There is an
old saying in Japan "a convenient tool makes us inconvenient." It
means convenient and comfortable tools cause lesser opportunities to think deeply
and they weaken abilities to do something for us. This old proverb opposes our modern
lives that based on technology completely. Without the technology, we cannot do
anything today. Because of the development of technology, our lives actually
have flourished and diversified. The reason that I can send my words, feelings
and opinions to the world through the blog like this is also due to this
development of technology. In the world, every day, there are many news stories
that inform us the birth of new technology as good news. However, we cannot say
that the development of technology is always to bring us happy because it sometimes
makes us thoughtless.
Due to the
development of machinery in factories, it brought Mechanization of human work, but
it also brought us thoughtless and jobless. In the old days, factory workers
knew a stage of production well because every production was handmade. Today,
they can create some products by pushing a button once. Thus, today a factory
worker can work to just keep watching either machines work well or not. Even if
they do not know how production will be made, it is not a problem. Like the
above, abilities to create products of a factory worker has declined by
technology to create products automatically. Mechanization has
made jobless people directly, but it also caused lack of skills to create
handmade production.
Today,
everyone has a cell phone. In the old days, a cell phone was a tool has an only
function to call up wherever. However, because of development of a cell phone, we
can get news that we want to know by pushing a button once. However, when we
are passive to think of it, then we cannot avoid swallowing the news we receive
because of less ability to think critically. The most dreadful by-product by the
development of technology is to degenerate skills to think for a man. We have
to learn media literacy.
Thus, the development
of technology makes our lives affluent, but when it is too convenient, then
people do not need to think and do anything. Therefore, skills to think and do
something of people tend to decline today. The development of technology is
ongoing even now. It will never stop, so we have to keep thinking what is
technology and how we can use it well in our lives to live together with
technology. If we can associate with new technology well, our lives more prosper
than if it were not for.
