Smarter Than You Think

664 Words2 Pages

Societal changes stem from many forces including economic and cultural. From some theorists perspective that technology is neutral, technology would not become an important force-- it would act as a tool to advance already existing attitudes. On the contrary, technology is not neutral, the mere existence influences the everyday life of people in society. Technology cannot be described as an empty item controlled with specific intentions of the user; rather, technology can persuade and manipulate the actions of people both positively and negativity. Some perceive technology as the force behind a narrow focus of enhancement that disregards anything it has undone-- old world morals and meaning. Others convey the importance of technology through …show more content…

In today’s society easy access to social media drives the need for instant gratification and therefore endorses narcissism. The mere existence of the ‘like’ button on social platforms encourages society to post images or updates that will receive the greatest amount of positive feedback. Technology encourages a mindset of gratification and self-disclosure, it does not solely exist as a neutral tool. Yet in Thompson’s book ‘Smarter Than You Think’, he argues technology makes narcissism visible and doesn’t encourage any more than in the past thus making technology neutral. Thompson fails to explain that technology allows citizens to count their likes and comments which in turn makes them shape subsequent statuses. Before technology, public influence was a much more subtle effect because there did not exist an instant quantitative feedback for people. Technology threatens a loss of skill set with the growth of another. With the onset of technology, focus on learning efficiency overtook generating culture and moral values. The speed of technological teaching forces a lose of culture. Postman manifests an importance

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