It is the year 1830 and the people of China Republic are addicted to the drug, opium. As the people began to consume the drug minute by minute and hour by hour, the empire began to fall. The people were waking up to smoking opium, they would go to work smoking opium, and eventually they would go to sleep using opium. However, it is now the year 2017 in the United States of America and the people are addicted to the drug, technology. As for many us, we wake up to it, we eat with it, we talk with it, learn with it and practically shit with it. Maybe it is an exaggeration to say we as a society are addicted to technology, but I do know I could not live without it. As a kid that grew up in the modern age, you become dependent on technology in unique and subtle ways. In a way my household acted as a place of rehab since my dad without hesitation would deny any use of cellphones at the dinner table. Sooner or later I nerdly or weirdly realized that every activity involved the use of it. And yeah, I knew it was helpful in a way necessary for survival purposes but it almost replaced my ability to learn in school or to simply care about things. On a larger scale it was almost determining the course and duration of millions of lives. It was impacting nations and even the world. Medicine almost intertwines with technology so much that it is almost not even necessary for a physician to be present. Technology is even effecting modern warfare to a time where we are almost comfortable with witnessing the deaths of thousands (Syria for instance) over the TV or YouTube. At this point, I asked the deep college student question, is technology just making people more stupid. Yes, it is a simple and forward question that kind of sounds pretty obvious at the surface. However, as I thought about how technology truly impacted people on a large scale it became more complex and intriguing. To really understand where this research paper is going you must understand two of the most addicting words, technology and intelligence. For this paper, technology is the usage of a device by person for his or her personal use, which in turn means the internet, computers, smartphones, x-rays, missiles and drones. And intelligence is the need for an individual’s unique skills in society, which in turn means common sense, your ability to sit down or stand up and come up with a solution to a complicated real-world problem and ultimately your ability to succeed. When I took into account these main topics it became obvious that we are dependent on technology to the point where people will become “throw aways” because of their inability to keep up. To the point where we no longer truly know information but instead know where to find it, or maybe even to the point where we no longer control our destiny. But how did we actually get here?

In the year 1993 the technological movement permanently shook and changed the world as it introduced features such as the Internet, mobile photography, digital surgery, email, and mobile entertainment. In 1996 Approximately 45 million people used the Internet, with roughly 30 million of those in North America (United States and Canada), 9 million in Europe, and 6 million in Asia/Pacific (Australia, Japan, etc.). Furthermore, about 43.3 million households owned a personal computer of some sort. This essentially was a significant moment in history because it effectively fueled the creation of Google in 1998, Myspace in 1999, Cyber and Drone warfare in 2000 and the remote surgery in 2001. From this point on technology was no longer created to predominantly attract cooperate users and their enterprises but rather it was created to appeal to the personal needs of consumers. For the first time in human history technology was enabling people to share personal information on large scale at the instant of click, or complete a life-determining task at the press of a button. However, this had a much larger domino effect. It was at this point in time when the idea of smartphones and computers begin to dominate the world. In 2007 apple introduced their first breakthrough smartphone, The iPhone. The iPhone altered human culture indefinitely with its connection to social media, audio/video, internet access, and chatting. Not far behind Google at the end of 2007 unveiled its Android Smartphone that also would saturate the smartphone market.  However, with all this internet access came the dopamine side effects. In 2010 A study conducted by UK telecommunications released several statistics on the general public of North America and the UK that aimed at Smartphone usage. It was reported that 37% of adults and 60% of teens admit they are highly addicted to their Smartphone. 51% of adults and 65% of teens say they have used their Smartphone while socializing with others. And 23% of adults and 34% of teens have used their Smartphone during mealtime. Furthermore, with the impact of technology came the impact of intelligence. In 2011 a case study was conducted by a U.S. Research committee to understand how human intelligence has changed with the integration of personal technology from the year 2000 and on. It was reported that nearly 22% of the U.S. population had gradual but significant decrease in the ability to recall information immediately and the ability to verbally fluent conversations . Moreover, it has been reported by several research institutions that the collective IQ score of the American people has dropped by an average of 1.3 points. On the contrary these deficits actually impacted the American lifestyle as well. In the year 2014, large cooperation disclosed that roughly 40% of their high positions jobs are occupied by overseas residents due to the inability of the American people to perform and understand the higher level skills. The Harvard Medical Research Center reported that 33% of doctors and physicians find themselves dependent on technology in one form or another. And documentary director Tyler Lewis reported that nearly 33% of the United States Drone attacks result in the loss of innocent life that is unjustified.

