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Many people blame technology for making them fat. They say that they spend hours every day watching TV sitting on their butts at home. Couch Potato syndrome if you will. This after spending all day at work on a computer, even coming home and emailing friend sitting at a computer, more sitting causing a larger buttocks they say.

Regarding the obesity issues with due to time spent sitting on one’s but rather than exercising these folks who complain that technology is making them fat do have a point. Yet these technologies are convenience and should give you more time to catch up on the news quickly, especially at the rapid pace they show it and thus give you more leisure time to go out and do the fun stuff you desire to do. Is technology really making us fat?

Indeed we know that due to abundance, people become lazy and gain weight. In fact being a little chubby was a sign of wealth in the past. Thus more people who can have more leisure time tend to do less and gain weight. So, it is not only the 6 hours a day of television people watch, but a choice of how they spend their leisure time. You should not take choices away or dictate how others will live. Now if you want to talk about the ramifications of over taxing our healthcare system due to such choices of how we spend our leisure time, you might have a point. Regarding obesity overwhelming our medical system, indeed, excellent point, very critical and urgent. Think on this in 2006.

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Technological determinism is a theoretical and methodological set according to which the level of development of science, technology, information and technology of big scale production defines social and economical development as a whole. It is also defined as any large scale technological measurement that leads to any social change.

The main role in social and economical developments belongs to technology according to this concept. This definition appeared about a hundred years ago after great success in science and technology developments and their growing effectiveness in mass usage and production.

The term ‘Technological Determinism’ was first coined by Thorstein Veblen, an American economist and sociologist who lived from 1857 to 1929. Broken down into its constituents, “technology” means the practical application of science to commerce or industry, whilst “determinism” refers to a philosophical doctrine holding that all events are inevitable consequences of antecedent sufficient causes; often understood as denying the possibility of free will.

Theories related to determinism, for example: linguistic, genetic, biological and environmental determinism, have been around for a few centuries. But it was until the Industrial Revolution that scholars and sociologists started noticing the implications of technology on society. Technological Determinism has been often dismissed in the past, but in the society of the present, it has a gained newfound accreditation with the introduction of modern technology.

In 1950, the great Canadian economic historian, Harold Innis, wrote a book titled “Empire and Communications”. Innis noted that “the subject of communications occupies a crucial position in the organization and administration of government and in turn of empires and western civilization” Beneath his discourse on various world chapters, Innis concealed the basics of a model showing how different communications technologies have affected cultures.

In another of his famous works, “Bias of Communication”, Innis writes that each civilization that has developed across history takes its form from a “bias” created by the prevalence of a type of communication.

Marshall McLuhan (1911-1980) served on the faculty at Toronto with Harold Innis, and acknowledged Innis’s contribution to his theory, but the two had little direct contact. McLuhan believed that the new electronic media have radically altered the way people think, feel, and act. He is probably best known for his phrase which he turned into the book title, “The Medium is the Massage” (now more widely quoted as the medium is the message).

His notion is that the message is greatly impacted by the system in which the message is delivered. What we say is of much lesser importance than how we choose to deliver it. His belief in technological determinism is obvious by his phrase, “we shape our tools and they in turn shape us”.

It is Innis and especially Marshall who gave credence to the concept of technological determinism.
It is perhaps the evolution of technology after the invention of the telegraph which is especially fitting to the argument of technological determinism. The 20th century had impacts on the societal structure with every new technological advancement that took place. The inventions of the telephone, followed by the radio, then the television, have made uncountable changes in the ways society interact. The rate at which technology evolved in the last century had far exceeded that of any century before it, and just as accordingly, the rate at which the society had changed in the last century was unprecedented.

Messages were distributed farther, faster, and with less effort. News was packaged differently, and had a new emphasis, as did popular entertainment. These developments were paralleled and influenced by a century-long transition to a predominantly industrial economy, with its accompanying urbanization. One result was the emergence of “mass society”. This same period also saw the bicycle, automobile, and airplane emerge as significant modes of transportation. The sense of space they fostered, coupled with the increased speed of railway and steamship travel, led to World Standard Time via the creation of time zones, further shifting cultural identification away from the immediate and local.

The above is the basis for the technological determinism argument. Its basis is in the belief that technology is at the root of our social change. When technology advances, society follows in its shadow.

Technological determinism is a controversial concept. There are those who agree with it, and those who strongly oppose it as well. Even amongst those who agree with it, their views on the concept vary greatly.

It is true that technological determinism is a dominant force that shapes and changes society. It can either be seen as a threat to our own free will, or it can be seen as a guiding tool that leads us to more effective ways of communicating. It is a force that cannot be overlooked.

Nevertheless, it is impossible to justify the insistence that technology or media is the fundamental factor which propels society. But it must be admitted that the evolvement of technology has widespread consequences which cannot be denied. Any technological change which is large enough is likely to produce some social change.

Technology is just one of the many mediating factors in human behavior and social change. In the face of the evidence which can be drawn from the past century, I am compelled to believe in the theory of technological determinism. But as mentioned, there are different modes of determinism for this theory, and it is the “Soft technological determinism” which makes the most sense to me. It is less extreme and allows the possibilities of other factors to determine the trend of the future. It is my belief that after technology has permeated every section of our society, other factors will play a much bigger role than technology in the influence of our society.

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One of the main advantages is the time that can be saved by using a computer. Stored information can be found at the touch of a button, whereas searching for it manually takes much longer. This is especially beneficial in the workplace, where employees can do their work far faster than they could in the past. Therefore, our everyday lives are made easier - from going to bank to doing shopping. Computers can also save a lot of storage space. Storing information on computer discs is one of the most efficient ways of keeping data. One computer disc, for instance, can hold the same amount of information as several books.

In addition to this, computers can be educational and fun. From a very young age, children can gain basic computer skills through programmes that allow them to learn, draw, paint and play. In today’s technological world, this knowledge can only help them in the future.

However, there’re various negative aspects to using computers. Many jobs have been lost due to the fact that computers can do a lot of tasks more efficiently than humans. This has led to high unemployment in many countries. What is more, computers can actually cause health problems.

Endless hours in front of a screen can cause eye strain and headaches, which are serious side-effects. There are people who claim that computers are unnecessary and make our lives more complicated. They argue that in the past we managed very well using other methods and that we have become too dependent on computers. However, they fail to consider that the time saved by using computers for repetitive tasks enables us to use our own time more creatively and productively.

To sum up, it seems that computers are a useful addition to our fast-moving world of high technology. They have changed our live for better and there is no reason why we should not make them work to our advantage. However, it must be remembered that they are here to serve us- not to replace us.

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