A Way of Understanding What It Is to Be Human Essay (Critical Writing)

Introduction

In the new millennium, man has achieved great things, particularly in the area of technology. But he is left bewildered by it. The rapid advancement in the area of telecommunication, the computer, and the Internet changed everything. It transformed not only the way men live but also in how he sees himself in relation to others. Needless to say human interactions and relationships were affected leading many to lament the negative impact of technology.

In the 1960s when everyone was very excited with the prospect of new technologies such as the advent of TV, Marshall McLuhan warned that not everything is desirable. Through the years he was proven right. The following pages will discuss some of the implications of McLuhan’s ideas regarding technology and how it is changing the way we begin to understand ourselves.

Technology

In recent times it is increasingly difficult to live life without a piece of high-tech gadget attached to a person’s body. If he is not holding it, it is stuffed inside his pocket. If the gizmo is not in his pockets then it is attached somewhere in his clothes and if it is not there then maybe it is in front of him. Technology can be small or it can be big enough to ride on. It can be hidden or it can be front and center like a personal computer or a large plasma HDTV. In other words there is no way 21^st century people can live without advanced technology. But the problem is that his overwhelming need for technology is changing the way he understands himself and even how he understands the people around him.

Marshall McLuhan was correct when he said that the reason for all these changes can be attributed to the Industrial Revolution and then to modern communication technology. In his time, his idea of high-tech is limited to the television set that can send audio and visual messages across the country and when coupled with satellite technology can even be broadcasted across the major cities around the world. McLuhan could never have guessed that his idea goes beyond TV and would include the Internet and mobile phones. Combining all these three together is the only way to properly described contemporary man.

Human Behavior

In a March 2006 issue of the Time magazine, a four-year study on family life conducted by researchers from UCLA revealed the following:

1. children are multitasking using different gadgets such as computers, cell phones, and other portable devices such as an iPod;
2. in an average American home family members are so engrossed with their gadgets that even if they live under one roof they virtually create a whole universe in their heads and they are alone there unable to communicate with those closest to them and yet sending messages to everyone outside via their cell phones and computers (Wallis, par. 5-8).

In the UCLA study, one family from California exhibited the typical characteristics of The implications of these findings are staggering. It means that the basic unit of society, the family is now being fragmented by technology. What war, famine, disease was unable to do, technology was able to accomplish. Technology was able to alienate son from father and daughter from mother. In the aforementioned study, the people involved are so engrossed in their gadget that when the father came home, very tired from work, the children barely noticed that he was already home.

It is not that the father was without fault. He came home late, way past dinner time. His job forces him to work overtime. And yet when he is home he does not spend time with his kids. He goes straight to the dining room and then eats the leftover all by his lonesome self. After eating one would expect that he would approach his children but the UCLA study revealed that he reaches out for his cell phone and just like his children would use it to communicate to others outside the home. When he is able – or when his daughter will allow him – he will ask her to allow him to use his computer and then spends a considerable amount of time answering e-mails.

The whole family including the mother and father are familiar with new technology and just like their children are adept with sending messages and communicating messages to people across a considerable distance from their home. This has led UCLA researchers to remark, “By all standard space-time calculations, the four members of the family occupy the same three-bedroom home in Van Nuys, California but psychologically each exists in his or her own little universe” (Wallis, par. 2). This last statement can well be used to describe Americans living in the 21^st century.

Aside from relating to other people via digital technology there is another aspect of Information Technology that contributed to the radical change of contemporary society. This is the ability to multitask. Multitasking is nothing new; mothers are experts when it comes to multitasking. They can feed the baby, prepare food for the whole family, and even manage to clean the house before her husband and the other children are due to come back from the school or the office. But this time it is different because multitasking is performed even by children. At home, grade schoolers are masters in doing homework while surfing the net and at the same time listening to music from gadgets like an iPod.

Without a doubt multitasking is taking its toll. For starters it is now a documented fact that doing multiple tasks as the same time will make the person less efficient. Sure there are many projects that are being started, different tasks being juggled by one person but the quality of the completed work is suspect. According to researchers from the Vanderbilt University, “The human brain, with its hundred billion neurons and hundreds of trillions of synaptic connections, is a cognitive powerhouse in many ways. But a core limitation is an inability to concentrate on two things at once” (Lohr, par. 5). Multitasking is not only causing inefficiency in terms of completing tasks but can also be seen as a contributing factor as to why people are alienated from those who are closest to them.

