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Technology vs. Empathy
In today’s society, the use of technology has greatly impacted the way we communicate with others, maintain relationships, show empathy towards others, et cetera. Jonathan Safran Foer’s “How Not to Be Alone” in The New York Times, which he converted from his commencement address he delivered at Middlebury College to the Class of 2013, argues that advancements in communication technologies (such as laptops, computers, and especially cell phones) create impediments to the true meaning of human interaction and to how humans show empathy towards others. Foer evaluates how the rapid technological advancements in today’s society have increasingly detached us from our inter-personal communications with friends, family, and
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even strangers. He also goes as far as calling cellphones “iDistractions” that inhibit us from regular communication. Using a personal anecdote of when he saw a young girl crying on the bench, Foer noted, “It is harder to intervene than not to, but it is vastly harder to choose to do either than to retreat into the scrolling names of one’s contact list, or whatever one’s iDistraction happens to be” (2). He also examines the psychological effects of this social separation, in order to convey the importance of balancing our use of technology to allow us the attention to empathize with others. The essay’s aim is to inspire empathy and encourage awareness for others among readers, listeners and all users of modern communication technologies. Firstly, Foer catches his audience’s attentions through research and logic. His ways of persuasion may not be the most unique, but the logic used behind his process of thinking would grab the audience’s attention. The purpose of the article is to convince users of technology to not use their devices as distractions, as well as to pay attention to the surroundings and environment of themselves as well as others. Foer wrote this article stating his negative opinion of the overuse of technology and the psychological consequences that follow. Some people would argue that the use of communication technologies are necessary for everyday life, but Foer would say otherwise. According to Foer, “Psychologists who study empathy and compassion are finding that unlike our almost instantaneous response to physical pain, it takes time for the brain to comprehend the psychological and moral dimensions of a situation” (2). Foer specifically uses this research to show how vital it is to be aware of a situation. Furthermore, he makes it clear that not only is it important to comprehend moral and psychological dimensions of society, but it will take even more time for the brain to comprehend situations due to the use of technology. Foer then follows up by stating “[the] more distracted we become, and the more emphasis we place on speed and the expense of depth, the less likely ad able we are to care” (2). Foer’s main point of the research in his essay is to show how humans already naturally spend more time understanding the significance of emotional situations, and to prove his point on how there is no need to make our brains work slower with the use of our phones. Lastly, Foer shows an appeal to logos by quoting Simone Weil in which she stated “[attention] is the rarest and purest form of generosity” (2). Foer acknowledged her definition of attention to bring back to his main argument of empathy related to technology. Weil’s definition also gave Foer’s essay more credibility because it supported his opinion of inappropriate use of technology and how it inhibits people from being empathetic to one another. Secondly, a simple question needs to be answered about Jonathan Safran Foer.
Who is he and why does the audience (our generation) listen to him? Foer was invited to speak at Middlebury College to give the commencement address to the Class of 2013 about technology and communication, which means he must have expertise in some areas of knowledge or understanding considering that is his topic of presentation, but who is he? One contributive point that was included at the end of the speech, which sets the stage of his credibility, is that he is a novelist of three books, which have all earned different awards. Foer also introduces himself as a professor at the University of New York, and most importantly a user of technology. Despite his accomplishments, Foer describes himself in his essay as the average stranger who had a choice of showing empathy to someone who needed it or not. After a long internal self-to-self conflict, he ended up just being the man who listened to a young girl’s conversation but did not intervene. Foer stated to himself, “I was faced with a choice. I could interject myself into her life, or I could respect the boundaries between us. Intervening might make her feel worse, or be inappropriate. But then, it might ease her pain, or be helpful in some straightforward logistical way. An affluent neighborhood at the beginning of the day is not the same as a dangerous one as the night is falling. And I was me, and not someone else. There was a lot of human computing to be done” (1). The credibility of Foer’s essay is well established by his intelligent tone. Throughout his essay, Foer does not try to convince the reader/audience by telling them that all technology is useless and harmful to one’s social and psychological life, but instead he keeps his tone professional by stating the dangers of communication devices if misunderstood, and how it can effect one’s day to day activities of sensing emotions and intervening in
