Idea of progress: can we live without technology?

I’m going to speak about the notion “Idea of progress”. To begin with, I’d like to state a definition of progress. The idea of progress can be defined as an improvement, a development or a change ; a technical, scientific or social advance which contributes to making the world a better place. Progress can be positive but also negative (for example it produces pollution).

I will focus on the technological progress. New technologies have boomed since the 1990s with the rise of computing, mobile telephony and internet. This technology takes a more and more important place in our daily life and has completely transformed the way we communicate. Olivier Rendchen, a british writer says “Man has created technology. Technology has created man ; what we are today. Electricity is our way of life. Without it many would perish”.

So we can wonder : can we live without technology ?

I will study this question along two lines. First,we will talk about person who choose to live without technology and in a second part, we will see what are the limits of a life without technology ?

I think we can live without technology. Many people have chosen to live without technology and modern conveniences. First and foremost, we will talk about the picture “Man outside his yurt”. On this picture, we can see a man in front of a yurt, in the forest. He is cleaning the floor with a broom. He might be on holidays and maybe he’s here to cut himself off from the world, to live without technology. When you live in nature, you live without rules of society, just the rules of nature.

On the other hand, we can talk about “Into the wild”, the story of Christopher Mccandless (it’s a book and film too). After graduating, Christopher decided to go and live alone in the wilderness of Alaska. Without technology, he lived alone approximately 4 months in an abandoned bus. He lived just a simple life, apart from society, to think about him.

Yes, I think it’s possible to live without technology but it can be difficult.

I think that some technologies seem essential like electricity, heating, running water…

Indeed, the “man in his yurt” lives without technology but in the picture, we can see a chimney, so he has heating, and probably electricity.

The story of Christopher Mccandless it’s a perfect illustration to show the difficulties to live without technology. Four months later in the abandoned bus, life for him becomes harder and he concludes that true happiness can only be found when shared with others.

Christopher Mccandless eats a poisonous plants and he falls sick. He dies after 4 months alone in Alaska. So, living completely without technology can be dangerous.

Finally, let’s take the example of an experiment that was carried out in Portland’s Lincoln High School, in US. An english teacher and 54 students participated in a week without technology  (in reality, it’s lasted 4 days). Students had to do without their cellphones, the internet...This experiment was really difficult for many people. Indeed, the students were anxious of missing something (on email or Fb) and they felt lonely and bored. Some students couldn’t resist temptation and they used their cellphones or internet, TV…

To conclude,

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