<p>The question: are changes that make our lives easier not necessarily better?</p>
<p>Technological advances are heralded by society as the gateway to better lives without much doubt cast upon them. However, such changes that render our lives more convenient do not necessarily improve them. Examples in scientific research, agriculture, and current events all demonstrate that these so-called advances are sometimes harmful.</p>
<p>Recent research has uncovered that the prominence of computers, smart phones, and other gadgets are responsible for debilitating effects on human brains. Although the electronics are unparalleled in the convenience they provide, the fact that information is always just a click away is both a blessing and a curse. Having such immediately accessible media has resulted in a severe decrease in the attention spans of heavy users, particularly in teenagers and children. The ability to find a fact quickly without reading for extended periods of time and the wide availability of entertainment means that newer generations will have decreasing capacities of concentration. Thus, while such databases of information provide more opportunities, they rob users of some of their most fundamental processes.</p>
<p>Further harmful effects can be seen resulting from progress in agricultural technology. Scientists are now capable of genetically modifying food and providing specialized growth stimulants to optimize crop yield, allowing the food industry to collect a greater profit and making certain products more readily available to the public. However, agriculturalists are too hasty in taking advantage of such technologies because new research reveals that modifying food in this manner leads to previously unforeseen consequences. Specifically, people who consume these altered products are significantly more likely to suffer from cancer and heart disease. Even though food can be more easily mass-produced, human lives are taking the toll.</p>
<p>A final example of damage caused by changes in people's lives has hit close to home in the form of Hurricane Sandy. With the advent of electricity and the modern conveniences that followed in the past century, people in today's society face a frightening reliance on power. When millions of homes lost power at the hands of the hurricane, the affected families were incapable of managing without. Substantial numbers lacked any other way of providing heat to their homes or refrigeration to their food, thus falling ill from these conditions. The benefits of electricity are numerous, but society's crippling overreliance on it may only lead to harm.</p>
<p>The evidence that technological progress can damage as much as alleviate is emerging constantly in the form of scientific studies and current events. From changing the ways our brains function to causing adverse health effects, technology causes risks as well as benefits, and society must learn to weigh these before it is too late.</p>