just your computer. There is no longer that physical interaction between people because all they have to do is turn on a machine and they are "face-to-face" chatting with them via webcam. People don't even go out and meet others in a romantic fashion, instead they just post pictures of themselves on the World Wide Web and just wait for someone else to see their photo and e-mail them.
Yes, this all sounds amazing - keeping in contact with associates, family, and even meeting new people with the touch of a button; but what happens when that wonderful invention, the internet, fails? What happens when you need to submit an assignment via the internet and your computer tells you it cannot connect?
Right now, I have an older desktop as well as an older laptop. The laptop has internal wireless therefore I can connect to the internet pretty much anywhere that I have a password and the right to access it; however, my desktop does not have wireless internet. I have been running the internet to it with a USB plug-in adapter that no longer works. This little tiny adapter was a costly piece of equipment, about $30 for a little bit of plastic and some internal pieces that most likely costs around two dollars to make. I think the packaging costs more than the actual equipment. Now when I am sitting at home instead of turning on my at home computer and just clicking the Internet Explorer logo I have to unpack and plug in my laptop just to get any homework done or even to just surf the internet.
Don't get me wrong I love the convenience of cell phones, the internet, and technology in general just as much as the next person, but I do wonder about how much people depend on them and how life would be if all of the computers in the world quit working.
Would people be able to continue doing the jobs they have? Would the students here at Eastern New Mexico University, or any other University for that matter, be able to write a simple two-page paper? Heck, would some people even be able to cook their own food without a microwave?