Perspectives on Technology and its Impact on Human Beings

This essay delves into the multifaceted impact of technology on human beings, examining the perspectives on how technology and science influence individuals. It discusses the connectivity fostered by social media, addressing Sherry Turkle's concerns about intimacy and its blurring effects on young people. The essay counters Turkle's arguments by highlighting the positive aspects of technology, such as increased cognitive abilities through AI and social media, and improved cross-cultural interactions. It acknowledges potential negative impacts, like cybercrime risks, and emphasizes the need for balance in social media use, advocating for parental guidance. Ultimately, the essay concludes that technology, particularly social media, plays a crucial and predominantly positive role in enhancing cognitive skills and overall human development, especially in the context of America.

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English
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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The following paper will be dedicated to discuss on the various perspectives regarding
the impact of the technology and science on the human beings. The section will discuss on the
various perspectives on how technology has connected the human beings better than ever. Sherry
Turkle commented that “social media has “blurred the definition” of intimacy for young people
in America”. Social media has both the good and bad impacts on the human mind. All these
aspects will be discussed in this paper to highlight in the positive impact and argue against the
comment that Sherry Turkle had made in his earlier discussions.
It is completely undeniable that human beings are connected with each other through the
social media and they can stay in touch with them every time. Turkle believed that this practice
has more negative compared to its positive impacts (Archive.wilsonquarterly.com). There are
obviously some negative impacts of this fact that it creates a negative attribute towards the
studying practices of the students. Their grades are getting lower and they are getting more
intimate with the various social media platforms (Primack et al., 6). Therefore, it has brought
about more degradation in the lives of the human beings. This view of Turkle definitely has
some considerable argument but this is not the case everywhere in the United States. Rather,
people are getting more benefited by the use of several technologies (Villanti: 196).
On arguing against the view presented by Sherry Turkle it might be countered that
numerous computer users can analyze all kind sof perceptions in an anecdotal manner. This is
where they can gather the data and get the perfect perceptions on every field and find out the
solutions for all the problems that might arise (Archive.wilsonquarterly.com). There are several
data-crunching models through which the people can give exact solutions to the issues that they
might ve facing at certain point of time. The competition has gone beyond the normal level and
several companies like Microsoft and Google are going through the rat race to discover new

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things that might be effective and helpful for the humanity by every means. Their purpose is to
build up the virtual brain accompanied by the human brain (Liebelson: 5). The juxtaposition of
these two brains will bring revolutionary measures so we can see the world in new ways. As a
result Microsoft has built up its own virtual brain called Adam that can surely compete with the
Google Brain. The concept of the Artificial Intelligence is all set to take over the world and it
will increase the global productivity a lot indeed (Best, Manktelow and Taylor: 30).
The argument was aimed at the age group of the young people who were harmed by the
blurring of intimacy through social media (Greenhow and Lewin: 15). This view must be
countered by saying that social media along with the Artificial intelligence (AI) have helped
them a lot to increase their cognitive abilities. Through this process, they will be more powerful
with the help of technology. This will help them to turn the entire universe into a global village.
There are several positive attributes that can be related to the use of technology (Liebelson: 5).
The power of the social media has also been very effective to bring the people in close
contact and engage in the innovative thoughts even if those people live in two different countries.
Thus, the cross cultural aspects have improved also. In this situation, it cannot be claimed at all
that the entire social media will only cause negative implications in the society (Best, Manktelow
and Taylor: 30). Therefore, the virtual world has helped in the involvement of different people
from different regions. Google is one of those social media platforms that can be deemed as an
essential part of the lives of the young people. It has helped in the studies of people in all the
ways (Rice et al., 206).
There are a few people who are of the opinion that too much use of social media has
isolated the human beings from the real world. The effect is seen among the young people

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mostly. On the other hand, it can also be claimed that use of social media has made the lives of
the human beings so much easier (Vannucci, Kaitlin and Ohannessian: 165). Thus, they can be
free of the challenge that going to a place and having serious discussions might waste their time.
All these facts can contribute to the need for the growth of the social media. In this context, one
thing can be highlighted that might support the view of Sherry Turkle.
Young people generally tend to make friends with unknown people at different point of
times and these friends live in the outside countries than that of the particular person. If he or she
shares all the personal information with these so called friends, they might fall in serious danger
as a part of the cyber crime (Liebelson: 5) Therefore, it will be better to have a control on the
activities that young people perform in the social media.
The establishment of control on social media will surely give better outcomes and young
people will be able to give more time to their families. If these young people spend most of their
time by texting their social media friends when they are supposed to be with their family, it is
definitely not acceptable (Vannucci, Kaitlin and Ohannessian: 165). All the parents must teach
this lesson to their children about the use of social media and focus on the positive perspectives
of its use.
The conclusion of the paper can be drawn by saying that the use of social media is
definitely a very crucial aspect for the development of the cognitive abilities of the common
people including the young people in the society. The overall effectiveness is immense on the
lives of people is immense and it is mostly positive. Though Sherry Turkle had commented on its
harmful effects on the young people but those arguments have been countered and the positive

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aspects of the use of social media in America has been well defended, Therefore, it is quite
feasible to use the social media for its various positive outcomes.

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References
Archive.wilsonquarterly.com. "Married To Google". Archive.Wilsonquarterly.Com, 2011,
http://archive.wilsonquarterly.com/in-essence/married-google-0.
Best, Paul, Roger Manktelow, and Brian Taylor. "Online communication, social media and
adolescent wellbeing: A systematic narrative review." Children and Youth Services
Review 41 (2014): 27-36.
Greenhow, Christine, and Cathy Lewin. "Social media and education: Reconceptualizing the
boundaries of formal and informal learning." Learning, media and technology 41.1
(2016): 6-30.
Liebelson, Dana. "DO ANDROIDS DREAM OF ELECTRIC LOLCATS?". Vol 39, no. 5, 2014,
p. 5., Accessed 11 Apr 2020.
Primack, Brian A., et al. "Use of multiple social media platforms and symptoms of depression
and anxiety: A nationally-representative study among US young adults." Computers in
human behavior 69 (2017): 1-9.
Rice, Simon M., et al. "Online and social networking interventions for the treatment of
depression in young people: a systematic review." Journal of medical Internet
research 16.9 (2014): e206.
Vannucci, Anna, Kaitlin M. Flannery, and Christine McCauley Ohannessian. "Social media use
and anxiety in emerging adults." Journal of affective disorders 207 (2017): 163-166.
Villanti, Andrea C., et al. "Social media use and access to digital technology in US young adults
in 2016." Journal of medical Internet research 19.6 (2017): e196.

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