Jim Roth’s Website

Student Example—End of the Quarter English 101 Minimum Competency

It’s Time to Get Connected

I don’t know a single person that doesn’t have a cell phone these days. Heck, even my mom, the least technologically savvy person ever, text messages me. In the essay Society Is Dead: We Have Retreated into the iWorld, the author Andrew Sullivan claims that technologies, such as the iPod, have alienated people from one another. Sullivan states that technology has caused us to “walk around the world like hermit crabs with our isolation surgically attached” (378). I disagree with Sullivan; if anything I think the advancements in technology have had the opposite effect on society. Through cell phones we have become more connected to our family and friends, the Internet has allowed us to experience things like never before, and iPods have brought all of this to our fingertips.

Cell phones and text messaging have allowed us to stay more connected. I personally have a very hectic schedule and without a cell phone I would not be able to keep in touch with my family. With it I can make phone calls on breaks at work or between classes at school. This enables me to take advantage of time that would otherwise be wasted. A cell phone also allows those people who dislike talking on the phone to stay connected as well. They can send text messages and never have to hear another voice. While I agree it’s sad that people have fewer face-to-face interactions now, the alternative for a lot of people would be no communication at all. At least this way they are not closing themselves off to the rest of the world. Not only do cell phones allow us to make calls and send text messages, but a lot of them now even let you to get on the Internet.

Technology like the Internet has opened up new possibilities that were never thought feasible before. Sullivan claims that ome people say that “Americans are beginning to narrow their lives” (378). This is simply not true. People that can’t afford to travel can still see far off places that they could never otherwise experience. You can read newspapers from all over the country, or world, with just the click of a button. Sites such as Facebook help us stay connected to our friends or family members from all different places. I know that I talk with my family on the East Coast a lot more now because it has been made so easy. When talking about the Internet you cannot leave out Skype. The video Internet calling service allows soldiers based all over the world to have face-to-face conversations with loved ones back home. This is something never thought possible before. If anything these technologies have broadened our horizons.

Sullivan says that iPods have made people “almost oblivious to the world around them” (377). I will be the first to admit that I pop in the ipod when I want to be left alone and slip away into my own little world. While this is true, an iPod does so much more. You can put pictures and videos from last summer’s vacation to show all of your coworkers. There are apps that allow you to track bills, check the weather, get updates from your friends, and just about anything else you could dream up. Now you can even see what music your friends are listening to on their iTunes. Apple has found a way to connect people through the music they listen to. How can anyone say that this is alienating you? You can find people that have things in common with you, people from all over the world.

Technology has had a lasting effect on the way people communicate with one another. It has made communication more versatile and available from anywhere at any time. Having ear buds in may not allow you to hear the “noise of human and mechanical life” (Sullivan 379), but maybe it is allowing you to listen to a pod cast about the upcoming election, teaching you about things you never knew before, and could never have learned in your small conservative town. You could argue that hearing only the noises that are around you alienates you even more than the noises you choose to hear through those little white wires coming from your ears.

Works cited

Sullivan, Andrew. “Society Is Dead: We Have Retreated into the iWorld.” Viewpoints. Ed. W. Royce Adams, 7^th ed. Boston, Wadsworth, 2010. (377-379).