Written by

Chinese Malaysian, American Literature at Osaka University, Japan.

Has technology affected our humanity or society?

Today we are more dependent on technology than ever before. This has led me to wonder about the changes it has brought, and to pose the question, “Has technology affected our humanity or our society?” As humans, technology has given us incredible opportunities to make our lives easier, sometimes mistaken for laziness. Our ways of living, ways of communicating and how we behave are no longer as same as the old generation’s. Because of those changes, some people start worrying about has technology changed our humanity? In my opinion, I would suggest technology has changed our society but not humanity.

According to dictionary.com, humanity means the human race; the quality of being human; kindness or mercy. Some people claim that human being is divided into two part: body and soul. Soul is the part that consists of the quality of being human while body is the machine of it. Far before technology has been invented, the evil parts of human are already exist. People killed each other in order to survive or because of hate, love, jealous and others. Now, instead of killing them, we can simply “delete” them on social networking, to show them how angry or how much we hate them. But the fact is that people who we deleted they don’t really realize it.

I find this has hindered our ability to forgive. In the past, you would usually talk face to face with someone to solve your differences, now we are ‘deleting’ people out of frustration. Not only that, but some people even create a false identity in order to find out how they are being perceived by the very person they just ‘deleted.’ I don’t personally agree with this, but it has probably happened a lot more than I’d like to think. It has gone so far that people are now breaking up with someone over a text message, or e-mail. Most people would say that this isn’t considered ‘acceptable,’ but where is the line that sets apart breaking up with someone who you’ve been romantically involved with, to a friend that has upset you? If your feelings are hurt by anyone, it stands to reason that those feelings were there at some point. So why has it become socially acceptable to just ‘delete’ people out of your lives? Technology is even being used not only as a sword, to hurt others or to voice our opinions, but it has also become a shield that we use to protect ourselves from emotional harm. I personally don’t condone this. I would like to see society make the effort to start creating stronger bonds and to start working through whatever differences they might come across, not to just ‘delete’ them and run away. So, has technology really changed our humanity or our society? I find that many adults believe technology has turned us lazy, but I agree with Barry Joe when he says “we couldn’t text because we didn’t have it.” If our parents did have everything we have now when they were growing up, they would be just like us. Technology has given us tools to make our lives easier. I do not believe we could go as far to say that technology has changed who we are as human beings, but I do believe it has changed the way we live our everyday lives. As far as society is concerned, it may have hindered our judgment or impaired our ability to forgive, but that doesn’t mean it’s gone. Our generation adapts. I believe we will make it.

Text © Lay Sion Ng

Lay’s Previous Contributions To Edge Of Humanity Magazine

Female Genital Mutilation

Accounts Of A Syrian Teenager | From Fighter To Refugee | Part #2

Accounts Of A Teenager Inside Syria’s Battleground | Part #1

Why Animals Can’t Be Your Valentine: Understanding Zoophilia

The Hidden Pedophiles: What to do with them?

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We are committed to publishing the human condition, the raw diverse global entanglement, with total impartiality.

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