Sibling Society Essay

How would a society mature if it did not advance alongside technology? This is one of the questions impressed upon me while reading an excerpt from American poet and author Robert Bly’s book The Sibling Society. Bly defines a sibling society as a society that is filled with half-mature adults filling the void left by improper role models. They use internet and electronic entertainment as a substitution for the values and convictions that would have been imparted in them by an authoritative figure. Although we have an alarming amount of immature adults, we are not becoming a sibling society due to technology. With the use of technology, recent generations are now growing up with an awareness of the issues in the world around them, helping them

to become informed, mature, well rounded adults who care about issues and topics beyond themselves.
Technology has become a useful tool that has aided in the progression of becoming a more mature society. The internet is now readily available in most homes, schools and public places. One of the effects of this is that it has raised up a new generation that champions causes and social issues. The passion that we saw for human rights in the 1960’s has grown with the popularity of the internet. Young people are able to voice their opinions and find others who believe in the same causes they do from around the nation. This has made it easier for them to organize and take action to fight social injustice. With the growth of technology our society has become more mature about our sexuality. We have come to the realization that abstinence is not always a realistic view of sex, and have developed tests and tools that can help us to avoid STDs and unwanted pregnancies. If an unwanted pregnancy occurs, young parents are now able to pursue higher education with full college degrees available online instead of being forced to put their baby up for adoption or settle for low paying jobs. None of this would have happened if our society had not matured with help from technology.
Our families are more connected to each other than they were in years past. Skype has become a tool that successfully keeps people in touch with family members that live large distances from one another. A child can now talk to their parent face-to-face every night, despite their parent being deployed overseas, divorced from the parent they are currently living with, or away on a business trip. A parent can worry less about letting their children walk to school on their own, or go out with friends now that almost every family has a cell phone plan. Social networks like Facebook and Twitter have created a way for distant family members to interact with one another. Without this technology family units would not be connecting with each other so much on a day-to-day basis.
Technology has created a society that is lazy and wants big results with little effort.

With the introduction of in home entertainment, there is little more we have to do then turn on a television or plug in a game console to have instant satisfaction. We spend less time being active and more time in front of a screen. While this can be true for some people, others are using these same pieces of technology to further education in classrooms where funding may be lacking. Using a DVD as a classroom aid brings learning to life. Titles like Blue Planet and Life bring wild animals into the classroom at little cost. Video games have become a great tool for PE classes that do not have funding to purchase new sports equipment. Titles like Just Dance and Wii Sports can be used to get the exercise kids need and have even been used as a tool to lose weight. Technology can be used as a creative way to stimulate minds and bodies.

Technology has become an integral part of our modern society. It has paved the way for growth in all aspects of our daily lives and has helped us mature into better educated adults. Technology is an ever changing constant that will be a part of our culture for years to come. To not embrace technology but blame it for an epidemic of immature adults today, would cause us to miss out on the momentum that will carry us into a future in which the generations will be more mature than even our

own.