1st draft 400 words!

Writers used: Me, Myself and Turkle and Haidt.

First sketch of thesis! Through the lens of these writers, it’s clear that digital technologies effects are most detrimental to humans, as in certain situations we are incapable of separating ourselves from our devices, where it is of critical importance that we do so.

Rough first paragraph! Digital Technology often creates a very manipulative environment, which under the right circumstances, can lead to addiction, specifically between the person and their device. Both Turkle and Haidt explore this in each of their respected essays. In the third paragraph on page 346, Turkle explores the connection between digital technology and friendship: “From the early days, I saw that computers offer the illusion of companionship with-out the demands of friendship and then, as the programs got really good, the illusion of friendship without the demands of intimacy”(Turkle). This quote identifies how computers create this false gratification of friendship, in which the computer tries to create and corroborate a relationship with the human, similar to a real-life friend. But they do it in a very manipulative way, a way that in a healthy relationship with a friend would be inconceivable. This false friendship with the computer creates a very manipulative environment in which the human becomes addicted so much to the point that it often puts the well-being of that person into question. Haidt, explores the consequence of this addiction, through a lens that discusses a specific part of digital technology’s impact on young adolescents: “I heard that the high school, like most high schools in America, was struggling with a large and recent increase in mental issues among students. The primary diagnoses were depression and anxiety disorders, with increasing rates of self-harm; girls were particularly vulnerable… Many were also addicted to their phones” (Haidt). This quote explores the possible and most ever likely cynical, evil and immoral effects digital technology has on humans. Specifically, Haidt brings up the connection between phone addiction and rising mental health issues, in high school. These quotes are twins, in the sense they were born out of the same ideology, that digital technology’s immediate and long-term effects on humans are most detrimental. I think both these quotes raise an essential question that we have to ask ourselves: If digital technology is so addictive and successful in hurting ourselves and the people around us, why do we still use it? I believe this is the case for two reasons. One being that people don’t have the intellectual capacity to see the negative effects, and two being that they have such an addiction to their devices that they choose not to believe it, not for the benefit of their health or the people around them but to benefit their addictive relationship with their device.

Rough topic sentence 2! Digital technology takes critical time away from things that matter the most, and often creates an environment where we put it over things that are of utmost importance like friends, family and our health.

Rough Third topic sentence 3!Digital technology promotes distraction, which leads to negative consequences in all facets of life.

Other thoughts/ideas of mine I potentially want to incorporate: “As a writer, I feel fortunate to live in a time where these intricate devices are advancing continuously at a very fast rate so much so to the point, they make very interesting conversation. However, as a person, I feel very unfortunate to grow up in a time where the negative impacts of digital technology hurt so many.”

“There are multiple moving parts to this entity of technology, but it’s clear it has a different effect on people based on their experiences, ideologies, opinions, and personal behavior”

“Power brings with it, the right and wrong, the good and evil, which brings up a question: is digital technology, Right or Wrong? Helpful or Hurtful? Good or Bad? I find it to be an essential, fascinating question, but I’m not sure if there is a written answer.”

“It’s a really interesting thought, the aspect of how digital technology almost demands attention every second. Even now while I’m writing this my eyes keep flickering over to the digital time on the right of my screen. It’s scary, strange and excuse my frank language, weird” Journal 9

As I get to my third passage, I have a confession to make. My eyes hurt, my brain is fuzzy and I want to throw my laptop into a trash can. (While slightly sarcastic, I feel this could tie in well into second body). Journal 9

2nd draft 800 words

We live in an era, where we have so much power through digital technology. Power brings with it, the right and wrong, the good and evil, which brings up a question: is digital technology, Right or Wrong? Helpful or Hurtful? Good or Bad? I find it to be an essential, fascinating question, but  I’m not sure if there is a written answer. There are multiple moving parts to this entity of technology, but it’s clear it has a different effect on people based on their experiences, ideologies, opinions, and personal behavior. For this essay I’m working with two writers, who each have a strong, poitnet opinion on the matter. With both of them growing up in a age where technology is prevalent, their word on the topic should be taken with credibility and importance. Through the lens of these writers and their essay’s, It’s abundantly clear that digital technologies’ effects are of most detriment to humans, as in certain situations we are incapable of separating ourselves from our devices, where it is of critical importance that we do so.

