Franco Leehive

English 110

Professor Miller

22 April 2025

The Adverse Relationship With Technology

Technology is making the younger generations less able to deal with social interactions. Technology used to be this very exclusive thing that people would only be able to use once a day or so and for the most necessary of cases. For one there used to be these big computer labs where you needed to go to them to use one or even send an email. Computers used to be a very prized possession. Now they are everywhere, and I mean everywhere. We have one on our person at any time, this sounds like a bad thing, but it really is not. The problem comes with the person who is using it. Anybody can use a phone to its fullest potential, but it all comes with learning how to use and manage that addiction in the real world so that you do not get swept into it. Tyler Pelletier, a First-Year student at the University of New England, who is currently enrolled in English 110, believes that technology is making the world today a more anxious one and that Technology is a useful tool that people should use in proper ways. Katie McGuire, another First-Year student at the University of New England, who is currently enrolled in English 110, believes a similar viewpoint in that different mental health problems, like anxiety. She also believes that there are benefits to technology but there are concerns that need to be fixed before we can advance. Sherry Turkle is a researcher from MIT who studied Psychology and has written numerous pieces on how technology affects people. Her most notable work, “The Empathy Diaries,” shows us how technology destroys our ability to feel empathy towards each other. Technology in my eyes, is humanities greatest gift and we need to learn how to utilize it properly to get out of it the best we can. These texts all together agree on the fact that technology is negatively affecting us, now to the extent that is affecting us can be disputed.               Technology is being used today in ways it has never been used before. Nowadays, digital technology is being used not for effective communication as much as it is being used for pure entertainment. People will spend their entire day just listening to what other people are saying and what they think. This chronic online pandemic is damaging people more than we can even believe. In Sherry Turkle’s “The Empathy Diaries”,