My Speech on Technology

            Albert Einstein said, “I fear the day that technology will surpass our human interaction. The world will have a generation of idiots.” First, I believe that technology has reduced the possibility of being present in the moment. Secondly, we have allowed technology to take away the ability to feel like a human. Thirdly, the fear of self relfection and control opens the door  for technology to take over our lives.   Lastly, we can do practical things to solve this issue.

            Are we ever present? We are in a tug of war with time. Currently, right now are you thinking about the mistakes that you have made? A former conversation? At the same time, are you thinking about your next class? About lunch? So are we ever present at this moment? A spoken word artist, Propaganda, in his spoken word piece called, Be Present, said, “He told me a love story of a woman born before him. He said I knew her before and at the moment of conception. There was an eternal connection. And although I didn't know it then, I'd fight for her affection. It’s this war we’ve been waging since day one of creation. And only when you lose her do you learn to appreciate her, like even when I’m with her, I’m itching to get rid of her. And she only gives you one shot, blow it and she's gone. ” Life is all about moments, no one In history has been able to hold on to one. And you never get it back…see…there it goes. It’s silly for us to think that we can capture a moment with our phones while that moment is slowly disappearing. Even worse, too many of us are so busy looking down at our phones that we are missing our moment. We are missing the beauty of the awkward moments of silence in the middle of a conversation. At that moment, we start thinking of past conversations, the silly moments in our lives, or obvious comments.

            Prince EA, another respected spoken word artist, said, “While we may have big friend lists, so many of us are friendless. All alone. Cause friendships are more broken than the screens on our very phones. We sit at home on our computer screens measuring self-worth by numbers of followers and likes while ignoring those who actually loves us.” Slowly, we are closing the doors to our hearts. We go into this world of technology, to escape the heart from reality. We would rather send a message on Facebook or through text to escape any conversation face to face. Sometimes I question, “Have we forgot how it feels to have eye contact with a loved one?” We are losing a sense to coexist but rather advertise, I mean, Instigram, ourselves to people who like our selfies or whatever we are doing. For example, how many people pull out their phones when they see a homeless person? Isn’t that a battle cry that we lost our fight to keep our humanity!

            Sherry Turkle, a sociologist said, “Across the generation, I see that people can’t get enough of each other if and only if they can have each other at a distance in amounts they can control.” She called it the Goldie lock effect, not too close, not too far, just right.” Technology has reached a point that it is eliminating our ability to have a conversation with a person. One of my friends back home told me, “Someday, someday but certainly not now, I would like to learn how to have a conversation. Conversation with others effects how we conversation with ourselves. Has technology effected your ability to self-reflect” that’s on you to figure out.

            Is life all about a box made of plastic, wires and glass? If somebody looked into our lives, they would see that our phones could be the most important thing in our lives. While 84 percent of cell phone owners could not go a single day without using their phones.  In the midst of checking our phones 150 times a day, having hundreds and hundreds of Facebook friends and still feel like there is no one to rely on, no one who knows who you really are. It’s sad that 40 percent of Americans feel lonely in this type of way. I think that we need to leave the phones and go out and talk to people. Finally, to remember what it means to be with somebody face to face. To discover what it means to cherish the people who are here. To restart our creativity, to make up silly games with our imagination and hear the precious laugh of a child.