This might not seem too weird to you guys yet, but just you wait for the
following weeks. As I told you, I've decided to spend more time on
studying languages and apart from comprehension and reading tasks, I
think I should also train my writing skills. It's easy this week, it
might be alright in the next two weeks, but after that, who knows. I
better start studying more!
Essay English #1: Do people depend too much on technology nowadays?
Technology appears everywhere in our everyday lives. In the morning, I
am woken up by an alarm, which is usually on my mobile phone. I check my
messages, start my computer and go through all the things I need to do.
Usually, I write them into my spiral pad which has been my friend for
more than a year now. Using programs and applications to organise
everything confuses me a lot, so I stick to those old-schooled
alternatives. When I feel like reading, I take one of those beautiful
old books I purchased at a flea market out of my shelf, lie down in my
bed and just read.
Without any doubt, we do use a lot of technology
nowadays. It's faster, more efficient, it's easier to share things. But
the benefits might come to a limit and there might also be some dangers.
Let's come back to my reading example. When do I actually read a book,
voluntarily? To be honest, I haven't full-heartedly read a book in
years. I bought one last year, but after I had finished it, I was
disappointed about having put so much time into reading it, since the
story was quite boring. When I go into a bookstore, I see so many books I
would like to read. They sound interesting, there are so many diverse
topics! So maybe I buy one. I go home, tell myself that I should read
the book once I've spent money on it, read about two chapters and then
get bored. Only think about those old times when I was in primary
school, where I would read all day! What happened?
There's a simple
answer to it: It's become easier to distract me. I lie in my bed, read
the book, but I know that my phone is lying on my desk and the green
light tells me that I have a new message. Who could it be? What if I
miss anything important? Couldn't I read and just check my messages at
the same time?
Well, no, I can't. Luckily, I've learned about myself
that if I actually want to read a book, I need to get into an
environment without any distractions. When I'm at my mum's house, I
usually sit down in the garden – the dogs can only distract me for a
minute. Also, I know that I need to be absolutely relaxed to read a
book. And I don't know if this came with puberty or if it's an actual
issue of our modern life, but I'm never really relaxed. I'm so nervous
most of the time, if I sit down in front of my computer to just browse
9gag and do nothing for a moment, I simply get the urge to stand up and
do something, but at the same time, I'm way too lazy.
There's no doubt about that technology has changed us, as people.
I still find myself trying to avoid seeing technology as an important
part of our life, something, which still affects us when we're outside
in the nature. I even refuse to see it as more than a medium for
communication, no, it literally seems to have become a replacement for
the normal communication: face to face, eye to eye. People apologise
when they don't answer my messages rightaway, as if it was their duty to
read their messages every single minute of their lives. They even
apologise when they fall asleep.
Alright, it's different in a
relationship, just to make that clear. But, still – isn't it weird how
technology has even become an essential part in modern relationships?
Technology has changed us, it affects us, and we're dependent. Of
course we are, because nobody will contact you if you don't have a
mobile phone number, an e-mail address or a profile on a social media
website. You'll be forgotten, it will be to inconvenient to get in touch
with you. Life without technology would be too inconvenient for those,
who grew up with it.
You can't fight it, it will increase and there
will be more progress and better technologies and innovations. The most
important thing is to force yourself to disconnect sometimes. To turn
off your computer, your TV, your phone. To go outside, for a walk, to
invite your friends for a picnic by the lake. To write a letter to your
loved ones. Enjoying the little things in life has become really
difficult nowadays, due to technology. But we should try to focus on
them more often and we'll see that we won't be the only ones who will be
happy about this decision.