Digital Technology often creates a very manipulative environment, which under the right circumstances, can lead to addiction, specifically between the person and their device. Both Turkle and Haidt explore this in each of their respected essays. In the third paragraph on page 346, Turkle explores the connection between digital technology and friendship: “From the early days, I saw that computers offer the illusion of companionship with-out the demands of friendship and then, as the programs got really good, the illusion of friendship without the demands of intimacy”(Turkle). This quote identifies how computers create this false gratification of friendship, in which the computer tries to create and corroborate a relationship with the human, similar to a real-life friend.  But they do it in a very manipulative way, a way that in a healthy relationship with a friend would be inconceivable. This false friendship with the computer creates a very manipulative environment in which the human becomes addicted so much to the point that it often puts the well-being of that person into question. Haidt, explores the consequence of this addiction, through  a lens that discusses a specific part of digital technology’s impact on young adolescents: “I heard that the high school, like most high schools in America, was struggling with a large and recent increase in mental issues among students. The primary diagnoses were depression and anxiety disorders, with increasing rates of self-harm; girls were particularly vulnerable… Many were also addicted to their phones” (Haidt). This quote explores the possible and most ever likely cynical, evil and immoral effects digital technology has on humans. Specifically, Haidt brings up the connection between phone addiction and rising mental health issues, in high school. These quotes are twins, in the sense they were born out of the same ideology, that digital technology’s immediate and long-term effects on humans are most detrimental, as they are very manipulative and addicting.. I think both these quotes raise an essential question that we have to ask ourselves: If digital technology is so addictive and successful in hurting ourselves and the people around us, why do we still use it? I believe this is the case for two reasons. One being that people don’t have the intellectual capacity to see the negative effects, and two being that they have such an addiction to their devices that they choose not to believe it, not for the benefit of their health or the people around them but to benefit their addictive relationship with their device.

Rough topic sentence!

Digital technology takes critical time away from things that matter the most, and often creates an environment where we put it over things that truly matter like friends, family and our health. I want to draw from my own personal experience here. It was a Monday night, like most college students I found myself in a common predicament. From journal 9 I wrote the following: “As I get to my third passage, I have a confession to make. My eyes hurt, my brain is fuzzy and I want to throw my laptop into a trash can” Instead of being able to spend time with family and friends, I sat staring at my laptop for four hours which deteriorated all facets of my health, intellculty, physically and mentally. Similar to the quotes, my personal experience here emphasizes and helped shape the thought of how digital technology takes time away from family and friends, all while hurting our health in the process.

As a writer, I feel fortunate to live in a time where these intricate devices are advancing continuously at a very fast rate so much so to the point they make very interesting conversation. However I feel very unfortunate to grow up in a time where the negative impacts of digital technology hurt so many.

3 draft 1000 words

Power. We live in a society with a ubiquitous amount of power through digital technology. But, it’s not a one-way street, digital technology also holds a large amount of power over us. It’s in our pockets, it’s in our ears, you can see it in the reflection in our eyes, and for many, it even controls the thoughts in our minds. It may seem like I’m talking about a religion, or even a god, an entity that has complete power and control. But the power digital technology holds over us is on par with such a being. For the average teenager today, digital technology is their god, it’s their religion, their primary ideology. Their phone is like a Bible, what they worship, it’s what they spend most of their time doing. It’s a daily ritual: they sit and stare, continuously for hours, as their computer-derived entity delivers an endless array of images that light up the feel good neurotransmitters within their brain. While this comparison may seem dramatic, it’s not outlandish – many lives are dictated primarily through digital devices. Jonathan Haidt and Sherry Turkle explore this topic through their own unique scope. Turkle, a sociologist from Harvard University, explores in her book “The empathy diaries” how with the increased use of digital devices, we lack the ability to converse with others, and lose empathy because of it. Haidt, a social psychologist from Yale, explores in his essay “Get phones out of schools now” how removing phones from schools will improve both teaching and learning as both educators and students will benefit. Through the lens of these writers and their essays, it’s clear that digital technology is detrimental to humans, as in certain situations we are incapable of separating ourselves from our devices, where it is of critical importance that we do so.