With all this said, we are at a point where the future is uncertain for many. We are at the point where we are consumed by the need to use to technology. We are at the point where the word privacy is no longer relevant or meaningful. But are we at atime where we are just Stupid? Can people truly no longer communicate because during our child development we only communicate through digital text. We must take a step back as I did and look at where this technology is taking ourselves. At first we must look at the common usage in a typical, well-enabled, child through his develop. It is important to see how such a high usage effects a child’s education, physical and physiological health, social life, and opportunity for success. From there we must look at if individuals are so dependent on technology that he or she almost becomes unable to perform task without. Then on are larger scale we will understand the impacts of technology in the field of medicine. This particular area became a focus largely because medicine has become a field that metaphorical a marriage between technology and the individual. On the other hand, we will look at the how technology has impacted modern warfare and the desensitization it causes from over exposure. 

Right off the bat it is obvious that being a kid and growing up in today’s modern age is far different than twenty-years ago. From the obvious stand point, the technology was either not invented, too expensive, and or unpopular. It is reported as of 2008 that at the age of 2 many children have already been introduced to almost every type of personal technological device. 

However, at the cost of this technology use came the cost of education. In the past, the basic education was one of both physical and mental labor. To understand certain material a book was almost always needed. To gather certain information back then would have taken 10 times the amount of time it takes today. Having a high school degree used to be just enough to enter the middle class. In totality, education in the modern age is much more diverse, quick, distracting, intricate, and competitive. Because of this, education has shifted tremendously to favor the use of technology. In 2008 it was reported “that nearly 99% of teacher’s course work in the United States is tailored towards using technology”.  This was alarming to many developmental doctors that had similar beliefs to Dr. Muhammad Sarwar’s comment “that in a way our brains are simple, are malleable, and are substantially shaped by what we do to them and by the experience of daily life” . So essentially he was saying that if I use technology all the time then my brain will be shaped into a quick information finder. I for one know that I have used technology in some way or another in all me to at least do well. It is almost impossible to remove yourself from it.  There is sense of guilt when you actually think about it because without hesitation and difficulty I could find the information I needed through google. But no, I think Dr. Sarwar was saying that this dependence will cost individuals their full capacity to think of complex solutions on their own, to focus, to understand, to communicate, and to even succeeded. In 2011 a survey was conducted that polled 20,000 teachers and parents that are involved with kids between the ages 2 and 11. It was reported “that 91 per cent of teachers believe children’s attention spans are becoming shorter as they opt for screen-based activities over conventional reading.”  Honestly there is no way to argue this, it is obvious that the people of digital age generation can’t focus on given task longer than 7mins. But this is partially because there is often not a task given to a kid that takes that much time, or at least there shouldn’t be one with today’s technology. At a young age we are conditioned to find where to obtain the information rather understand the information itself. Ultimately this train of thought would give birth to something known as the “Google effect”. The effect that we essentially have removed our need for long term memory because everything is found on google And because of this millennials make up nearly 40% of the United States unemployment rate. Furthermore, according to the PEW Research Center 38% of company management report that they fail to hire a graduate student looking for employment due to their inability to communicate . So with all this said how is technology making us stupid. Well with regards to education it completely replaces the traditional way of learning. For many, there is no need to understand how something works because we are conditioned early on to know where to find that solution. It has completely replaced our need for long-term memory and in a way it has determined our future focus. Technology is the tomorrows economy. 

