Towards the Boundary of Pragmatism and

Idealism
A Critique Paper on the Effects of Digital Technology

FLORENDO, Thania A.
Bachelor of Arts in Journalism 1-2N
It is proper to represent things as they are in real truth, rather than as they are imagined. “It has become
appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity,” Albert Einstein had written. Perhaps
this explains the situation at this era wherein people want to customize their lives with the illusion of
companionship from technology without meeting the demands and norms of society. With the escalating
number of companies who produces different units of phones, tablets and other forms of technology, social
unrest became more prevalent in the world. Queries on which is best are frequently raised, and with the
belief of Steve Jobs somehow became true that if a company kept putting a great products in front of
customers, people would continue to open their wallets.

The birth of technology has brought a massive change in mankind and people enjoy its perks in any way
possible. The word technology consists of two parts (Techno) means application, art or skill, and (Logy)
means science and learning. Thus, the linguistic meaning of the word technology is: the methods and tools
that a society has developed in order to facilitate the solution of its practical problems and to provide the
necessary needs for the community (Al-Zoubi & Younes, 2015). Technology has led to mind-blowing
discoveries, better facilities and better luxuries. Its primary goal is to create a society that allows everyone
to prosper. Hence, the more advanced technology becomes, the more it seems to have control over our
lives.

Indeed, it has been long debated whether technology aids learning or inhibits it. It is whether we are
consumed or nourished through time. It is whether we are getting closer to the ideal way of living or learning
to be pragmatic to survive life. People, nevertheless, remains resolute as they believe that technology is
hope in life.

Since human beings are social by nature, relationships nowadays become more dominated by the use of
modern technologies such as social media, which reduces the distances, despite of having negative effects
on human relations in society and family. Currently, people recognize that the use of modern technologies
is a requirement for life and an indication of the cultural awareness of the community. They have positive
prominent roles as one of the requirements of this era where they enter in all walks of life to provide services,
improve the quality of life and increase communication and relationships since it is a developed culture
reflects the culture of the community.

According to the study of Drago (2015) technology has become an integral part of the way that people
communicate with one another and has increasingly taken the place of face-to-face communication. Due
to the rapid expansion of technology, many individuals fear that people may be too immersed in this digital
world and not present enough in the real world. Gadgets became the most psychologically powerful that it
has started changing people’s way of communication. It has started making people busy, taking away eye
contacts of two people supposedly staring at each other’s orbs. In another study, Przybylski and Weinstein
(2012) showed similar results that proved the presence of mobile communication devices in social settings
interferes with human relationships. In two separate experiments, the authors found evidence that these
devices have negative effects on closeness, connection, and conversation quality, especially notable when
individuals are engaging in personally meaningful topics. To top it up the negative impacts of the use of
modern technologies on society and its impact on individual behavior are the formation of personal beliefs,
social isolation, reduction in the family ties between the family and society members, inactivity, obesity, lack
of desire to work different kinetic activities, a waste of time in things that are not useful, increase in the rate
of violence, especially in children because of watching violent programs, high crime rate because of
spreading video clips presenting all kinds of these crimes and ways of committing them and the spread of
lies and rumors causing distraction and loss of trust in such information (Al-Zoubi & Younes, 2015).

Contrary to many researchers’ beliefs that technology impacts face-to-face communication negatively,
Baym, principal researcher at Microsoft Research, does not share these concerns. Rather, Baym believes
that research suggests digital communications enhance relationships and that “the evidence consistently
shows that the more you communicate with people using devices, the more likely you are to communicate
with those people face to face” (Adler, 2013). This supports the idea that we expect more from technology
and less from each other. Since we expect something from the person that we talked to online, we are
eager to meet them as to whether how they look or act, but when we meet them personally we get
disappointed because they are not the kind of person we have created in our minds.

Regardless, technology causes social isolation. Technology has caused society as a whole to become
unsocial. All too often, we plug into our phones or bury our faces into it and forget about the outside world.
This even leaks into the business world, where co-workers communicate via email even though they are
just two offices away. Technology also makes the work or even social network "always available." You can't
ever get away from it, which can cause burnout and even more isolation as you withdraw from your "real
life relationships” (Kim, 2019). People found companionship on machines and whim that no one is listening.
People feel the sense of belongingnes, the empathy that they usually craved for. People deemed that they
are lonely, that being alone feels like a burden in the back and technology is obliged to carry the burden for
people. What these people failed to understand is that online connections gives them more boundaries
because they get to edit, delete and retouch everything which makes them walk on eggshells. They are not
being who they really are but they are being what they learn in visual world.

Everyone’s goal is to promote common good – the good of all – not the good of some, and most especially
not manufacturers good. One must not forget that the basic responsibility for action starts from within. Just
as people are acting hungry in ordering change, technology is maturing creating more and more for people
to have the advantages in life. The current situation threatens to end the relationships of humanity. Since
common good is built upon the principle of human dignity and the equality of all people, one must build
connections not just online and through their screens but rather face-to-face seeing the beauty of one’s
soul.

What is there to benefit from, when in the first place, you are not living life aesthetically. Hence, people
must transcend, people must communicate, people must become critical thinkers to weigh the advantages
and disadvantages of technology.

The most important question that remains however is whether technology stays as a probable cause on
destructing humanity or whether it is the solution for people to achieve the ideal way of living as we struggle
to yank out from the cesspit of hopelessness in this world.

Bibliography
Adler, I. (2013, january 23). How our digital devices are affecting our personal reationships. Retrieved from
WBUR: http://www.wbur.org/2013/01/17

Al-Zoubi, S., & Younes M. (2015). The impact of technologies on society. Journal of Humanities and Social
Science, 82-86. Retrieved from http://www.iosjournals.org/iosr-jhss/papers/vol20-
issue2/version-5/N020258286.pdf

Drago, E. (2015). the effect of technology on face-to-face communication. the elon journal of
undergraduate research in communication. Retrieved from https://www.elon.edu.docs/e-web-
academics/communications/research/vol6no1/02DragoEJSpring15.pdf

Kim, P. (2019, march 4). Negative effects of technology. Retrieved from Credit Donkey:
https://www.creditdonkey.com/negative-effects-technology.html

Przyblyski, A.K., & Weinstein, N. (2012). Can you connect with me now? How the presence of mobile
communication technology influences face-to-face conversation quality. Journal of Personal and
social relationships, 1-10.