Five Tragedies of Our Tech-Filled Future
By Natasha Gupta
Today, you can deposit checks with a click of a photo or meet your soulmate through a website. Soon, you'll be able to travel using a car that drives itself. The world we live in is extraordinary; it transcends technological boundaries anyone might have imagined 200 years ago. Not surprisingly, however, much of our technological progress comes with a few concerns.
1. Kids consumed by electronics
If you've ever seen a baby play with an iPhone, you know our society is done for. Fixated on the bright colors and entranced by the screen's glow, the baby is consumed, and no Fisher Price tool set can compare. I'm also referring to 10-year-old boys with Nintendo DS's strapped to their palms and 15-year-old girls who haven't stopped texting since they turned 11.
Parents, please stop handing your infant a cell phone when they won't stop crying. We are already forced to be slaves to our devices. Why start dependence earlier than necessary?
2. Bookstores
I have recently given up any hope of taking my future children to a bookstore.
Don't get me wrong, I am just as mesmerized by Amazon's remarkable supply chain innovation as you are, but the old Borders bookstore in my hometown is a depressing sight.
Boarded up, entirely abandoned, letters falling and paint fading, this crushed establishment used to be a fundamental cornerstone of any respectable urban shopping center or downtown strip.
Now it's concrete proof that our world is truly becoming what George Orwell feared in "1984" or Ray Bradbury warned us about in "Fahrenheit 451."
It bothers me that my friends can name the three closest bars before they can tell you where to buy a brand-new book.
3. Texting at dinner
When I accepted your invitation to grab food. I didn't realize I would be competing with your Android for your attention. Don't be rude. Don't text during meals - learn to put your phone away. If it's an emergency call, you can take it outside like we did in the good old days.
4. "16 and pregnant"
Where is the show about the 16-year-olds who work two jobs and help watch their younger siblings after school? The 16-year-olds who attend class, don't cut physics and don't get impregnated by the first guy they see? I guess no one would watch that show, and that's a scary thought.
5. Exergaming
The Nintendo Wii revolutionized exercise. For the first time, senior citizens trapped by their bodily limitations could once again enjoy golfing through virtual wonders and a magic white wand. Friends, if you are not over the age of 65, constrained by physical limitations or trapped in house arrest, please get outside, inhale some fresh air and play your sports outdoors.
You're living in sunny California, and San Jose was just voted the third healthiest city for women in America by Women's Health magazine. So please, get up, get running and try to embrace cardiac health somewhere besides in front of a television. Trade your white wand for an actual tennis racket and feel blessed to do so.
George Orwell wrote, "If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face - forever." While I think George is being a little extreme, there's truth in what he implies. We should embrace shifts in technology, but we must commit to being aware of the positive and negative ways they shape our existence.
Natasha Gupta is a senior finance major.