This transition even impacts society on an even larger scale than individual education. Technology and medicine has become one of the most progressive fields that keeps testing the threshold of capabilities. Most of these broken milestones are contributed to the technologic advancements. However, without a patient there is no medicine. Technology in today’s modern medicine is too often substituted for the hand on physical exams in medical practice. According doctor Johanna Ferman, There is as well a further distance imposed by technology, and this is the distance between two human hearts: the physician’s and the patient’s. Empathy and kindness take back seats to the printout. Yet rather than seeing this as an excess of technology, we might see it as a dearth of values. Essentially Dr. Ferman believes that technology is replacing the core principals and responsibilities that a doctor should uphold. She believes that it is watering the training, practice, time and attention needed to treat the patient in all of his or her humanity. That this progression and dependence will lead to far too many errors that “are both predictable and potentially catastrophic in overlooking critical clues to diagnosis  For me, I can easily remember that many of my doctor visits were brief and often ended with me making a comment to my parents along the lines of “well that was quick, he didn’t do much”. To be honest the only thing that seems difficult is getting passed the waiting line. But again you feel as if there was no effort put into assessment and that all attention to details was ignored. The easy accessibility of technology in the United States dumbs down the clinical methods doctors learned. Not only is this there distancing effect of scanners, but also there a reliance on technology that blinds the doctor from both the health and cost issues. Many patients who visit the doctors and are found with irregularity signs are recommended and convinced to take CT scans, PET scans, and several other technical procedures. This exact instance is displayed by cancer survivor Stanly Herz, “In my case, a recent colonoscopy led to a CT scan to explore an irregularity. It was negative, but found something suspicious” in my lung. The pulmonary specialist prescribed a PET scan. That, too, was negative, but I was then told to follow up with three more CT scans over the ensuing two years. This all adds up to an enormous radiation risk. Yes, it is obvious the doctors know the potential effects of radiation scans but the thing is that the doctors are so intrigued to gather more information in the blink of an eye that the overall pictures is often mistaken. So how is technology respectively dumbify our doctors of modern medicine? Well to simply put it, doctors are reliant/dependent on it. The easily reachable technology is too often ousting the hands-on exams. This leads to potentially disastrous mistakes that lead could lead to a wrong or missed diagnosis. It causes the doctors to almost desire for the work of the modern technology over their own knowledgeable medical practice. This in turn is a problem because doctors are becoming so reliant on the work of technology that when something wrong happens, he or she has no idea how to react, which eventually may lead a catastrophic consequence.

Its ok though, at this point I still didn’t understand how technology could be seen as a drug that was making the people of the world stupid. If anything it was the key to the success of man-kind, each new advancement in technology is a step forward to complete achievement, to solving our problems. But, there I was again thinking and I came to realization that almost 50% of the technology invented was applied to our advancement in warfare. From there drone warfare become a very relevant topic. After 2001, drone warfare became almost an obsession for the United States with funding reaching around $300 million. According to The Bureau of Investigative Journalism, approximately 300,000 drone missions are deployed to search, track, or kill human targets. However, with this obsession came consequences of stupidity. Came the consequence of dehumanization. Before drone warfare, a person had to be examined, investigated upon, followed, and ultimately confirmed as the right suspect far more than now. In today’s modern era once a person is classified as a target it is almost definitively the correct suspect. This reliance would eventually lead the U.S. into careless and unthoughtful mistakes. In fact, it was reported by the Investigative Bureau that on the 4th of February 2002. The CIA’s Predator Drone unleashed a hellfire missile at a “tall man” and his lieutenants, believing the man to none other than bin Laden. But the analysts had acquired the wrong target. The target was innocent civilians gathering up scrap metal. This instance entirely echoes this “dumb effect” that comes with people reliant on technology. Drone warfare has desensitized and shortened the decision making made by our people to a point where it is almost unthoughtful. The decision of life or death has been simplified to a push of a button. There are no consequences to be felt because there is no real interaction. Instead it is just another pixel. One graph by the bureau perfectly displays the direct relationship between drone usage and the loss of innocent lives. 

