How dependent have we become on modern technology?

Ok, let’s have a look at this (maybe not so) ordinary livingroom.

Question to the class: Tell us, what do you have in your living room and what is NOT in this room?

Television, telephone, game consoles, DVD player, light, laptop, etc.

It’s almost not imaginable how often we use modern technology. Think about it for a second.
Computer, TV, mobile phones and mp3-players, such as iPods.
When you think about it, it is possible to live without all that for quite some time.

Question to the class: Who thinks they can live without these things? Why/Why not?

Unfortunately, technology means a lot more to us than just luxurious gadgets.

Most people tend to forget that there are more everyday uses than just mobile phones and
computers. The more basic things like a refrigerator, freezer, washing machine or the lighting inside
your house are even more necessary. Just a simple thing as electricity can make all these machine
completely useless. The central heating is also very important, it will get extremely cold when you
have no electricity and it’s freezing outside. So all these ordinary things of your every-day lives are
not so self-evident anymore.

Question to the class: Who thinks they can live without any form of technology? Why/Why not?

For example, let’s take a look at the recent power cut in Rosmalen en Berlicum. People were
completely out of their daily rhythms.
‘’I wanted to look something up on the internet, but I couldn’t. Then I tried to do my homework, but
it’s almost impossible to see what your calculator says in the candlelight. The worst thing was that
we weren’t able to cook, because we have an electrical cooking-plate. And afterwards we could
throw away the entire content of our freezer, because it had been defrozen.’’

Like you may have noticed, people are a bit dependent on technology. In this class we are going to
discuss exactly how dependent we are.

Discussion:
Form two groups

1. They think we are not that dependent on technology. Everybody is able to live without it.
2. They think we are very dependent on technology. Most people cant live without it anymore.

- Every group has to come up with at least two examples or arguments.

- They have to come to a conclusion on the end of the discussion.

Discussion 2:
Form two/three groups

1. They think technology has progressed too far and some of the newest inventions should be
banned.
2. They think technology is good and in the future there should be a lot of technical progress.
3. They think technology nowadays is excactly how it should be, there shouldn’t be anymore
progress, but it’s unnecassary to ban older inventions.
Wordfile:

Refrigerator Fridge
Freezer Vriezer
Central Heating Centrale verwarming
Self-evident Vanzelfsprekend
Power Cut Stroomstoring
Electrical Cooking Plate Electrische kookplaat
Content Inhoud