Digital Technology often creates a very manipulative environment, which under the right circumstances, can lead to addiction, and with it a host of negative consequences. Turkle explores an aspect of this through the connection between digital technology and friendship: “From the early days, I saw that computers offer the illusion of companionship with-out the demands of friendship and then, as the programs got really good, the illusion of friendship without the demands of intimacy”(Turkle). This identifies how computers have evolved to create this false gratification of friendship, in which the computer tries to create and corroborate a relationship with the human, similar to a real-life friend.  But they do it in a very manipulative way, a way that in a healthy relationship with a friend would be inconceivable. This false friendship with the computer creates a very manipulative environment in which the human becomes addicted so much to the point that it often puts the well-being of that person into question. Haidt, explores the consequence of this addiction, through a lens that discusses a specific part of digital technology’s impact on young adolescents: “I heard that the high school, like most high schools in America, was struggling with a large and recent increase in mental issues among students. The primary diagnoses were depression and anxiety disorders, with increasing rates of self-harm; girls were particularly vulnerable… Many were also addicted to their phones” (Haidt). This identifies that with phone addiction comes rising mental health issues, like depression anxiety and self harm. This is sickening. It’s cynical, evil and immoral. No child should ever  have to deal with this.Yet we do nothing. We continue to forge over large amounts of money to buy the latest model iPhone’s for our children. But we don’t think of the potential “depression, anxiety disorders, and self harm”” that may come with them. This isn’t fair to ourselves, and isn’t fair to our children. If we truly love our children it’s time we start acting like it. Before handing them iphones, before they can tie their shoes and count to 3, we need to make sure they understand the potential awful effects of this stuff. If we don’t we leave them blind, with their well-being to chance, in the hands of a computer that has never felt emotion or happiness or love. We leave them with a computer that causes addiction. With a computer that offers the “ illusion of companionship with-out the demands of friendship”. With a computer that causes anxiety and depression. With a computer that causes self harm. This is a proven ill advised decision. Anyone with a lick of intuition should see this. We need to change the way we think about our devices. It’s essential. 

Digital technology replaces critical time with meaningless screen time. and creates a precedent where we put it over things that truly matter like friends, family and our health. Turkle explores this topic through conversation :  “Why a book on conversation? Were Talking all the time. We text and post and chat. We may even begin to feel more at home in the world of our screens. Among family and friends, among colleagues and lovers, we turn to our phones instead of each other. (Turkle)” Turkle identifies how, we love our little machines so much, we use them almost as a buffer to talk to the people we love. This exemplifies how we would rather spend our time with our devices than our most beloved people. Haidt explores the consequence of this conformity to our devices, by explaining how it affects our brain structure:“Heavy phone or social media use may also have a cumulative, enduring and deleterious effect on adolescents’ abilities to focus and apply themselves. Nearly half of American teens say that they are online “almost constantly”, and such continue, administration of small pleasures can prudence sustained changes in the brain’s reward system”(Haidt). This is the crux of the problem, with many teens being online “almost constantly”, they don’t have time to be offline. With it they don’t only lose the ability to live a normal life, they lose the structure within their brain.: For a brief moment I experienced this myself: “As I get to my third passage, I have a confession to make. My eyes hurt, my brain is fuzzy and I want to throw my laptop into a trash can”  Instead of being able to spend time eating dinner with my family,  I sat staring at my laptop for four hours which deteriorated every facet of my health imaginable. Similar to the quotes, my personal experience emphasizes how digital technology takes critical time away from family and friends, all while hurting our health in the process. Luckily for me this isn’t a common occurrence, I’m rarely on my phone, and don’t have social media. I couldn’t imagine what it would be like for the many people who deal with this constantly on a daily basis. I feel sad and, similar to Turkle, I have empathy for them. If you’re reading this and fall under the category of “almost constantly” online, I feel the following perspective could help.  Many spend more time looking at their device than they do looking at people. That alone should be cause for concern. But it’s not. As we conform more and more to our devices wishes, which is to spend as much time as possible looking at our screen, we lose the ability for the human body to function properly, as it depletes our memory, diminishes our health and eradicates any self-confidence to converse with others. But we also lose the little, intricate things like laughter, love, and the small moments that sometimes have the biggest impact, like playing fetch with your dog, or having dinner with your family. These are essential to life itself, and it’s truly criminal that our devices take these moments away from so many. Not only do we lose our health and well being through digital technology, we are also devoid of some of our best memories, moments and time with the people we love.

