Assignment 2 - Ella Franklin

If I had grown up 20 years ago, I would be about $899 richer.

In May of this year, I was at a friend's house working on the lengthy literary devices scrapbook assigned by Mr. Behler. I had a glass of water on the table next to my laptop, and as I reached over to point something on my friend's screen next to mine, my elbow bumped the glass and spilled water across the keyboard of the laptop I had bought only 6 months prior.

I lost all of my progress on the devices scrapbook and, after multiple trips to the Apple Store, about $899 that I had to spend on a new laptop.

That's not to say I dislike technology. I am a proud Spotify Premium user. I frequently venture to online shopping rather than doing my homework. I had to disable receiving texts on my computer because it distracted me too much. I Google when I don't know. I am a child of technology.

If I grew up without technology, I think I would know the meaning of hard work. Search engines have made research and assignments too easy for our generation. If I don't know how to factor a problem on my calc homework, I will Google "2x^2+6x+14 factor." I'm not proud of it. It makes homework more expedient, granted, but do I feel like I've had a mental workout after googling the solution to a simple factoring problem? Not at all!! I'm ashamed! And, if I don't know the answer to an APUSH unit question, I'll just text my friends. With technology, we don't find answers, we get them.

In the realm of relationships, I think I would be equally as close to my close friends with or without technology. With the exception of a few long-distance friends, I've met all of my friends in real life and see them every day at school. Technology hasn't made us any more or any less close. But, in the context of casual every day encounters, technology has made us more distant. I might never know what friends I could have made if I hadn't been on my phone instead of saying hi to them or listened to music to avoid small talk.

Technology has connected our society like a spider web - granted, we are more connected, but the web of our connection is thin and fragile, and in some ways makes us further apart than ever before.