Erica Etelson's Article: Is Modern Technology Killing Us?

“Too much of anything can be harmful.” Variations of this famous expression have been widely known throughout human culture, but few people stop to think about what this phrase can actually apply to in daily life. The saying applies not only to drugs, alcohol, and cigarettes, but also to common, often considered harmless products such as caffeine, artificial sugar, and even vitamins. Among the worst of the dangers of society is one of the most accessible commodities of this century: technology. When used excessively, electronic screens and devices, although nearly impossible to live without nowadays, can cause some serious problems to the humans unknowingly risking their lives to do commonplace activities such as watching a movie or listening

One risk consumers take is that products not tested for deadly chemicals can be potentially fatal. Practitioner Erica Etelson, in her article “Is Modern Technology Killing Us?”, argues there are over 80,000 chemicals in consumer products that have not been tested, but are assumed to be safe by the consumers. These chemicals’ effects on humans have not been looked into yet and if some happen to be toxic to the human body, consumers risk their lives on buying innocent-looking toys, such as a teddy bear. In addition to potentially toxic chemicals, several studies (not sponsored by the industries) show that radiation from Wi-Fi signals and cell phones increase chances of having brain cancer, especially in children, whose likelihood has “increased by 1 percent a year for the past 20 years” (Etelson). This statistic warns how a deadly disease has spread through a commodity as common as wireless service, and how vulnerable humans are as a species to the effect of our own inventions. Furthermore, Barry Rosenstein and Anne Sheehan, in their “Open Letter from JANA Partners and CalSTRS to Apple Inc,” stress that compared to students who spend less than one hour on electronic devices, teens who spend five or more hours on their devices are 51% more likely to get less than seven hours of sleep, compared to the recommended nine hours. As well as physical health, however, Internet “addiction” can negatively

Due to the accessibility of information on the Internet, when people know facts are easily accessible on the Internet, they are not motivated to remember it. Zhai Yun Tan, in her article “How has Google Affected the Way Students Learn?”, references a 2011 study by Science showing that if people know they can get information later, they tend to remember where to find it, not what they are trying to find. Science’s research reaffirm how people tend to remember where information can be found, despite trying to remember the fact itself. The science behind this phenomenon is explained in more detail by John Lehrer. In his article, “Is Google Ruining Your Memory?”, Lehrer explains that human memory is more constrained than people would like, so if one knows that a fact is easily accessible online, the brain will not waste precious space on remembering the fact, but save the space for less accessible information. The brain unconsciously decides what information is helpful to know and is worth taking up space in the human memory bank, and gets rid of information considered easily reached. Lehrer also emphasizes how the brain only remembers facts that may be of help in the near future, but forgets facts that seem unimportant or irrelevant. Thus, the brain keeps a relevant store of information for use, but any knowledge deemed not helpful is discarded.