situations. Lastly, in addition to logical and ethical appeals, Foer also uses pathetic appeals to connect and persuade his audience as well as to wrap everything together to get his essay flowing. Foer triggers the reader’s emotions by connecting the use of technology with people they care about such as family and close friends. Foer starts off by saying, “Everyone wants their parent’s, or friend’s, or partner’s undivided attention – even if many of us, especially children, are getting used to far less” (1). This way a very effective way of grabbing the audience’s attention, especially considering that they are all fairly young. Something as simple as getting attention from parents, friends, or a partner also allowed for the audience to come to realization that the issue is everywhere on a day-to-day basis. Foer also finishes off by stating, “With each generation, it becomes harder to imagine a future that resembles the present. My grandparents hoped I would have a better life than they did: free of war and hunger, comfortably situated in a place that felt like home. But what futures would I dismiss out of hand for my grandchildren? That their clothes will be fabricated every morning on 3-D printers? That they will communicate without speaking or moving?” (3). Bringing attention to future generations is also a significantly effective way in order to grab the audience’s attention. This creates more concern over the topic in general and creates realization that the situation is not only short term, but long term as well. It even might create a concern to solve the solution. Triggering the reader’s emotions is a smart strategy for Foer if he is interested for change to occur, especially concerning the use of technology. Using their emotions also makes them feel a lot more connected and concerned with the issue, thus having them being more concerned as to what the outcome of the situation will be. Jonathan Safran Foer’s essay was delivered and presented in an effective manner due to his use of logical, pathetic, and emotional appeals. Foer started off by giving facts about the psychology or empathy related to cell phones and specifically how the brain works with different kinds of situations which was rich and clearly thought out. He continues by emotionally attaching to the audiences by giving day to day examples of how empathy and attention towards others decreases severely when phones are used as opposed to regular human communication. Foer’s credentials also gives the essay authority as he has spoken on the specific topic before and how he considers himself a regular user of modern communication devices. The essay was emotionally engaging and at the same time the information was organized in a way were it was easy to follow and the same time easy to understand. “How Not To be Alone” was not a necessarily new and original thought of limiting the amount of technology and showing empathy towards others, however it was an effective essay that was well-received by the audience.
People are perceived and judged based on material possessions, socioeconomic status, intelligence and even political prowess. The author used third person narrative to make the claim that he is indeed an ordinary person; however, society seems to think otherwise. “‘That is so dope,’ the college student says… There’s something else he wants to say. It’s as if the man with the classes has some form of mastery…” (Shteyngart 1). The author explains how people seem to have elevated his status to some form of celebrity, due to his possession of a brand new device. It is quite ironic, that the author tries to show that he is just an average person living an average life, however, society thinks otherwise. The use of irony furthers the author’s argument that technology’s effect on society is evidently visible. Whenever, people see someone with technology, they become interested to find out what it is and how it functions. The author uses irony again, this time much more indirectly. He explains how he is on a video call with a friend using the Glass and uses his phone to take recordings of the museum exhibits. “…my Glass darting around the sociopolitical extravaganza… I snap a picture of it with my iPhone…” (Shteyngart 5). It is quite curious whether or not this was intentional, but it seems as if the author was connected and disconnected at the same time from the reality he
People spend more time staring at their phone than they do at each other. ANALYSIS Chris Morris’s “Is technology killing the human touch?” The purpose of this article is to inform that people spend more time on social networks than with family and friends. The author gives an example of how technology changes our behavior “that can impact communication, relationships and our day-to-day interactions with others” (Morris).
...helle Hackman, a sophomore in high school, realized that her friends, rather than engaging in a conversation, were “more inclined to text each other” (Huffington Post). Michelle also became aware that over forty percent of people were suffering from anxiety when they were separated from the phones. This clearly shows that we are connected to the technology that we use, but we are also suffering from the use of technology. We spend more than half of our entire day using some sort of technology, whether that is a computer, phone, television, or radio. Technology is becoming a prevalent part of our lives, and we cannot live without it. Technology has become our family, and part of us.
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In the21st century, Amazing changes in communication has affected interpersonal relationships. Some prefer to use technology like Facebook, Line, and Wechat to communicate with their friends rather than talking in person. Communicating with technology will make them alienated. Interpersonal relationships are also important by personal talking, which may lead to improve relationships. In her essay, “Connectivity and Its Discontents”, Sherry Turkle believes technology weakens interpersonal relationship among friends, and relatives. In “Mother Tongue”, Amy Tan claims talking with her mother and husband in a personal way can improves their relationship. Using technology to communicate will alienate and widen the distance between friends; talking
John Horvat II, from “Five Ways Technology Is Taking Over Your Life,” is an illustrator, researcher, international speaker, and a contributor to “The Blaze” website, and also an author of books. The main point from this article is that technology is a bigger problem now, technology is supposed to be a beneficial resource but not to the point that we get handled by it. The author strongest asset is the use of pathos to get to the audience emotions and make them believe that he’s right. The audience of this article are people who use technology in an excessive way, which is majority of the people, so he is basically referring to everyone who have a relationship with technology.
