"Dude, did you see that video of that kid yodeling in Walmart?” “Oh my God! Look at her Snapchat story!” “Ugh! She definitely used facetune on that photo.” These are just some of the comments that you hear teenagers make on a daily basis. Whether we’re updating friends about our lives or watching the Walmart Yodel Boy sing at Coachella, it all goes back to technology. Technology was created with the intention of upgrading our society and making our lives easier. But the fine line between convenience and laziness has been crossed one too many times. In fact, because people have taken advantage of technology in the wrong ways, there have been detrimental impacts for society. As a result, perhaps instead of constantly upgrading and creating new technology, it’s time to update the terms of usage.
From keeping up with the Kardashians and their waist trainers to watching Justin Bieber constantly tell everyone all the different things he does when he wears his Calvin’s, we’ve all been subjected to the world of celebrity endorsements at one point. And although the majority of the time it’d be crazy for me to even think about getting a waist trainer to look like Kim Kardashian, the possibility has crossed my mind. In fact it’s definitely crossed multiple people’s minds because for those who can and are willing to pay for it, they have actually went and bought it. I mean after all, that is how the company and the Kardashians earn some of their money. That’s the beautiful thing about technology and social media. People can so easily say and do whatever, in order to influence those who follow them to do the same. Although most of the time it’s pretty harmless, these marketing tactics have also proven to be extremely manipulative as well. In a study by the University of Pittsburgh, they found that those who spent longer scrolling through social media “had 2.2 times the risk of reporting eating and body image concerns” (Hurley). Based on these statistics, it’s clear that the rise of social media is a factor of the adolescent’s tainted perception of beauty and overall lifestyle. When scrolling through your Instagram feed, sometimes you can’t help but want to be as “pretty” as the celebrities and Instagram models and have their “amazing bodies”. But at the end of the day, their posts and how they brand themselves is manufactured to play on viewers’ insecurities and incite a want to do whatever they can to look like them. Using technology to manipulate people parallels with George Orwell’s dystopian novel, 1984. In 1984, telescreens were placed everywhere in the city to watch one’s every
movement and overhear every sound. For the people of Oceania, it was instinctive of them to feel and act as though they were being watched (Orwell 3). In this situation, The Party has used the telescreen to manipulate the way people think and act in order to ultimately maintain power for themselves. Instead of being expressive and fostering individuality, the citizens are denied of their natural rights and are forced to change their mindsets in order to satisfy The Party’s standards and mitigate the risk of being killed.
In a way, by using technology to manipulate the mindsets of people, it’s led to the overall unconsciousness of society. The acceptance of standards is the acceptance of manipulation and the dumbing down of a society as a whole. In Mike Judge’s movie Idiocracy, there’s a scene where Joe, the main character, goes to the hospital and tries to tell the nurse what’s wrong with him. Instead of the nurse talking to him and trying to figure out what’d be best for him, she simply presses a button to diagnose him (Judge 14:20). This situation illustrates how advancements in technology aren’t necessarily beneficial for us as individuals as we simply rely on technology as a whole and don’t actually use our brains to make decisions or think for ourselves. As a society, we’ve all been scared of the possibility that one day the world will we be taken over by robots. But the moment we stop using our brains, that is when the machines will be taking over us. Now, I know that there have been many positive technological advancements such as the creation of applications such as Skype, which has enhanced our communication, and the creation of electric cars, which has helped us environmentally, but our society has become far too complacent with these technologies. We’ve mistakened what the implementation of these technologies are actually for and how to optimally use them. We have crossed that line of convenience and have reached the lazy river. This has especially been evident with the issue of
fake news today. In an interview with Paul Horner, an infamous fake-news writer, he stated that he felt that people were “definitely dumber”, not fact-checking and using technology to its full potential. He even admitted to feeling as though he was the cause of Trump’s win in the 2017 presidentiaI race (Dewey). Instead of people using technology to do research and access more information, they’ve taken advantage of its easy accessibility and are content with the one article they see. Despite all the technological advancements made, without the questioning and challenging of ideas, society can’t improve. If people continue to simply accept what’s in front of them, society will continue to be stagnant.
As a society we’d like to think we’re constantly developing and growing. But it seems to be that the exact opposite is happening. Instead of being independent and thinking for ourselves, we’ve slowly become more dependant. Instead of becoming smarter, we’ve become dumber and lazier. If we continue to submit to the hands of technology, the more we will submit ourselves to a culture of comparison, where little boys and girls are constantly trying to change themselves to fit a certain ideal and gain a certain amount of likes. The more we submit the more unconscious we truly are.
Works Cited
Dewey, Caitlin. "Facebook Fake-news Writer: 'I Think Donald Trump Is in the White
House Because of Me'." The Washington Post. WP Company, 17 Nov. 2016. Web. 9 May 2018.
Hurley, Katie. “Social Media and Teens: How Does Social Media Affect Mental
Health?” PsyCom.net , 13 Feb. 2018, www.psycom.net/social-media-teen-mental-health.
Web. 13 May 2018.
Judge, Mike, director. Idiocracy. Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, 2006.
Orwell, George. 1984. Signet, 1977.
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