Ultimately this graph echoes the notion that our reliance on technological drone warfare is simplifying our critical decision far too much. The United States is making far too many mistakes due to our inability to truly understand the technology itself and its total impact. One well-known journalist for CNN and NYT remarks in an interview about several war crimes committed by the US in the modern era. He makes the claim that the US essential believed the ends justified the means and that many of these war crimes were instances of misused technology. An example of this is a scenario would be the tactic of hellfire. IT is seen as a precise type of tactic however this “precision” is taken for granted and used in civilian areas that leads to tragic consequences. Not only is our reliance on militaristic technology desensitizing our decision making in warfare, but also it is desensitizing our outlook on war itself. This exact notion is portrayed through the events taking place in Syria today. With the arrival of the Internet and social media, we have become accustomed to the components of war, death and murder. Our feeds are constantly flooded with videos of radical terrorist groups carrying out devastating acts, filled with pictures and videos of the dead bodies of innocent civilians stuck in violence. But all of this is also mixed in with funny videos, memes, and gifs that makes us laugh and eventually numb us from the strong emotion that such violence once evoked. Journalist, Tyler Lewis shares this same thought about Syria with his comment that, “We have become so exposed to death and murder virtually, that it has desensitized a portion of our population. We can only be exposed to so much darkness, before we start to acclimate to it as part of our everyday lives. For Lewis, he sees technology as the medium that has mummified and dumbified the people of society. And yes we have all seen the videos of refugees packed into inflatable boast that is on course heading towards death. We have all seen the relentless killings by governments meant “for the people”. I for one know that much of this seems as chatter since in reality my efforts cannot drastically change what is occurring. But this desensitization occurs at a much higher power. Essentially our government, the police of the world and the power nation, does not intervene to solve these disturbing and gruesome acts. So how is technology make us stupid? Well journalist Tyler Lewis puts it in a nutshell with his remark, This is not a ploy to say we should or should not allow Syrian refugees into the country. However, I believe that if the circumstances of Syria today, were occurring at the point in history where Internet and social media usage had begun to gain traction, our collective reaction and level of empathy towards the events in Syria, and those affected, would be drastically different than what we observe today. Extensive exposure has dulled the emotion of empathy, and all the positive change collective empathy can create. Ultimately technology has made it easier for us to turn the blind eye, in a way we no longer feel the emotion of brutality because we distort reality. And because of that we no longer feel the need to carry out extreme actions to solve such violent events.  

It is easy to paint this image of stupidity by simplifying the world with this black and white outlook but to truly understand the whole picture one must look at both the positive and negative side effects. With regards to education, it is true that technology is this catalyst for creativity. Technology has enabled people to learn faster than ever, it has enabled people to have access to an abundance amount of information at the instant of a click. Opportunities for communication and collaboration are greater than ever. However, technology can and will influence a divide in the education. There will be those who will benefit from the technology, they will uphold the responsibility for their own learning, they will progress their understanding of the world as technology changes it. But there will also be those who will get overlooked because of technology. There will be those that don’t find interest in the things it offers. With regards to medicine, it is obvious that technology has broken the threshold for medical capabilities. People are living longer and the options for treatment are immense. With the help of technology, we are able to understand how human body works. But the key part to that sentence is “with the help of technology”. In today’s medical world, it is because of technology that we are able to accurately diagnose patients, that we are able to perform surgery on a microscopic level. But what if this technology fails. What if this technology at one-point no longer accomplish the task it is intended for? Will doctors be able to take over after they have depended on its capabilities for years. Well I know I can say with confidence that we should be concerned about this Dr. Machine movement. We should be concerned about how depended medicine will be for the capabilities technology offers. And lastly in regards to modern warfare it is clear that technology has enabled us to save lives on a mass scale. Technology has allowed us to track and and contain radical efforts across the world. But technology has also put the “power of death and destruction” in our hands and truly we do not know its potential. 

So here we are in the year of 2017, clearly living in the time of culture transition. Our lives revolve around technology and rightly so. It makes our lives easier, understandable and simple. But the simplicity it offers us is addicting. Educational it separates those who have used it for years and those who have not. I mean how can someone who has used a computer for 7 years possible be as understanding of such “tools” as someone who has used a computer for 19 years. And because of this millions of jobs will be lost in the future. Perhaps people are not more stupid due to technology but rather the traditional idea has changed and is changing. Tomorrow economy is technology and from there we are truly going have to change with it. Maybe provide a universal basic income or maybe we will have to change our definition of success so different skills and expertise are reward. But all I do know is change is going to happen and we must be wary of where this technology dependence will take us. In the the words of Alex Snowden, “We are becoming too dependent on things like Facebook for news, to have one company that has enough power to reshape the way we think, I don’t think I need to describe how dangerous that is”.
