Impact and Image of Technology in Literature

Categories: Ray Bradbury The Veldt

Technology connects people from all over the world. Back in the old days, people could only communicate with each other through writing letters, and it took days-sometimes even weeks-to receive one’s message. The great invention of cell phones is a huge progress in human history. Cell phones have changed communication by allowing people to connect with friends, family members and coworkers quickly. Thanks to the progression of technology, we now can interact with someone from the other side of the world virtually, without requiring a physical presence to interact.

This type of communication contributes a great deal to those families that are geographically separated, and it helps more than just family-couples that are in a long distance relationship, friends from different countries. It strengthens relationships, friendships, and family ties. Technology has made time no longer a constraint in communication.

I use technology every day for almost everything. For you to get a sense of that, I will briefly describe a regular morning in my life: “When the first light hits through the window, my alarm starts to ring.

Get quality help now
Bella Hamilton
Bella Hamilton
checked Verified writer

Proficient in: Free Essays

star star star star 5 (234)

“ Very organized ,I enjoyed and Loved every bit of our professional interaction ”

avatar avatar avatar
+84 relevant experts are online
Hire writer

I reluctantly flip over my phone to turn it off; 30 seconds later I yell: ‘Hey Siri!’ She would greet me in a very professional way: ‘hi Chloe, it is 9:30 A: M. Your estimated time to arrive at school is 7 minutes.’ Then I roll out of bed, brush my teeth with an electric toothbrush and do makeup in front of a vanity mirror that auto adjusts brightness.” You see, technology is everywhere in my life.

Get to Know The Price Estimate For Your Paper
Topic
Number of pages
Email Invalid email

By clicking “Check Writers’ Offers”, you agree to our terms of service and privacy policy. We’ll occasionally send you promo and account related email

"You must agree to out terms of services and privacy policy"
Write my paper

You won’t be charged yet!

From the moment I wake up, technology stays with me. Technology, aside from offering me assistance, it also has an impact on me. I have a confession to make; I can relate myself to the hypnosis from the article “The Machine Zone” by Alexis C. Madrigal. Alexis talks about Facebook hypnosis people get into the loop of clicking one picture after another, and an hour is wasted in life. I don’t use Facebook but I watch talk shows on YouTube to relax. When I finished watching one talk show clip, I click on the next one, and then the next one, and an hour has slipped away. Every single one of the clips is hilarious; it is constantly stimulating my laugh nerves. Who would want to let go such a great feeling? However, I hated the feeling comes after spending an hour and nothing was accomplished, it was guilty. I found a way to solve my problem, I set up an alarm for 5 minutes, the abrupt ringtone reminds me of time. At first, it was hard to quit, especially if I was in the middle of a really funny joke, it is hard to walk away, but it also creates a mystery and excitement of what is coming up next. I can focus more on the tasks and come back to the video with a hopeful mood.

Social Medias like Instagram and Tweeter has become a part of our lives. We share interesting ideas and beautiful photos on these platforms. Celebrities updating their daily life on social media, it creates a closer relationship with their fans by showing their private personas. For business companies, social media is a great way to promote their brands and speaks to potential customers, because one single post can reach out to thousands of people all over the world. However, spending too much time on social media can leads to addiction and lose oneself. Instagram makes people feel like celebrities. People can have followers, strangers like their pictures, it booster their egos and makes them feel important. Some people build up their entire self-values on how famous they are in social media. One of my friends from high school, she was obsessed with Instagram that she even spent money on buying Instagram followers. I never understood why she wanted to spend money on making fake friends, instead of building real connections with real people from the real world; however, I found she was not the only prime and willing victim of confusing posting and online sharing with authentic communication. Social media allows us to show the side that we want to show. People create an illusion of a perfect life on social media and avoid reality.

Technology is a reflection of our society. We put what we want into the progression of technology. Writing letters take too much time to send a message, so we invented cell phones. We want to have instant access to the latest news and entertainment at home, and then television was invented. The purpose of using social media is to share and make friends. But spending too much time on technology creates a distraction and affects interpersonal communication. We spend more time on our phones texting than have face-to-face conversations with people. I have seen many scenarios like this in life: children complain about their parents spend too much time on phones that they feel neglected; we be in the same room with our friends but we are not talking, we are on our phones; couples go out on a date but they are not talking, they are so busy with their phone that they don’t look at each other in the eyes.

In a Korean song called “Instagram” by DEAN, he sings the solitude of being in the digital age. When he couldn’t sleep at night, he goes to his phone and wanders on Instagram. There are so many hotshots on Instagram, some people are traveling and everybody seems to have a colorful life. In the music video, there is a monologue, in which he said: “sometimes I feel alone, even when I’m with a lot of people”. This idea parallels with the point that physiologist Sherry Turkle made in her 2012 Ted talk ”technology made us connected, but we feel lonelier than ever.” Is technology pulling us away from each other?.

In “The Veldt” by Ray Bradbury, technology has been portrayed as an evil thing which makes the children heartless and takes away their parents’ lives, but technology is not what it leads to the tragic end, it is not something to blame. The Hadley couples live in a technologically driven house that does almost everything for them cook meals, brush their teeth, and rock the bed to make them sleep. The adults are being treated like babies and almost forget how to survive on their own. The problem is that the couples and the kids are too dependent on technology. The couples hand over the responsibilities as parents to technology and the children consider the house as their parents. The kids have to build a much stronger, connected relationship with technology than with parents.

But is technology forcing the couples to do so? The couples let themselves indulge in the convenience that technology brings, this is why it leads to a tragic end. Back to Sherry Turkle’s 2012 TED Talk, “I’m not suggesting to turn away our devices, we need to develop a more self-aware relationship with technology, with each other, with ourselves.” We don’t have to cut off our relationship with technology, it is simply a tool that provides us with a better life. The important thing for us to do is to realize who we are because we can’t connect with others if we don’t know ourselves. We don’t get to experience the full view of people around us when we hide behind online communication. What differentiates us from technology is love. We, humans, have the ability to give and receive love, it is what makes us unique.

Works Cited

  • 1. Bradbury, Ray. 'The Veldt' The Illustrated Man. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 195. Print.
  • 2. Turkle, Sherry. “Connected, but alone?” Performance by Sherry Turkle, TED, YouTube, Apr 3, 2012, https://youtu.be/t7Xr3AsBEK4.
  • 3. DEAN. 'Instagram.' UMG (on Behalf of Universal Music); Create Music Publishing, and 3 Music Rights Societies. N.d. Television. https://youtu.be/wKyMIrBClYw
Updated: Feb 09, 2022
Cite this page

Impact and Image of Technology in Literature. (2022, Feb 09). Retrieved from https://studymoose.com/impact-and-image-of-technology-in-literature-essay

Impact and Image of Technology in Literature essay
Live chat  with support 24/7

👋 Hi! I’m your smart assistant Amy!

Don’t know where to start? Type your requirements and I’ll connect you to an academic expert within 3 minutes.

get help with your assignment