A world without technology

Having recently moved country, I have been relying upon my phone as my sole means of communication with the world. You can imagine my panic, therefore, when I found myself cut off from this world of social media shortly after my arrival in France. Although I was reunited with a network signal after a mere week, this experience has led me to question whether our modern-day reliance on technology is becoming unhealthy.

I often forget that androids and smartphones are very much a novel invention. Writing in light of the recent release of the iPhone 6, it is hard to imagine that our parents would have been considered lucky to have a fully functioning television just forty years ago. Nowadays, to the increasing detriment of traditional forms of communication, we rely on our phones for everything. Our androids act as calculators, clocks, cameras, calendars and music players, whilst traditional forms such as the letter are fast becoming a thing of the past. Similarly, our once regular trips to the high street are slowly being replaced by the wonders of online shopping, whilst the Kindle, for example, has become a popular alternative to the book. I can’t help but feel a little nostalgic especially about the latter; as a student of English Literature, there is nothing I like more than flicking through a traditional paperback book.

Additionally, I now notice more and more that the smartphone is replacing face-to-face communication. I regularly see groups of people in restaurants, for example, paying more attention to their phones than to each other. I can’t be the only person that thinks there is something inherently worrying about this; are we beginning to choose the company of technology over the company of other human beings?

Whilst I myself viewed my recent disconnection from social media negatively at first, I have to admit that I increasingly began to feel an underlying sense of relief. I was finally being forced to enjoy my own company and, dare I say it, there was something intrinsically nice about being alone.