Humanity

It is not hard to spot the irony. While children feel alienated from their parents and vice versa, family members spend time with their gadgets to “talk” to someone outside the home. Therefore there is an added dimension to the impact of technology to human interactions. In the preceding pages the discussion points to the fragmentation of the human psyche as he tries to do so many things at the same time. Aside from that, men and women in the 21^st century are interacting with someone outside the realm of face to face interaction. Therefore relationships are built without the need for intimacy.

It is normal for a father who works in a multinational corporation to have no time for his children. He barely has the energy to talk to them when he comes home late in the evening. But a few hours ago he had the chance to talk to people halfway around the world. This is the consequence of modern technology; this is the consequence of a world interconnected like one global village.

One social scientist was able to describe this phenomenon clearly when he wrote, “Globalization as a concept refers both to the compression of the world and the intensification of consciousness of the world as whole … both concrete global interdependence and consciousness of the global whole” (Waters, 4). Thus, the contradiction is very much evident, man is seen as a person needing constant communication and yet at the same time neglecting the person closest to him.

Conclusion

McLuhan was correct in his prediction that the world will turn into one global village through the power of modern communication tools. During his time cutting-edge technology was represented by the color TV and the satellite equipment that allow images to be broadcasted all over America and even to many parts of the world. Yet, it can perhaps be argued that McLuhan did not see it coming – the Internet and advanced computers that did not only changed how people behave but also on how they see themselves.

The Internet and electronic devices such as a personal computer and a cell phone are creating men and women that are extremely busy. They cannot see their meaning apart from their very busy schedule. As a result they have to work long hours in order to feel that they are a significant part of society. As one of the consequence for this kind of mentality, men and women of the 21^st century are forced to learn how to multitask using the aforementioned gadgets and the Internet. The need to accomplish more and the necessity to multitask are contributing to the fragmentation of the mind. Men, women, and children are forced to do more with very little time.

They are burdened to overachieve and it is exceedingly difficult to see them as mere children, right now they are seen as a valuable piece of the whole mechanism. Parents see their children as assets and this is clearly shown in the way parents ignore them when they are home. They became important only on the rare occasions when parents wanted to know if they are performing well in school. Aside from the occasional assessment, the parents seem not to care. They may argue that they love their children but their actions seem to speak the contrary.

In this highly competitive atmosphere the children are well aware of their position in society. They know that they are part of their parents to do list and they have to perform exceptionally well in school or their parent’s hard earned money will surely be put to waste. It is therefore easy to understand why children are sometimes reluctant to leave their rooms and talk to their parents. It is easier for them to talk to people outside the home using equipment rather than to get into a face-to-face interaction with their Dad.

Technology was supposed to make lives easier but in effect it has contributed much to transforming a simple existence into something that is not only complex but moving in hyper speed. Technology is making life bittersweet but most importantly it revolutionized how people see themselves and others. It used to be that when a person is asked to think of someone he loves, he will think of those closest to him, members of the family and after a while the thought will stray to friends and acquaintances. Yet in the 21^st century men and women are able to establish relationships without even able to leave the couch.

There is something alarming about modern technology. It is radically changing how people see themselves and others. It has gone from simple to complex. Today, a person is not just a three dimensional figure that occupies space he is also a virtual person that can talk to someone outside the home while at the same time ignoring someone nearby. His body maybe home but his mind wanders. Modernity did not only bring fragmentation and isolation as men and women struggle to find meaning while drowning from a sea of a million stimulus flooding their minds.

Works Cited

Crevier, Daniel. AI: The Tumultuous Search for Artificial Intelligence. New York, NY: BasicBooks, 1993.

Kurzweil, Ray. The Singularity is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology. New York: The Penguin Group, 2005.

Lohr, Steve. “Slow Down, Brave Multitasker, and Don’t Read This in Traffic.” Web.

McCorduck, Pamela. Machines Who Think. MA: A.K. Peters, Ltd., 2004.

McLuhan, Marshall. “Understanding Media, The Extensions of Man.” Georgetown University. Web.

Sutter, R. China’s Rise in Asia: Promises and Perils. Maryland: Rowland & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2005.

Wallis, Claudia. “The Multitasking Generation.” Web.

Waters, M. Globalization. New York: Routledge, 2001.

Zheng, Y. (2004). Globalization and State Transformation in China. New York: Cambridge University Press.