Does Technology Have A Negative Impact On Relationships. Why Or Why Not?

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Does technology have a negative impact on relationships

Technology and its benefits cannot be denied today because it has made our lives easier and better. It has saved time and manual efforts for instance; automatic machines now get the job done in less than minutes. Similarly, through social apps, communication can now be done through online channels without any physical movement. However, technology has impacted all area of the human life nonetheless but it has also negatively affected human relationships by changing the meaning of entertainment and social interactions.

Entertainment is an essential part of life and it is a part of human nature to opt for various entertainment avenues to relax and feel close to the nature. However, technology has badly affected this area of human life by limiting it to certain devices. Earlier people used to go out in nature to read books or walk, but after the advent of technology they prefer to isolate themselves in front of multiple devices. For instance, Ray Bradbury’s novel Fahrenheit 451 highlighted this dilemma of a modern life. In the novel various gadgets are shown that are affecting simple avenues of entertainment by replacing book reading with “wall-to-wall” technology and “Seashells”. Seashells refer to EarPods that Mildred (a character from the book) uses a lot and it blocks the surrounding voices where she listens to music. Moreover, people burn books because they do not like to read books anymore because of wall-to-wall technology or televisions. “She [Mildred] had both ears plugged with electronic bees” (Bradbury 16). Books serve two purposes, they educate us and positively entertain us but in Fahrenheit 451, they are ignored, an instance point to it as “A child or a book or a painting or a house or a wall built or a pair of shoes made. Or a garden planted. Something your hand touched some way so your soul has somewhere to go when you die” (Bradbury 60).

A person cannot do without social interaction because communication with family or friends casts a healthy impact on a person’s physical and mental health. Nowadays, people are enamored by technology that social interaction has lost its purpose and meaning for them. They do not want to talk to people or invest themselves in either platonic or romantic relationships. Fahrenheit 451, describes lack of social interactions or communication between the characters of Montag and Mildred, when he wants to be close to her and enjoy the joys of nature with her. On the contrary, she chooses to spend time indoors watching tv and listening to the music. In an instance, he expresses his anxiety as “See the world. It's more fantastic than any dream made or paid for in factories” (Bradbury 50). A historian at the American Historical Association once called technology a jungle where one cannot find meaning but he encounters more complexities that threaten his human experience and society in general (Hjarvard and Stig, 2013). Modern technology has converted the world into a global village nonetheless but its impact on the value of relationships and human essence cannot be accounted for. It has bridged the gaps between continents but people living together are miles apart from one another because they do not engage in romantic and platonic relationships anymore.

Technology is a human wonder and it has countless positive aspects and influences on the human life but it has also changed the meaning of entertainment by limiting it to closed doors and next to nothing interaction with nature and books. Similarly, people have stopped adding values into social interactions by preferring the use of gadgets over friendships and maintaining familial ties.

Works Cited

Bradbury, Ray. Fahrenheit 451: a novel. Vol. 41. Simon and Schuster, 1953.

Hjarvard, Stig Prof. The mediatization of culture and society. Routledge, 2013.