In academics, increased technology indicates decreased productivity. Every day, more and more young children are obtaining access to newer technological advances. Five and six year olds are walking around with iPhones and MacBooks; adolescent boys will rarely leave their room for fresh air because they are too drawn by their video games. While the increase of technology has helped to make remarkable advances in medicine and communication worldwide, precautions must be taken in order to minimize the superfluous use of it in classroom settings. There needs to be a reduction in the amount of technology used in education before students begin to lose their attentiveness, sense of social skills and desire for physical activity.

Over the years, seeing how students are constantly inattentive and unsocial because they are on technological devices rather than engaging in their surroundings has brought me to a breaking point, especially because I am also at fault. I regularly turn my phone off while studying or in class because I know the temptation will be too enticing. Even while writing this paper, I've checked my phone over 5 times. This is a serious issue and the public needs to be aware of the negative effects on their biological and social functions from using technology too much or in the wrong way. I live an affluent lifestyle and have seen first hand with my friends and family the pernicious consequences that come from excessive use of technology. I attended a school where every student was given a laptop to use during all classes and at home. I constantly saw students abuse this and use them for games and imessage. After doing research, it is clear that technology is not essential in education and precautions need to be taken to decline and redirect the use of it in classroom settings. 

In the article, "Google Makes Us All Dumber: The Neuroscience of Search Engines" published in Salon Magazine in October 2014, Ian Leslie argues that the increased reliance on technology for information has caused the gap between question and answer to nearly cease to exist. He believes that gap is what generates creativity and exploration of the mind so without it; the human mind begins to lack key qualities of development.  Leslie's worried that search engines are becoming a shortcut for learning; that they are essentially ridding curiously from people and causing them to skim information without actually processing it. He asserts that people's desire to obtain knowledge is gradually diminishing due to their effortless attempts of research on search engines. In short, people are becoming lazy. Ian Leslie is a rather renowned writer and he uses reliable sources to back up his claim in his article. He mentions the benefits of technology to communicate that he is not being biased but rather stating the facts and his interpretations of them. The point Leslie is trying to get across in this article is that the Internet contains endless possibilities for increased intelligence if used correctly but too many people use it as an alternative route of learning requiring the least amount of exertion. 

In the July/August 2008 issue of Atlantic Monthly, Nicholas Carr publishes his article, "Is Google Making Us Stupid?" to express his opinion on why increased technology is causing people to lack focus. He states that people are no longer reading in the traditional sense, rather skimming through texts to try and get the gist of information using the least amount of energy possible. He feels that people are becoming absentminded and ignorant. Carr states that people are starting to function like machines rather than real, interactive beings. He tells his readers to be skeptical of what he is saying and to be knowledgeable of the fact that technology is a great thing if used correctly. Carr tends to use quotes from the same people throughout his article with the hopes of making his readers form a connection to them and find these sources more reliable. He uses a large amount of quotes from people that believe Google and this expansion of technology are excellent contributions to the world. He executes this in a biased form to make them sound ignorant, which is not particularly how that should have been addressed. Overall, Carr shows how this inundating burst of information now accessible to humans is causing them to diffuse their attention and lose concentration on text in front of them. 

In the article, "Hooked On Technology and Paying a Price" published on June 6, 2010 in The New York Times, Matt Richtel argues that while people believe they can multitask more efficiently with the advancement of technology, in reality, it is the opposite. He uses the life of a family named the Campbell's to give a real life example, that people can relate to, of how technology is negatively affecting people's work and social lives. He uses studies and quotes from reliable sources to show how most people struggle with focusing on single tasks these days because they constantly want to find new information rather than processing what is right in front of them. Richtel states that most people can no longer differentiate between relevant and irrelevant information. He approaches the opposing view with reliable sources and conveys the positives that can come from this increase in technology, presenting an unbiased viewpoint. Richtel is a dependable source of information because of his credibility with the New York Times and his writing accomplishments, such as winning a Pulitzer Prize. His main point in this article is that while people might think they are able to handle all the information accessible to them, multitasking is actually causing negative effects on the neurological and behavioral functions of humans. 

Humans have perceived this falsified idea that the more we increase technology, the better society will become. Important figures as high as the president are promoting the use of technology in educational settings while many scientists are actually discouraging it. The controversy as to whether technology is beneficial or detrimental to education is what makes this argument feasible. As all of the authors above agree, technology has the potential to increase learning capacity exponentially. However, the redundant advances that come with it are too tempting to avoid and cause technology to become more harmful than helpful to the educational system. This is a challenging question because there are also many positives that derive from technology but do the positives outweigh the negatives?

Due to all of the benefits that technology has to offer, most people are unaware or ignorant of the negative effects it has on education. All of these sources share a similar message that increased technology is detrimental to people's attention and ability to process information effectively. After reading these articles, it is clear that I must center my paper on informing the public of the complications deriving from technology. While all these authors have different perspectives on this topic, they all share a common mindset that technology hinders our attention spans and ability to explore our minds. Its clear that there is no way to go back and undo the damage that has arisen from increased technology. People are too reliant on it now that without it, no one would know how to function properly. However, the more reliant we become on technology, the more machine-like we become and the computers begin to replace our brains. 


