Does Technology Affects Culture or Does Culture Affect Technology?

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Culture is the unique set of beliefs, behaviors, and way of life of a group of people. Our culture, according to many, is undergoing a steady increase in the culture gap, and for the most part, their main target when seeking whom to blame is technology. Our culture drives us to pursue success and pleasure, complete tasks efficiently, and contemplate how to improve the lives of the generations to come and ourselves. These elements of our culture, these demands, the majority, are fulfilled by technology. In Robert Solomon’s essay, Culture Gives Us a Sense of Who We Are, he states “We are becoming a culture without a culture, lacking fixed points of reference and a shared vocabulary” and that “ ‘Television culture’ is no culture at all” (Solomon 426). Solomon is one of those people who blame technology, but the reality is that one chooses what makes up their unique culture. Most people, due to the competitiveness of the education system now a days, share the same culture of getting assignments done fast and efficiently, striving to succeed and therefore live a better life, full of pleasures, all of which is immensely aided by technology. Essentially, our culture affects the technology, not vice versa as many tend to believe.

The theory that culture is affecting technology and not the other way around applies not only to our culture, but also to other cultures, cultures that have their own unique beliefs and ideas. The technology around is a result of the beliefs and way of life of our culture. Take the manufacturing of cell phones for example; there are some “mobile phone manufacturers [that] have developed popular phones for Muslim users that support their religious practices by (1) reminding them when it is time to pray, (2) ori...

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...an Mind: Culture as Anesthetic.” Harper’s Magazine Apr. 2002: n. pag. California State University Bakersfield. Web. 4 Oct. 2011. .

Erard, Michael. “For Technology, No Small World After All.” The New York Times. N.p., 6 May 2004. Web. 4 Oct. 2011. .

Finin, Tim. “Does Technology Change Culture or Culture Change Technology?” Ebiquity Blog. U of Maryland, Baltimore County, 10 July 2006. Web. 4 Oct. 2011. .

Solomon, Robert C. “Culture Gives Us a Sense of Who We Are.” Reading Critically, Writing Well: A Reader and Guide. By Rise B. Axelrod and Charles R. Cooper. 2nd ed. New York: St. Martin’s, 1990. 425-29. Print.

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