Is technology bringing us closer Essay

The sense of connection between human beings is growing.  Do you feel connected with your family and friends? Do you feel a sense of â€Å"closeness† between each other? Do you feel that, with the help of technology, you finally have the opportunity to easily communicate with anyone you want? The answer to all three of these questions is a simple â€Å"yes†. Three brothers buried their mother about a month ago and were faced with the challenge of running a household, with a debt of more than $10000 to be payed off. Their mother who had suffered with two brain aneurisms had left no life insurance or money in the bank when she died. Their dad had passed away six years ago after battling with a mental health issues. Jarrod (19), the oldest of the three brothers, has pledged to take care of his brothers. After broadcasting their story on A Current Affair, viewers from all over the country has generously donated more than half a million dollars in just one day to help them pay off their mortgage loan. This is just one of the countless stories where technology has made a tremendous impact on a family and brought them closer, along with all the Australians out there who have supported them. Technology does have the potential to increase communication between people. At this present time, technology is in the most advanced form of communication we have. It makes the world small and at the same time, it makes us feel big. It gives us the fortuity to be able to communicate with anyone around the world in a click of a button. Nowadays, we don’t just have options like email or calling up someone, we have features like video chat. Just like that, we’re able to catch up with any old friend of ours. Even though they might not physically be right next to us, technology gives us the enjoyment to be able to feel like they’re right here next to us. Technology has the ability to make us feel that we are not as far away with people who may be in different countries as we think we are. We’re in fact closer than we perceive. Not only does technology benefit to feel closer to those that may be far away from you. Technology also grants the opportunity for you to be closer with the person sitting in the same room as you. â€Å"Dictionary.com† defines the word communication as â€Å" the imparting or interchange of thoughts, opinions, or information by speech, writing or signs.† There are many people out there who may not be fortunate as you and I, who have disabilities that sadly impinge on their communication. How tough would life be for them? The amount of resilience that they have is inspirational. Technology gives them hope, it gives them something to hold onto, something that has the potential to turn their life around. This disability is called communication disorder. This disorder affects more than 15% of children aged from 4-21 years of age. However, with the ever-improving advances in technology present, this significant obstacle on these people can be overcome. For example, we all know that hearing aids assist people with hearing impairments. However, they are cases where technology isn’t able to help in overcoming a communication disorder. Instead, technology can be used as a substitute for communication. For instance, if someone has trouble speaking, they could use a computer as a means of communication to have a conversation back and forth with someone else. Not only does technology help with the communication between people, furthermore, it is beneficial to help those in need. The medical field has always brought together one of the best, if not best, and brightest of society to provide support for those who needs it. For over more than a thousand years, people have spent a great deal of time repairing, designing and exploring many perspectives in the attempt to  unravel the mysteries and perplexities of the human body. Over time, with the advances in technology, machines have begin to play a much larger role in the medical field, as a result of new developments and better ways to treat illnesses and injuries. Through the use of such technologies, people can live healthier, more productive and independent lives. Many people who formerly may have been ill, disabled, or suffering continuous pain are now blessed to be able to look forward to leading normal, or even close-to normal lives. For example, a small device, the ICD, which is implanted for those at risk of sudden cardiac death now have a 98% chance of surviving a cardiac arrest, compared to only 5% without this device. This is just one of the vast number of benefits that the changes in technology has managed to deliver to us in the present time. Without these technological advances, many innocent human beings would have suffered from deadly diseases and illnesses that are now promisingly able to be beneficial for. Like everything else in this world, technology has both its positives and negatives. Some people may argue that technology doesn’t in fact bring the connection between us humans closer. That it is essentially driving us further away. One of the main reasons why this may be is due to cyber bullying, as it is one of the major issues concerning with technological communication. Just focusing on teenagers, statistics show that at least 74% of teens are on social networking sites. Cyber bullying is more common in today’s society due to the increase in the use of technology. We really can’t stop cyber bullying completely, there is no way for that to be possible. However, an alternative would be to educate teens out there on how to prevent it from happening to them. Teach teens to learn to be smart, safe and secure. Technology needs to be embraced. Although is may be forever changing, we  should at least count on the fact that it is continually becoming greater, faster and more beneficial. The connection between all of us is growing with the help of technology, and instead of disagreeing with this, its time we accept it and use it to our benefit fully.