Technology Makes Man Lazy
When almost everything can be done through technology, what else is there to do but depend on it even more often despite disastrous results? One of the worst effects of technology on humanity is laziness. By laziness, this refers to being lazy in doing, thinking, and interacting. Technology has made life easier indeed but the major drawback is the creation of a new generation that spawns succeeding generations of lethargic individuals. As technology dominates modern societies, people have become lazy physically, socially, and mentally.
Technology removes many physical activities which result in laziness. First, driving makes it easy to move around but also reduces walking and other related activities. Many would ride their cars to send their children to school or go to work instead of walking or biking. No wonder then that obesity and overweight incidence continue to rise! Second, appliances and devices decrease physical activity too while increasing screen time. For example, since people can use their washing machines to wash their clothes, gone are the days of instant strength training when they used to carry pails and heavy laundry to and from water sources. Nowadays, when people wash their clothes, they watch TV, fiddle with their phones, and/or eat- all of which are activities that lack physical movement. At the same time, many children are becoming overweight or obese due to hours spent being glued to tablets, smartphones, and laptops. They have lost their interest in going to the park and playing sports because they can easily play online or video games. Technology increases laziness and diminishes physical actions that are crucial to a healthy and strong physical development from childhood to adulthood.
Besides the physical drawback, technology distances people from each other which make them lazy in giving the required effort to maintain quality human relationships. First, many individuals depend on technology to manage their relationships for them. For instance, some parents simply give electronic gadgets like tablets and smartphones to their kids in order to keep the latter busy. In other words, they are letting technology do the parenting instead of them! The usual negative effect is that parents fail to know who their children as they develop, creating communication and discipline problems along the way. Second, the youth depend too much on technology to shape their relationships. A good illustration is how many Millennials use the social media to make and maintain friendships. The consequence is that sometimes, by depending on social media too much, they have ill-developed face-to-face interpersonal skills that can lead to failures in reading and responding to verbal and written as well as non-verbal expressions of others. Third, couples rely on technology to communicate in short words instead of giving time for meaningful conversations. They express themselves briefly which may lack the required content to make themselves understood to their partners, possibly producing communication breakdowns.
Technology also makes people lazy by depending on it more than they should including thinking critically about information. Social media which is full of false news has been the go-to news outlet for many people. As a result, they tend to select sites that mirror what they believe in or are inclined to believe in, producing an in-breeding of beliefs that fail to hone critical thinking. In addition, people scan for information without digesting it properly. They read and believe almost everything, especially that which confirms their existing values and assumptions. Technology is an insufficient tool for helping people think critically of information.
Laziness has increased and will continue to do so because of technology. By making it the center of their lives, many people shall suffer from bad health as well as poor relationships and low-quality thinking. People using technology too much and indiscriminately should reflect on these disadvantages because laziness harms them in too many ways.
