Technology: Blessing or Curse in Our Lives? - Essay Sample

Introduction

Technology has become a part of people's lives with the use of smartphones taking the lead. The benefit of using technology, which includes entertainment and education, among others, is intertwined with significant impacts that affect our social and emotional lives. Though the use of technology is mainly designed to connect family and friends, technology may be the leading cause of depression, loneliness, and family breakups in society. Many who favor the use of technology argue that it is a tool to meet new people, to raise one's self-esteem, and to transition to college life. Smartphones came to fulfill the need for immediacy where people can access their friends who are miles away by the touch of a screen. The research was geared towards discovering whether the users of smartphones believe that smartphones fulfill their purpose, or they threaten the same goal of their creation.

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The purpose of the research was to understand the opinion of college students on how smartphones and technology enhance or interfere with interpersonal relationships. To achieve this, the researcher used six focused group discussions where members discussed the positive and negative impact of technology. The concentrated group was composed of 48 students from diverse origins to ensure the generalization of the results. The research identified students experienced in smartphone and internet usage to form a volunteer panel group. The study employed compromised structure funnel to ask seven structured questions. The data collected were transcribed and analyzed by professions.

The findings of the study confirmed the suggestions of the researcher. The participants stated that they use their phones mostly to connect with family members and friends. The respondents identified entertainment, connection, immediacy, and convenience as the significant importance of smartphones. The respondents gave examples of the apps they have in their phones that enable them to access services like banking and shopping faster. The respondents stated that miscommunication was the most significant disadvantage of technology. The research identified that it is impossible to interpret the emotions of a text message. Minimal face to face communication was identified as a challenge. The participants identified various factors to indicate whether a person is addicted to smartphones, such as texting all the time and continuously updating events on social media.

The use of smartphones has brought happiness to people as they can connect to their friends and families through texting and phone calls. Various people have managed to escape the trap involved in the daily use of smartphones by deciding to use them for professional, economic, and social purposes that benefit their lives. However, a large group is trapped in the addictive use of smartphones to the extent that an individual continually checks to see if there is any text message. The research recommends an earlier identification of addiction to prevent the situation from causing harm.

Addiction to smartphones, power, and work has become accepted norms in society though they interfere with intimacy, which is an essential aspect of human life. Factors that encourage intimacy like face to face communication and closeness are slowly disappearing in the use of smartphones. The problem with the erosion of these values is in need for immediacy. In the future, the high demand for intimacy will lead people to addiction with the help of smartphones.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the article has identified the key areas that were researched. The paper summarizes the previous studies done on the impact of smartphones to society. The research used a focused group discussion to collect qualitative data using structure funnel. Miscommunication and lack of intimacy were considered as the most significant drawbacks of smartphones.