Columns, Opinion

KEULER: Quantity over quality in a technological world

The other day, I was at dinner with a group of other students, and something seemed a little off. After a while, I realized that every single person around the table, other than myself, either was using his smartphone or had it sitting on the table. Something about this really bothered me. Perhaps, as a good friend has observed only partially in jest, I am actually a 35-year-old man inhabiting the body of a 20-year-old. Or perhaps there’s something more to it. Either way, this realization got me thinking: what really are the implications of the profound explosion of technology we have experienced over the past few decades?

At this point, I imagine you’ve figured that this column is shaping up to be another one of those articles, ranting about how technology is bad, limits human contact, et cetera, et cetera. In a way, it is. At the same time, in order to fully address this subject, I plan to embark upon a philosophical exegesis inspired by the dilemmas of technology. If you’ve made it this far, you might as well stick around for the main event.

When it comes down to it, technology is the ultimate double-edged sword. Just as atomic fission has the ability to provide electricity to millions or destroy entire cities, the Internet — and its frequent deliveryman, the smartphone — has tremendous power for both good and bad. When used appropriately, technology can create something beautiful and beneficial. Simultaneously, technology has a dark side that creeps up insidiously and then can explode in your face.

When this happens, as J. Robert Oppenheimer described in his observation of the destruction wrought by the first atomic bomb test, “Now, I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.” While this may seem an absurd exaggeration, the worlds which technology can both build and destroy are not physical but rather the ones that exist in our mind. These worlds are the ones we create as we stumble through the journey of life, with ourselves situated — as much as we may attempt otherwise — selfishly at the center and orbited by those we love and care about.

We each have an idea about our station in life, who our loved ones are, what our purpose in life is. In turn, the answers to these questions form the interpretation of reality that allows us to create this world. The danger of technology is its tremendous effect on this reality.

With smartphones, the instant access to any information on the Internet gives us a godlike power over knowledge at our fingertips. In one afternoon of following hyperlinks on Wikipedia, we can sample more tidbits of knowledge than possible in a thousand lifetimes to previous generations. In a sense, we can travel between those lifetimes, and in this way, we become immortal.

Paradoxically, this immortality reminds us how mortal we actually are. The Internet tells us we can do anything. For example, there are literally millions of jobs posted online and we can apply to any of them. In this way, technology is a positive force that creates boundless opportunity. At the same time, we simply do not have the time to apply to all those jobs. We must forsake many opportunities to have any shot at any one particular job, reminding us how limited we truly are. Similarly, apps like Tinder offer us thousands of options for potential dates or hook-ups. While the sheer number of dating options may make any one rejection much less relevant, it cheapens the value of any one individual, as there is always someone else out there.

In short, the fact that technology transforms us into quasi-omniscient gods is a constant reminder that there are more classes to take, clubs to join, books to read, movies to watch, foods to try and people to love than could ever be attained, despite our aforementioned ability to transport across time and space.

How then can we ever know that the world we have created for ourselves is the one we should inhabit? Sure, banal platitudes about living life may offer potential panaceas, but the scourge of indecision that our technological world instigates can just as easily paralyze us. Do we just trust blind fate to chart the correct course for us? I, for one, do not like the sound of that.

To combat this indecision, we avoid and postpone decisions. We overschedule ourselves with classes, extracurriculars, activities and events, and potentially exhaust our ability to sufficiently dedicate ourselves to any of these. We send texts like, “I’ll try to make it,” rather than committing to anything ahead of time because we are always looking for the best thing. Paradoxically, our search for quality, for the “best” thing, only aggravates this issue as we can never settle on anything. Ultimately, we end up with ever more quantity and ever less quality. I know this, because no one is guiltier of this than I am.

So what is to be done? I rarely admit this, but I do not rightly know. Maybe the Internet has the answer.

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