The Idea of progress

THE IDEA OF PROGRESS

In our time, technology is everywhere : we have computers and televisions in every houses. Children grow up with a phone in their hands. It's in our life. Fifty years ago, it wasn't like that but things changed very fast thanks to the progress. But can we really say thanks to ? Maybe it's more because of ?

Progress is always shown as a good thing, it improves our way of life so how can it be bad ? Nevertheless I'm sure, we can find a lot of inconvenients of progress and even more about technology.

With my three documents, I will talk about the dangers of a connected world and after to a techless happy life to finally conclude with an answer to the question « Can we leave in a techless world ».

My first document is an extract of an episode of the serie Black Mirror. It talks about a world where social medias and technologies are completely in the center of the society. People are addicted and deeply need their phones to do literally everything. In the story, the girl is scared to have a bad mark because her future is at stake. If she has one, she can lose her advantages so she stages her entire life. It’s totally fake and it’s a little bit what it happens in the real life with Instagram for example : everybody seems living their best life. It proves that social networks are an important part in our everyday life but they can be dangerous so it’s not a good thing. They are lying to everybody and sometimes, they start wearing a mask.

My second document approves the first one. It’s a report about a internet addicted detox camp. Nerds go there to be decontaminated when computers and virtual life take a too important place in their life. They don’t see the real world anymore and can change their personality to become angrier for example. Technologies act like drugs and it’s scary to see the damages. People are disconnected from real life. They lose the true sense of life.

My third and last document is the contrary of the two other ones. It’s a text about surviving in self-sufficiency. Some people decide to throw everything away and go live far away from society pressures. That’s what did a family who emigrated to start a new life in nature. They have no technology but they still have comfort thanks to their inventions. This new life teaches them how to live in a simpler way, with just what they need. They aren’t unhappy. It informs us that life like that is possible even if it seems strange and complicated.

To conclude, I think we can live in a techless world but we have to want to. Technologies are in our life, everywhere, all the time. In my view, today, I couldn’t do that but I strongly believe that we can slow down with computers or phones because it takes a too big place in our life and it can be dangerous because we have to see real world and understand what truly matters.

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