The Importance of Technology

           I believe that I, along with our society, am drawn to technology out of competitiveness. Our generation as a whole is extremely competitive in everything we do, whether it’s Fantasy Football, Class Rankings, or simply up-to-date technology, we feel the never-ending need to be the best and have the best. Competition drives our attraction to technology, drives our intake from technology, and functions as part of our interaction with society. We are all surrounded by endless technologies and they are extremely important to our life.  I know that if I was to live a week back in time before some of our most important forms of technology like computers and phones, I would be helpless. To me technology functions as a form of communication as well as a resource for information. This being said, my favorite form of technology, the one I believe best satisfies those functions, is the iPhone.

            Our society’s competitive nature first, draws us to technology. One great example is the iPhone craze. With all the new phone plans emerging that allow buyers to upgrade to a new phone in just a year, people are quick to replace their old iPhone with a new one, without much of any knowledge to the differences between them. We see a new body style and our curiosity makes us wonder how much better it could really be. We then see our friends getting upgrades and our competitiveness kicks in, making it near impossible for us to reason with keeping an old, out-of-date phone. Apart from the physical appeal of iPhones, people are very attracted to the multiple functions they offer too. Each new update corrects old flaws, and improves the “user-friendliness” of the phone. Our society is so dependent on phones as a form of communication, that we want the most upgraded phone available.

            Competitiveness also drives what we take away from using technology. We are easily satisfied with the knowledge that we have more power or superiority over our peers. Technology, because of its constant advancements, is a main source of this competitive intake. In addition, as colleges and other forms of advanced education become more competitive, people feel a need for more knowledge. The advancements in technology allow for this intake of new information to fulfill our competitive nature. The iPhone is a great example of this resource of information. Just as a computer does, an iPhone gives the user access to unlimited data covering any topic one could think of, as well as tools like Google, Yahoo, or Bing to search such vast libraries.

            Finally, technology functions as a major part of fueling the competition in our society. Our obsession with updated technology pulls us into an ongoing cycle of having to top our peers with “cooler gadgets” and more knowledge. This cycle is how our economy thrives. Competition among sellers, buyers, and prices are how both our economy and society function. With this growing competitive nature, we depend on social media for instantaneous updates, servers for instantaneous data, and messaging/calling for instantaneous communication. Without this rapid return of information at the click of a button, much of the iPhone’s appeal is lost.

            Technology, a crucial part of life in today’s generation, is greatly driven by competition. Competition draws us to technology, drives our intake from technology, and fuels our interaction with society through technology. My favorite form of technology is the iPhone, because of its vast functionality as well its appeal through quickness and updates. Tools like iPhones show us just how important technology really is in our lives and how we couldn’t survive without it.