People have the fundamental desire to maintain strong connections with others. Through logic and reasoning, Sherry states, “But what do we have, now that we have what we say we want, now that we have what technology makes easy?”(Turkle). Face to face conversations are now mundane because of the accessibility to interact at our fingertips, at free will through text, phone calls and social media. Belonging, the very essence of a relationship has now become trivial.
Technology has advanced a lot and has been greatly impacting our lives since the Industrial Revolution. The appearance of the mobile phone, the computer, and the tablets have all changed our ability to communicate with people around the world. Although technologies have greatly improved our lifestyle, they have brought many negative effects on our relationships and happiness as well, for instance distorting people's views on one another and bringing more loneliness to people's lives. Many people believe that benefited by social media platforms such as Facebook, it is now not necessary to talk to someone in person in order to effectively communicate with one and know one’s life. Others, however, believe that technology alone cannot replace
Advances in technology have complicated the way in which people are connecting with others around them and how it separates people from reality. In “Virtual Love” by Meghan Daum, she illustrates through the narrator 's point of view how a virtual relationship of communicating through emails and text messages can mislead a person into thinking that they actually have a bond with a person whom they have stuck their ideals onto and how the physical worlds stands as an obstacle in front of their relationship when the couple finally meets. In comparison, the article … While Daum and X discuss that technology pushes us apart and disconnects us from the physical world, they evoke a new light into explaining how technology creates the illusion of making
The evolution of technology has had a great impact on our lives, both positive and negative. While it is great to be able to be able to travel faster and research anything with the smartphones that now contain almost every aspect of our daily lives, there are also many advances within the realm of technology. Nicholas Carr presents information on the dependency aircraft pilots have on automated technology used to control airplanes in the article “The Great Forgetting”. Likewise, in “Is Facebook Making Us Lonely?” written by Stephen Marche, the result of isolation and pseudo relationships created by social media is shown throughout the article. We live in such a fast paced society with so much information at our fingertips that we don’t make
In the world today, people are constantly surrounded by technology. At any given moment, we can connect to others around the world through our phones, computers, tablets, and even our watches. With so many connections to the outside world, one would think we have gained more insight into having better relationships with the people that matter the most. Despite these connections, people are more distant to one another than ever. In the article, “Stop Googling. Let’s Talk," author Sherry Turkle details her findings on how people have stopped having real conversations and argues the loss of empathy and solitude are due to today’s technology. Turkle details compelling discoveries on how technology has changed relationships in “Stop Googling. Let’s Talk,” and her credibility is apparent through years of research and the persuasive evidence that supports her claims.
Sherry Turkle’s article in The New York Times “The Flight From Conversation”, she disputes that we need to put down the technology and rehabilitate our ability to converse with other human beings because we are replacing deep relationships with actual people for casual encounters on technology. Turkle tries to convince young and middle age individuals who are so enthralled by the technology that they are losing the ability to communicate in a public setting. Sherry Turkle unsuccessfully persuades her audience to put down the technology and engage with others in public through her strong logos appeal that overpowers her weak logos and doesn’t reliably represent herself and her research.
“Technology is supposed to make our lives easier, allowing us to do things more quickly and efficiently. But too often it seems to make things harder, leaving us with fifty-button remote controls, digital cameras with hundreds of mysterious features.” (James Surowiecki) Whether or not is known, technology has become too heavily relied on. It is replacing important social factors such as, life skills and communication skills. While technology is created to be beneficial, there must be a point in time where we draw the line. Once face-to-face conversations begin to extinguish, this means that there is too much focus on the “screen culture”. In her writing, “Alone Together”, Sherry Turkle talks
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Consider a situation where a family is sitting at the dining table, the son pull out his iPhone, connects to Wi-Fi, and starts chatting with his friends on “Facebook”. The father has a Samsung Galaxy S4 in his hands and he is reading the newspaper online and using “Whatsapp” messenger while having his meal. The mother is busy texting her friends. They are all “socializing” but none of them has spoken as much as a single word to each other. This situation can be commonly seen nowadays. Technology has brought us closer and squeezed the distances but in reality, it has taken us away from each other. The rapid growth of technology has brought about significant changes in human lives, especially in their relationships. The latest technologies have turned this world into a “global village” but the way humans interact with each other, the types of relations and their importance has changed a lot. The advancement in technology has brought us close but has also taken us apart.