Technology is wiping out the human race

By Vibhu Gogineni and Joshua Schermann

Staff Writers

Simone Schermann, born before technology was integrated into the world, said, “I have my phone in my pocket so I don’t have to use a landline phone. I can access the internet from everywhere.” Technology has become more advanced in the past few years and will continue to advance in the next couple of years.

Advanced technology has many benefits like not having to work as hard, however technology has negative effects such as reduced amounts of movement and exercise which lead to obesity. An example of this is a invention by iRobot. In 2002, they launched a robot that vacuums the floor by itself. This robot was called Roomba; it has the same capabilities as a normal hand held vacuum cleaner, except it’s a small disk like object that drones around the floor picking up dust and small particles for you, reducing your need to vacuum.

Furthermore, Schermann said technology has made her life easier:  “I can shop from my living room couch, I don’t have to leave the house. I can work from home, and I can program my kitchen appliances.”

“I think I use too much technology,” Schermann said. “But many things have also become inaccessible without technology.” This is true for many things – entertainment is mostly on your TV. Many games that kids and adults play are on a gaming console. Other things like movies and TV shows are also only accessible through technology. This happened around the time when phones became popular and became a lot more powerful.

According to Medical News Today, “People who perceived that they had more negative social interactions online and who were more prone to social comparison experienced higher levels of depression and anxiety.”

Summit Denali sophomore Daniel Min, said when he uses technology to work, he gets distracted by YouTube and other sites. He says “there are a lot of entertainment sites and games and applications that you can get really addicted to and invested in. Although you can also use technology in an efficient way too. For example, you can send a lot of text messages or emails instead of meeting them in person”

Finally, the NHS said, “Obesity is caused by eating too much and moving too little.” Many people link this to technology because technology is not very mobile: many people use technology in one place and don’t often move. 

According to World Population Review, in the United States, “37.9% of males are obese and 41.1% of women are obese.” Many people view this as a problem because obesity can cause Type 2 diabetes, kidney disease, high blood pressure, strokes and some types of cancer.

Min says “Technology can be good when it comes to communication”. He states that technology can be very useful when communicating with people from far distances.