By Julio Carrasco
The world is constantly evolving and we are constantly learning more and becoming more advanced when it comes to technology. Apple watches, hover boards, smart TVs, 3-D printers, simulators, and even door locks that can open through an app.
Technological advancements are great. It’s helped in education, medical research, agriculture, and business. Technology is great! It’s helping us make the world a better place… or so we thought.
We see it more and more every day. Technology is replacing much if not all of human interaction. As Albert Einstein famously said, “I fear the day that technology will surpass our human interaction. The world will have a generation of idiots.” And sadly, this is starting to seem true. Remember when you would see families go out to a restaurant and they would talk to each other? No? Maybe you were born when iPhones started coming out but families would actually interact with each other. Now, you see wives taking pictures of their food, husbands suspiciously texting angled away from their wives, and kids playing Angry Birds at the dinner table. Advances in technology are good and all but we don’t interact with one another anymore.
According to a report done by Common Sense Media, the average teen spends about 9 hours using social media. Nine. Hours. That’s more time than most students spend at school. More time than we usually sleep. This means over a 3rd of our entire day is spent on social media. Why don’t we talk to each other and hang out anymore instead of posting videos of what your dog is doing on snapchat?
When asked why she thought teens are so attached to using technology instead of actually interacting with each other, former APB student Karen Carrasco said, “Our generation revolves around technology. It’s such a big part of our lives now, that we replaced interaction with social media, especially since it’s so addicting.”
It’s like we’re so busy texting and updating our status we forgot how to talk to one another. Not only are we becoming less social, but lazier as well. A study by the International Journal of Behavioural Nutrition and Physical Activity shows that cell phone user are more likely to cancel or disrupt physical exercise and scored lower on physical fitness exams.
We need to start talking to each other and actually interact with one another. If not we’ll just continue to become emotionless couch potatoes who have no desire to socialize with anyone.