For many, technology should bring power, control and a sense of security but often it leads to a reality, where they have little control, and instead face a large amount of pain, addiction and an insufferable amount of time management issues. I feel with the right mindset, as a collective group we can overcome the addictive nature of these manufactured programs that know our ins and outs, our names, our family members, our favorite tv show, our birthday, our friends cousin’s birthday, our every food order, our movements, our location, our finances, our favorite things to do, our memories, where we were on july 12th of last year, our struggles, our personality, our aspirations, our fears, our 694 unique followers on instaface, our 7632 photos in our camera roll, and the infinite endless array of knowledge that they have collected captured about us. All this knowledge gives them  our computers the uncanny ability to give us exactly what we want. They know what makes us tick. They know what images to post on our internet feed to get an insubordinate immediate reaction. They know how to light up the feel good neurotransmitters within our brain.. It’s why they’re so entertaining. It’s why they’re so addicting. It’s why they’re so hurtful. They know more about us than we do.

Final Draft

Ian Grimm

Professor Miller

English 110

14 November 2023

                                                     How Technology Hurts Us

Power. We live in a society with a ubiquitous amount of power through digital technology. It’s in our pockets, it’s in our ears, you can see it in the reflection in our eyes, for many, it even contr­ols the thoughts in our minds. It may seem like I’m talking about a religion, or even a god, an entity that has complete power and control. But the power digital technology holds over us is on par with such a being. For the average teenager today, digital technology is their primary ideology. Their phone is like a Bible, it’s what they worship. It’s a daily ritual: they sit and stare, continuously for hours, as their computer-derived entity delivers an endless array of images that light up the feel-good neurotransmitters within their brain. While this comparison may seem dramatic, it’s not outlandish – many lives are dictated primarily through digital devices. Jonathan Haidt and Sherry Turkle explore this topic through their own unique scope. Turkle, a sociologist explores in her book “The Empathy Diaries” how with the increased use of digital devices, we lack the ability to converse with others, and lose empathy because of it. Haidt, a social psychologist explores in his essay “Get Phones Out of Schools Now” how removing phones from schools will improve both teaching and learning as both educators and students will benefit. Through the lens of these writers and their works, it’s clear that digital technology is detrimental to humans, as we are incapable of separating ourselves from our devices, where it is of critical importance that we do so.

The computers in our digital devices create very individualized and manipulative environments, which often lead to addiction, and with it a host of negative consequences. Turkle explores this through the connection between digital technology and friendship: “From the early days, I saw that computers offer the illusion of companionship with-out the demands of friendship and then, as the programs got really good, the illusion of friendship without the demands of intimacy. Because face to face people, ask things that computers never do.” (Turkle). This identifies how computers have evolved to create this false gratification of friendship, similar to a real-life friend.  But they do it in a very manipulative way, a way that in a healthy relationship with a friend would be inconceivable. This false friendship with the computer creates a very manipulative environment in which the human becomes addicted so much to the point that it often puts the well-being of that person into question. Haidt, explores the consequence of this addiction, through a lens that discusses a specific part of digital technology’s impact on young adolescents: “I heard that the high school, like most high schools in America, was struggling with a large and recent increase in mental issues among students. The primary diagnoses were depression and anxiety disorders, with increasing rates of self-harm; girls were particularly vulnerable… Many were also addicted to their phones” (Haidt). This identifies that with phone addiction comes rising mental health issues, like depression anxiety and self-harm. This is sickening. It’s cynical, evil and immoral. No child should ever have to deal with this. Yet we do nothing. We continue to forge over large amounts of money to buy the latest model iPhones for our children. But we don’t think of the potential “depression, anxiety disorders, and self-harm” that may come with them. This isn’t fair to ourselves, and isn’t fair to our children. If we truly love our children, it’s time we start acting like it. Before handing them iPhones, before they can tie their shoes and count to 3, we need to make sure they understand the potential awful effects of this stuff. If we don’t, we leave them blind, with their well-being to chance, in the hands of a computer that has never felt emotion or happiness or love. We leave them with a computer that causes addiction. With a computer that offers the “illusion of companionship with-out the demands of friendship”. With a computer that causes anxiety and depression. With a computer that causes self-harm. This is a proven ill-advised decision. Anyone with a lick of intuition should see this. We need to change the way we think about our devices. It’s essential. 

