Technology

     After reading the article "This Is How We Live" by Ellen DeGeneres, I had mixed feelings. I agreed with many of her statements, for example that humans are inherently lazy. However, I thought she was to critical of technology and placed a lot of the blame of humans being lazy on technology, rather than on the humans who are using it. She did touch upon this idea when she discussed the inappropriate uses of GO-GURT and power bars but she did seem to place a majority of the blame on technology. DeGeneres is correct when she says that technology can hurt us, but that is because we use it in a way that can cause harm. It's not a GO-GURT that makes us lazy, it is the idea of it that implies laziness. In the case of power bars, they are made for athletes as a form of compact food supply to eat when you do not have the supplies to cook. The makers of power bars are not to blame either because they made them for the intended purpose of use by athletes. It is the person who is eating it on the way to the mall who is to blame for the misuse of the product. 

     This brings me to the next idea that DeGeneres discusses, the packaging of consumer products. DeGeneres states "How else does technology torture us? Well, try opening up a brand-new CD". It is true that the packages of may consumer products such as CD's are a pain to open. However, there is a reason why these products are a pain to open in a store. Companies are protecting their products from being stolen out of stores, and by making them hard to open without a tool, it reduces the change of someone stealing it easily. The packaging was implemented because someone decided to steal products, that is a human error that has had the consequence of protective packaging. If people did not choose to steal, the packages would not be used. Companies certainly would love to save money on cheaper packaging.  

     Technology is not torturing us, it is our human counterparts that are the root of the issue. This idea can be applied to the other examples in the article where technology it put on the chopping block. Humans are the root of almost every problem that arises in our society, if you sit back and take the time to think about it, you will see. It is a part of human nature that we make decisions that have a negative impact on the progression of our species.