Class Discussion 1

Technology has had a significant impact on my life. In fact right now, while I type this on my computer and listen to my iPod with my trusty cell phone beside me and the television on in the background, it seems impossible to ignore just how much we rely on technology. Technology has made its mark in almost every area of life. From entertainment to the medical field the development of technology has seemingly made life easier.

One of the most significant impacts that technology has made on my life is that it has allowed me to stay in touch with my family and friends. For example, one of my best friends has spent the last six months in Spain. Without technology, I doubt I would have ever had the chance to talk to her, however, we have been able to communicate everyday through instant messenger, cell phone calls, emails and even through Skype, a program that allows people to call each other and have conversations over the internet. Even though we have been thousands of miles and a whole ocean apart, using all of this technology has given us the ability to stay in close touch with each other and to inform each other about everything going on in our lives that we might have missed otherwise.

Unfortunately, this technology was not always reliable or easy to use. My friend and I wasted many minutes, sometimes even hours trying to make an unreliable internet connection work. More often than not I couldn’t hear her when we talked using Skype and there were many times when she would just randomly lose connection and not be able to reconnect for hours. Cell phone calls were easier and more reliable, but much more expensive. Being a poor college student, making international phone calls was not something I could do often. The most reliable and cost effective way for us to communicate was through emails. The only problem with this is that it was not as instant as we were used to. We had been spoiled by technology that has made everything instant; instant communication, instant entertainment, instant food. The slightest hiccups in technology made us extremely frustrated and wasted so much of our time. And time in this technologically advanced world has become precious.