The addictive nature of our digital devices strip us of our most valuable gift, time. Through this we lose the moments that truly matter. These moments are with family, friends and people, not computers. They’re what makes the human experience, meaningful. Turkle explores this topic through conversation: “Why a book on conversation? Were Talking all the time. We text and post and chat. We may even begin to feel more at home in the world of our screens. Among family and friends, among colleagues and lovers, we turn to our phones instead of each other. (Turkle)” This should scare you. If it doesn’t, it means you are content with the truth that you often chose screens over people, or you’re one of the few unique individuals that aren’t in possession of an iPhone. Think about that, every extra second you give to your device, is a second, you’re choosing not to spend with the people you love. But this goes beyond seconds, the amount people spend on their device quantifies to something much larger. Seconds quickly turn into minutes, minutes turn into hours, hours turn into days, and before you know it, we reach the point where we can quantify that most people have spent literal years staring at a box. We get a limited amount of time on our earth. We don’t live forever. If you choose to spend that time mostly in front of a screen, be my guest. But this is the problem. People who spend this much time on their device don’t make this connection. They are blinded by the comfort their devices give them. Many won’t see this reality till it’s too late, and when it finally sets in as they near death it will be unchangeable, but the regret that they conformed to their devices, and lost so much time as a result of it, will be permanent. Haidt explores how portions of our brain crumble, because of this conformity: “Heavy phone or social media use may also have a cumulative, enduring and deleterious effect on adolescents’ abilities to focus and apply themselves. Nearly half of American teens say that they are online “almost constantly”, and such continue, administration of small pleasures can prudence sustained changes in the brain’s reward system”(Haidt). With people being constantly online, they don’t only lose the ability to live a normal life, they lose the structure within their brain. Turkle describes the many people who lack empathy because of this. Fortunately, I’m not one of those people. I’m rarely on my phone, and while I don’t have social media, I do have empathy.  For those “constantly online”, I feel for you. Through my empathy comes, hopefully, a perspective that will help you on the matter: Many spend more time looking at their device than they do looking at people. That alone should be cause for concern. But it’s not. As we conform more and more to our devices wishes, which is to spend as much time as possible looking at our screen, we lose the ability for the human body to function properly, as it depletes our memory, diminishes our health and eradicates any self-confidence to converse with others. But we also lose the little, intricate things like laughter, love, and the small moments that sometimes have the biggest impact, like playing fetch with your dog, or having dinner with your family. These are essential to life itself, and it’s truly criminal that our devices take these moments away from so many. Please, come to this realization before it’s too late. You’ll gain so much time because of it.

I wake up every morning, not knowing what it’s like to be restricted by the ding of your text or the constant pull to scroll endlessly on social media. It’s a freedom I feel lucky to have, that so many others don’t. The time others spend staring endlessly into a meaningless void, I spend doing things that matter – reading, exercising, talking, learning, growing. It makes me better intellectually. It makes me a better friend. It makes me a better learner. It makes me a better person. It truly is a superpower. With the right mindset, you can overcome the addictive nature of these programs that know you’re every in and out. All this knowledge gives computers the uncanny ability to give you exactly what you want. They know what makes you tick. They know what images to post on your internet feed to get an immediate reaction. They know how to light up the feel-good neurotransmitters within your brain. It’s why they’re so entertaining. It’s why they’re so addicting. It’s why they’re so hurtful. They know more about you than you do.