Quote-Directed Writing

Daniel Greenawalt

Dr. Shannon Mortimore-Smith

WIFYS 9:00am

23 October 2017

Who Wins Technology or Nature?

            Have you ever noticed something beautiful without seeing it in a photo? Or went somewhere to take in the beauty of our world without technology? Now that technology is growing in the world humans now have access to almost anything, except the real experience of nature. The Earth is a beautiful planet that has many locations to, explore, but humans have to turn off their phone and get away from social media to appreciate the true elegances of the world we live in. Unfortunately, humans choose not to do this, rather they use their devices each time they are in nature. As technology becomes more advanced each day we live, it takes a toll on everyone relationship with the world and the people who live here. Technology is dangerous; it is starting to demand more attention from people instead of them viewing the world in its natural state.

Children being born today are now crippling their skills to connect with any type of nature instead they would rather see it displayed on a phone, TV, or maybe a tablet, with at least three devices at their side. Mark Bauerlein an English professor at Emory University discussed how our generation is a lost hope; because our young people depend on technology and cannot live without it. In his book review titled, “The Dumbest Generation” he said, “It is not enough to say that, these young people are uninterested in world realities.” (Bauerlein) He isn’t wrong, but I believe that they are not interested because the children have “better” things to do, like go on their phones to experience nature technology is now assisting kids to be even lazier than before. Since social has media appeared, people have posted iconic photos of the world on their profile. People viewing these posts analyze the beauty in the photo, rather than making an effort to go in nature to explore what type of wildlife is out there.

Dr. Turkle a professor who studies interactions between people and technology, argues that society want something to comfort them. In Turkle’ one article she says, “A elderly woman had a baby seal robot that kept the woman company, she felt that comfort because the seal was just faking empathy to reinsure the user.” (Turkle) The woman did not go out to search for any real comfort, she simply gives up and turns to an alternative resource that gives her fake empathy. Turkle believes that the fake empathy is real enough for the old woman to feel joy. However, empathy is the understanding of another person’s feelings and robots cannot understand a sense of feeling because they aren’t living.

The woman that Turkle describes chooses technology over real things that can comfort even better than what a robot could do. Choosing an authentic object to nature helps people recognize that their love and care fills the warmth of another living creature. The real empathy appears when two living things can come together and share a bond like no other. Technology is all fake happiness because it does not have feelings, it may understand your thoughts and be able to tell you what you want to hear but that can happen in real life as well. People should think of the quote, “money can’t buy happiness” in these situations. Right at that time, it seems like a good purchase and well worth it but as time goes on it does not mean as much anymore. For example, my family took in a kitten, which I created a lot of memories with, my phone has been near my side since I was thirteen and has not impacted my life like my kitten.

While searching for the true feeling of happiness, people lose sight in nature, looking straight to technology for social acceptance. Obsessing over what making yourself seem happy as if you just saw the Grand Canyon or the view from the top of a mountain. Instead of enjoying the beauty of the world we use it as a stage to lift us up in spirit. Black Mirror, a series with an episode “Nose Dive”, displays a young woman trying to achieve happiness by being like her best friend who is very popular on the internet. In the show her brother Ryan said to Lacie his sister “Can you afford a place with a view like this and that has a backyard this size” (“Nose Dive”). He came to understand looking good is not what make you happy it’s the places around you that do. Lacie is looking for the feeling of appreciation, and can only receive it from her social rating. Ryan, her only family, tries to convince her that she does not need to be loved in social media to feel happiness for he was only three out of five stars. Lacie did not care and set off to her friends where she thought all of the high four points seven stars would be an instant boost to her own status. The episode’s name represents her situation here, because when her obsession begins to take over her life, Lacie rating drops severely from her attitude becoming awful.

Instead of finding self-worth in a virtual rating system, people should go to a national park or a trail through the woods without feeling the urge to use your phone to take a photo, but most people cannot do that. If you find yourself doing this often maybe explore that same trail, with the little square smart device in your pocket it. Nature is a different place when technology is not involved. I live on a quiet little farm that is in the middle part of a town that consists of a couple thousand people; I understand the land I get to live on. Having people over to let them experience the view warms my heart knowing others do enjoy nature like I do. Kids growing up do put their phones away for short amounts of time to look around them, taking in the views in which they are at. I think nature is recognized more when our phones are on silent and in our pockets not looking at them or listening for the ten high pitched dings going off in a group chat.

Companies are no longer helping with the fight between technology and nature. Billboards, TVs, and radios are the go-to way of trying to distract the user from the real world to those horrible little devices that stick in our pocket or on a charger. Dr. Lasn said it himself in his article “Ecology of the Mind", “You drive through the heartland and the view of the wheat fields is broken at intervals by enormous billboards."  We go on journeys to see the world and we cannot even escape the systems for they follow us everywhere. Electronic billboard is put up along roads to receive the attention of all the passengers instead of what is behind it. That is why I enjoy Pennsylvania so much because of all the landscape that is in it. The rolling mountains that run parallel with the interstates, cross right through the heart of nature.

Technology is a dangerous thing for people now, it is starting to demand more attention from people instead of viewing the world in its natural state. Nature is a much more satisfying place to be then looking at than a small six-inch screen that is going to make you go blind before you die. Technology will never surpass nature because if it was not for those mountains, rivers, valleys, and oceans you would not be as “popular” as you are. Take a step back from your phone for a change to find the real meaning of happiness in nature.

Work Cited

Bauerlein, Mark. “the Dumbest Generation?.” YouTube, uploaded by ReasonTV, 23 July 2008,  www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzNkW2eyR-I.

Lasn, Kalle. “Ecology of the Mind” Culture Jam, edited by Kalle Lasn, William Morrow Paperbacks, 2000.

“Nosedive.” Black Mirrors: The Third Season, written by Rashinda Jones, and Micheal Schur, directed by Joe Wright.

Turkle, Sherry. “Connected, but Alone?” YouTube, YouTube, 3 Apr. 2012, www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7Xr3AsBEK4