Are Americans Becoming Too Dependent On Computers?
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Are Americans Becoming Too Dependent On Computers?
Although computer technology has greatly improved the quality of life for many Americans, the problem of too much dependence on computers has persisted. While Americans are happy that computers make it easy for them to access emails and interact with friends, they are also concerned that these technological gadgets have caused a spillover of work into people’s non-work time (Middleton, 2008). These people are unable to get along without their personal computers, an indication that they have become overly reliant on these devices. Too much dependence on computers is a bad thing for Americans. This paper sets out to examine the different ways in which this phenomenon has manifested itself in the contemporary American society.
Computers play a critical role in society by helping people store information, solve complex problems, and interact with one another. However, the American society has become too computerized. People spend too much time with their personal computers to the point where they neglect the traditional face-to-face interactions with family members, close friends, and neighbors. According to Shotton (2003), computer dependency is an all-consuming drive that easily dominates people’s lives entirely. Few Americans feel the need to pass by their neighbors’ homes just to exchange niceties and share some experiences. Instead, they prefer to communicate with them through the numerous social media and online communication platforms accessible through the computer at home. It is a bad thing to let computers impact negatively on the way people interact in society.
The availability of personal computers at home is both advantageous and disadvantageous. It is advantageous because it enables Americans to catch up with important work-related developments in the comfort of their homes. This timely access to critical information enables professionals to stay up-to-date with workplace developments, thereby enhancing their overall efficiency. However, as Olson-Buchanan and Boswell (2006) indicate, access to computers at home is also disadvantageous because it makes it difficult for people to maintain a work-life balance by blurring the line between work hours and non-work hours. The simple act of checking an important email in the middle of a dinner session with family members easily turns into a long process of sieving through all new email messages in the computer. Such overdependence on computers makes it extremely difficult for people to maintain work-life balance.
Many Americans cannot imagine a life without computers. In a survey conducted by the New York Times, a third of the respondents said that they could not live without computers (Connelly, 2010). A more startling finding was that most of those who depend on computers tended to be highly educated (Connelly, 2010). This is an indication that computer addiction knows no borders; it affects all sections of the American society. This is a worrying situation because it demonstrates the power of computers to impact negatively on face-to-face interactions with family members, neighbors, and other members of society.
In conclusion, computers play a crucial role in society, but Americans have become too much dependent on them. People should not spend all their non-work time in front of the home computer when they should be engaging in face-to-face interactions with family members. Such computer addiction hurts work-life balance by blurring the line between work hours and non-work hours. To avoid too much dependence on computers, Americans need to restrict their access to computers at home. This will free up sufficient time for face-to-face family communication.
References
Connelly, M. (2010). More Americans Sense a Downside to an Always Plugged-In Existence. Retrieved on May 25, 2014.
Middleton, C. (2008). Do Mobile Technologies Enable Work-life Balance? Dual Perspectives on BlackBerry Usage for Supplemental Work. In Donald Hislop (ed). Mobility and Technology in the Workplace. New York, NY: Routledge.
Olson-Buchanan, J., & Boswell, W. (2006). Blurring boundaries: Correlates of integration and segmentation between work and non-work. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 68(3), 432–445.
Shotton, M. (2003). Computer Addiction: A Study of Computer Dependency. Bristol, PA: Taylor & Francis Inc.