Vorniceanu Vlad:

Are we victims of a technological society?

Nowadays, our society is one full of consumers and developers, especially

connected to technology. Living in the 21st Century means that you must adapt
yourself and your lifestyle to the latest breakthroughs in the technological world,
thing that not all people are capable of. However, my question is, are some
people right to fell like the victims of their own society?
First of all, there are many middle-aged people who do not have the capability
needed to understand nowadays’ technologies. For example, let’s take a person
from an isolated zone and see how they would react facing the lifestyle of a
crowded, bustling city such as New York. You would see that he would start being
nervous besides being overwhelmed by the technology around him, and if let too
much time in that climate, a depression can unfortunately appear.
Furthermore, technology is often seen as a threat to our world. Many people
think that if technology is being developed at the same speed, it would be too
advanced for us to keep it under control anymore. This idea started many
theories which describe our world being destroyed by robots, theories which
seem like Science-Fiction even though they are partially plausible.
Moreover, the latest technologies managed to invade our privacy lately. Many big
companies, such as Google or Facebook, have many ways to find out what we are
interested in or what we do not like in our daily life just for giving us the right
advertisements on the Internet. Even though it does not seem such a big deal, it
is. Imagine that all your messages are filtered in order to get the information
needed by these companies, and also all the calls from a phone connected to
these platforms are listened for the same reason, but the thing that the most
people do not realize is that we are also listened all the time, even though we are
using a technological device or not.
However, let us not forget all the benefits that came with the technology itself.
Think only about all the means of communication we have now, and that we can
shop for anything we want only by pressing one or two buttons on the Internet,
which it may be one of the greatest discoveries of the human being. Not until had
the Internet been developed could we stay in touch with what is happening on
the other side of the planet, and that is, in my opinion, one of the best things that
could happen to us.
Overall, it results that we are the victims of our own society only partially. I
personally think that if we put all the advantages that came with the Internet
along side the disadvantages of nowadays’ technologies it would result in a
perfectly balanced situation. Also, I must say that if we have been capable of
developing such technologies, for sure we can also stop them from evolving too
much.

Timoficiuc Daniel:
We are surrounded by many objects most of us deem so simple and mundane
that we give them little to no attention at all .However , have you ever wondered
about their origins ,about the psychological and social impact they had at the time
of their making ?Objects such as the light bulb, the ballpoint pen and the printing
press, which fulfill simple needs, have revolutionized society beyond recognition.
The light bulb
The incandescent light bulb ,also known as an incandescent lamp or light globe, is
used by many of us to light up our homes when the sun goes down.It is a
commodity we couldn’t live without in our modern society. It was invented by
Thomas Alva Edison in the year 1879 and had quickly become a staple in our
institutions and homes around the U.S. in the following years .
The light bulb is a glass balloon ,filled with an inert gas such as argon (Ar) or neon
(Ne) , that contains a filament , usually made from metals with tremendously high
melting points (tungsten ,platinum) or carbon.An electrical current is ran through
the filament , heating it up in the process ,so much so that it glows with visible
light (incandescence ).
Edisons invention had a outstanding impact on society.It meant that humans
could remain productive during the night , which was extremely important in
northern countries that don’t benefit from much sunlight .It swiftly spread around
the world and became an essential comfort.Nowadays , most settlements ,even in
remote areas such as deserts or poles , are lit up thanks to Edisons work.
The printing press
The printing press is the oldest ancestor of the commonly known printer .In the
year 1439 , a german goldsmith named Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing
press .It uses the simple process of inking letters and pressing them against paper
sheets to quickly copy text, which previously had to be done manually by
specialized scholars, a tedious and time consuming process.
The impact it had on 15th century Europe was unmeasurable .As it rapidly spread
across the continent ,it had also introduced the era of mass
communication,altering the structure of society.More and more people got
access to literature ,science, philosophy and information about the world around
them.This accessibility encouraged the lower classes of society to develop and
boost their cultural self awareness.