Technology in the World we Live in

In light of the speakers at our recent American Studies day and the topic of my junior theme (social isolation), I have taken a new found interest in the effects of modern technology on our society. In this article, the Konrath effect is explained and analyzed. The Konrath effect is the negative effect of online publishing on talented authors. Now authors can directly publish their works online without editors or publishing companies, on sites such as Amazon. The traditional process of selling a book to an editor and publisher is becoming lost, and supposedly this process is what finds the true talented writers. Authors have to face rejection from companies, and perfect their work until it is ready to be published. Although this is true, this process, along with almost technologies, has both negative and positive effects. Authors that never before had a chance to publish their works because they were rejected now can reach audiences. On the other hand, as a reader it is hard to find talented authors on an online publishing site because there are so many authors, and many of the authors publish poor quality works that are not sent to an editor.

All across the country, technology is having negative side effects. I wrote my Junior Theme about how technology in America has increased the amount of people who are socially isolated. In my previous post, Oil Still Spilling, new oil rig technologies resulted in an oil spill that is destroying the environment. But without oil rigs such as the Deepwater Horizon there would not be enough oil to fuel our cars and our world. This is the way things work, most things do not have only positive or only negative effects. The question I have then is: How much technology is too much? What effects do technology have on our world?