Quality Essay

Metal is encompassing everything in sight. Huge buildings reach the sky that is barely visible through the smog. It is daytime and it is as dim as a rainy day. The air you breathe is thick and dirty. Everything around you is cold. The stereotypical image if a technological world is cold, dark, and metallic. Why does technology have such a negative connotation? The stereotypical image of a world without technology is a very rural scenery with rolling hills of luscious green grass, sun rays that beat through your skin, and air so clean it seems as if every breathe cleanses your entire being. Why is this image so attractive and inviting? The concept of a quality lifestyle can be interpreted in many different ways when pertaining to a world of technology. Does having a fast pace, convenient, and efficient lifestyle make it a quality life style? Or does accomplishing everything slowly and manually without the use of technology help you to appreciate the aspects of life more?

There are many advantages to having a world utterly filled with abounding technology. Convenience becomes a lifestyle where everything is electronically done for you with precision, accuracy, and incredible speed. With the use of technology, you only have to put the minimum of time and effort into everyday tasks which would otherwise take an overwhelming amount of time to complete. Technology helps to cater to the fast pace world in which we live; from cars, to airplanes, to drive-thrus, and express check-out lanes in supermarkets. Calculators solve intricate and complex equations in mere seconds, while text messages, emails, and instant messages save us a walk down a long hallway or down the street. Technology has enhanced public health and safety in many valuable ways. With advances in medicine, diseases are being cured for the first times and saving millions of lives everyday. Epidemics are ending, and the quality of overall health is vastly improving along with the capacity of care given to patients in healthcare environments. Communication through cell phones and other communication devices also enhance emergency safety by giving people a way to communicate in an instant to receive help. With technological advances exponentially increasing, more jobs are becoming available with the engineering, maintenance, and development of these technologies, while at the same time replacing human positions by being able to perform the same tasks faster with more precision. With technology life is faster, more convenient, and impersonal.

While technology has its advantages, there are many aspects that are not necessarily beneficial. In order to produce and create technology, and by using technology itself, immense amounts of pollution are generated daily. Environments are being altered, dismantled, and destroyed. Our atmosphere and planet suffer slowly but undeniably by such technologies. Resources are being consumed at concerning rates to keep our fast pace and efficiency obsessed world turning. Since technology brings us faster convenience we no longer have to out as much physical effort and manual labor into completing tasks. Because of this, many lack the appropriate amount of exercise needed in order to live healthy lives. This has created an obesity epedemic in our country. America now has the largest percent of obesity in its history. Since technology adheres to quick convenience, our whole lives become rushed to get as much done as quickly and efficiently as possible. This pace then inadvertently increases the sense of competition for the manufacturing world to create the newest, finest, products in order to make as much profit as possible, which again inadvertently increases the drive to make money. The want and need for money becomes the driving force of many people’s lives so that it is possible to afford the technologies that keep our lives running as efficiently as possible, which in turn, makes everyday life easier in order to handle the stress of making as much money as possible to afford the technologies. The drive for money, and ultimately technology, runs our lives in a vicious cycle.

A life without technology would be vastly different from the one we live in today. There are many qualities of a technology-free world that would allow people to lead a more meaningful and valuable life. In a life without technology, there would be no rush. People would be able to appreciate their surroundings and their lives more. They would be able to “stop and smell the roses”. Everything would be done manually and there would be more gratification out of accomplishing tasks rather than by letting a piece of equipment or machinery to do it for you. There would be more time and effort to kindle and take care of your relationships. Without the rush to get as much done as possible, there would be more appreciated leisure time to spend with loved ones. Time and effort would be appreciated and focused on more, and money would not endlessly drive everyone’s lives. Life would be more than just metal and noise.
Even though life without technology would be more meaningful and relaxed, there would also be disadvantages. There would not be advances in medicine that would keep the public generally healthier. There would not be appropriate methods to care to the wounded or diseased, which could lead to sooner deaths. Safety would not be as advanced and would therefore not be as efficient as possible. Products that are made would not be as good of quality as those that have been researched and improved. Because most tasks are done by manual labor and not technology, education would not be as valued and as in depth. If education is not as high of a priority, then everyday life might not be improved by discoveries and inventions. Society might also suffer because communities might not be run as efficiently as they should with a lack of in depth education and technological advances. Life in general would also not be quite as convenient and luxurious. Everything would take much more time and effort to complete and the progress might not be as good of quality as possible which might tend to be discouraging. Also, people would not be able to enjoy the luxuries that technology can provide.

When answering the question “Does the use of technology create a quality and meaningful life?” is answered, many things have to be considered. There are unlimited benefits and burdens to lifestyles with and without technology. Life with technology creates a fast paced, efficient, and convenient lifestyle that is competitive and has a drive for money. It also provides knowledge, medical care, and ways to solving problems faced in life. Life without technology would be much more relaxed, laborious, appreciative, and meaningful. There would not, however, be adequate healthcare available, not as much value in education, and would not have much convenience to help with everyday life. In the end, a quality and meaningful lifestyle is in the eye of a beholder. Since there are positive and negative qualities of life with and without technology, there could be many definitions and opinions as to what defines a quality life.

Bio:

My name is Megan Bulluck and I am 19 years old. My home town is Augusta, Georgia but I am currently attending school at the Georgia Institute of Technology. I am studying psychology and my future goal is to become a psychologist to and raise a family. My hobbies include singing, reading, spending time with family and friends, and raising two baby bunnies.