INGLÊS APLICADO AO JORNALISMO

Comunicação Social [S2 – 2019/20]

Inês Félix [81223]

DOES TECHNOLOGY IMPROVE OR MAKE OUR LIVES WORSE?

MOST PESSOAS RECOGNIZES THE BENEFITS OF TECHNOLOGY AND ENJOYS

IT ALMOST WITHOUT CEASING. BUT YOU DO NOT KNOW ABOUT THE
HARMS. NOTICE HOW SERIOUS CAN THIS TECHNOLOGY BE FOR THE
HEALTH OF ALL OF US.

Nowadays we know that technology, smartphones and the internet specifically make our lives
significantly easier. With them we shop without having to leave home – through e-commerce
– we talk to people who are on the other side of the world, we plan trips, we find out about the
advances in medicine and everything.

The internet provides us with many good things, so we can say that yes, it is obvious that
technology has become essential in our lives, however, we still have to remember that it is not
only for technology that man lives. In this way, if we are not careful, we run the risk of
becoming completely dependent on this technology and, therefore, moving away from real life.
So, let's try to figure out if technology improves or worsens our lives.
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Comunicação Social [S2 – 2019/20]
Inês Félix [81223]

The harms and benefits of the Internet

Currently the use of

technology is present in
almost every moment of
our life, from the time we
wake up to the time we
go to sleep and thus goes
to the end of our life.

Early in the morning, we wake up because of a technology, the phone alarm clock, for example,
and then we go in to see if we have messages. To order food, call an uber / taxi, watch a video,
talk to someone (...) and, at bedtime, we also put on tv or mobile phone some video, film or
series to relax before falling asleep, not forgetting to send "good night" to whom we understand
that we should, via mobile phone, being the communication always present.

It seems, then, to be kind of obvious that all this technology – internet, smartphone, tv, (...) –
ends up uncomplicating our lives, right? Right. However, it is not always so, and everything
has its negative side, even if sometimes we are so focused on this technology that we may not
realize everything we give up doing, because of it.

The truth is that the more time passes, the more dependent we become on new technologies
and, with that, we end up losing some important things in life. This is because, as we know,
technology could bring those who are far away but tends to drive away those who are close. It
is precisely this phenomenon of proximity-remoteness that can end up seriously harming and
hindering humanity and perhaps taking it even into the era of robotization.

The advancement of technology in our lives

We live today in a generation where technology has advanced very rapidly in recent years. Only
in the last 30 years has this one made a giant leap and, what we only saw in fiction films, has
gradually become reality, not talking of flying cars or things like that, but rather a simple call
with someone who is on the opposite side of the Planet.
 INGLÊS APLICADO AO JORNALISMO
Comunicação Social [S2 – 2019/20]
Inês Félix [81223]

This advance in technology has reached medicine, curing diseases and making it possible to
print an organ, for example, with the help of 3D printers.

In our daily lives, technology has also been helping, for example when we have, for some
reason, to move from our house to an unknown location, we use as support the maps of the
applications that make them available and also when buying tickets from we avoid queues,
making the process easier via online.

If you ask yourself how many of us leave the house without our cell phones, I'm sure many of
them would say they couldn't do it, even if they sometimes forget their house keys, wallets,
money, it's rare to happen with their phone or smartphone, as if it were essential and
indispensable to our experience.
From here, we can already
perceive the dependence of this
technology, and can even affirm
that the world has become
addicted and very much in it,
there are many Men who cannot,
in any way, live without it.

The truth is that the facts presented above are not our fault or anyone else's fault, yet we live in
a generation that has normalized this dependency. Living proof of this, it is the children who
give the feeling of being born to know how to mess with the new technologies, while their
parents and grandparents only had access to them in adulthood or in the last phase of
adolescence.

We already know that technology improves and makes our lives easier, however, nothing can
be taken to the extreme because as it says "everything in excess is bad” and it is this caution
that we must have. The Guardian pointed out that more than 50% of the population take their
mobile phone to the bathroom.

What are, after all, the harms of technology?

Health
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Comunicação Social [S2 – 2019/20]
Inês Félix [81223]

As we have already talked about, many people no longer live without technology and this,
really, helps us a lot. Still, not everything is "a sea of roses" and let us remember that nothing

in excess is good. Nowadays, with the facilities we have, we learn many things, many
information simultaneously, which consequently makes us walk more inattentive in relation to
other things.

Studies also point out that vision problems are increasingly frequent, such as hearing and
back/posture problems, due to the proximity of the mobile phone to the face, as well as the
exaggerated luminosity of the devices and also to the hearing of music with too high volume,
which demonstrates that, for some people, the technology is already bringing serious health
problems.

Not taking off from the health sector, another issue that has become more common in our
society, which is strongly linked to technology and that worries experts, is obesity. This is
because most people spend their time sitting around, without doing any kind of exercises,
browsing all day through mobile apps or watching Netflix, without already having to get up to
get the computer if you need to search something on the Internet, being able to do it through
the smartphone, that let us be honest is always close, is not it? The percentage of audience in
cinemas, has decreased more and more because, no longer the big screen impresses internet
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Comunicação Social [S2 – 2019/20]
Inês Félix [81223]

users, limiting themselves to staying at home, more comfortable and consequently eating more
and more. The applications of sending food home, is another factor that influences this disease,
simply ordering, automatically paying virtually and receiving the food. Get more fat and do
less. Not only obesity, but the lack of exercise that leads to sedentary lifestyle, is getting
stronger and stronger in our society.

The Social Networks

The main factor, the one that holds more people to technology, is the social networks, and these
are preferable nowadays overwhelming by the majority, than being in a public space living with
friends. It is true, people today prefer to relate to the mobile phone, giving as in a post or
commenting on some photograph, than to be face to face with a friend, feeling the emotion of
that and exchanging ideas with him. Fewer and fewer groups of friends meet. In this age of
smartphones personal contact has decreased more and more and, as said at the beginning, the
internet has been bringing those away and who is doing far away.
 INGLÊS APLICADO AO JORNALISMO
Comunicação Social [S2 – 2019/20]
Inês Félix [81223]

Studies also point out that thousands of couples get divorced every year because of social
networks and because of partners paying more attention to being connected than to their partner.
This works for all circles of relationship, whether with father and mother, siblings,
grandparents, cousins, among others.

Technology is a very positive thing, yes, and it's great that it continues to evolve, but we have
to be aware and we can't let it take away the human, emotional and sensory side, in short, which
makes us human beings.

How many clicks do we do per day? What about hugs?

A news from Inês Félix for the newspaper Público*.

*Berliner daily newspaper