<p>If you could give me feedback, that would be great as well.</p>
<p>PROMPT
Technology promises to make our lives easier, freeing up time for leisure pursuits. But the rapid pace of technological innovation and the split-second processing capabilities of computers that can work virtually nonstop have made all of us feel rushed. We have adopted the relentless pace of the very machines that were supposed to simplify our lives, with the result that, whether at work or play, people do not feel like their lives have changed for the better.
Adapted from Karen Finucan, Life in the Fast Lane
Assignment: Do changes that make our lives easier not necessarily make them better?</p>
<p>MY ESSAY
"Whether we like it or not, change is everywhere, progressing at a constant pace like the tick-tock of time. While some changes are entirely favorable and others are downright unfortunate some changes are more ambiguous: it is very possible for changes that make our lives easier, but not better, to exist.</p>
<p>One such example is from history: the revolutionary atomic bomb. In the United States during the Cold War, rising political tensions with the Soviet Union threatened capitalism in the western hemisphere as communist ideas lingered in the eastern hemisphere post-WWII. The Soviet Union and the United States were keenly aware of each other's power and military prowess; they were therefore wary of provoking a war. Had the atomic bomb not been developed and demonstrated by the U.S. a few years earlier in Japan, the two countries would have been more inclined to unleash their fury on each other. Yet because both countries yielded immense power of destruction through their atomic weapons, a shaky but sure peace was able to endure. The technological change of this era in weaponry rendered peace easier to obtain, but by increasing the power to kill immense numbers of people, did not make life necessarily better.</p>
<p>While it is not nearly as influential as the atomic bomb, the calculator is another object that has simplified but not truly improved our lives. Graphing calculators are used commonly in high schools for many math classes, and require less analytical thinking and more computing. These nifty gadgets expedite many mathematical calculations, but often at the expense of true understanding. Many math teachers attribute the declining number of students who can perform basic calculations by hand to the growing allowance of the calculator in the school curriculum. My math teacher believes that "leaning on a calculator" causes an insurmountable number of problems later in her students' math careers, and she believes this so strongly it has become a mantra.</p>
<p>With any change, there is an invisible disclaimer that how we embrace it (or reject it) will result in a number of varying consequences. Change, too, does not come for free - it requires sacrifice in exchange for its services. The atomic bomb? Trade the power to kill for the potential for peace. The fancy supercalculators of today? One has to pay for ease of solving often by sacrificing his mathematical independency. Change is amorphous, for it may appear to make life easier and better, but may in reality only make it easier and not necessarily better. Looks are deceiving, and therefore, so is change."</p>
<p>Thanks so much!</p>