Introduction
The prevalence of technology in the modern world has fostered tremendous changes in human lives. Technological advancements have made human lives easier. Today, people can conduct their business activities via the internet, which has made businesses more competitive. People no longer have to make physical appearances in their places of work, since they can use the internet and work from home. Additionally, technological innovations have provided students with a platform for conducting their research, stimulating the accessibility of vast information from diverse fields. Furthermore, learners can access education through e-learning, which spares them the time and stress of traveling over long distances, just to attend a single lecture. Nonetheless, despite all these benefits, some have argued that technology makes human beings lazy. Despite the role of technology in augmenting knowledge and boosting productivity, it is also inhibiting the human ability to make a proper analysis of topics, deliberate, and most importantly, think critically. As the internet becomes more integrated into human lives, it prevents human minds from effectively processing and interpreting data. Furthermore, people have become more fixated and obsessed with technological advancements, hindering them from engaging in critical activities such as creating real bonds and friendship ties and exercising regularly, to maintain health. The internet is reducing the human desire to think, understand, and retain information, as well as people’s ability to perform and contribute in a meaningful manner, to the society.
Literature Review
According to Weyers (2012), the human ability to think critically has declined in the current century, as compared to past centuries. The availability of the internet to anyone that requires its aid has been a major driver of human cognitive laziness. Nowadays, individuals can easily locate effective solutions to questions online and integrate this information in assigned work, as opposed to making use of human reasoning, to make a comprehensive analysis of various topics and, critical thinking to come up with solutions. Most students, for example, are unable to complete their assignments without the aid of the internet. Learners have the tendency of relying on the information provided online when conducting research. In the previous century, students used their own analytical and critical thinking skills to solve problems and attain the required solutions to them. Nonetheless, in the contemporary world, learners have become extremely lazy due to the availability of these solutions on the internet. Consequently, the levels of unskilled individuals have increased, since the majority of individuals pass their exams courtesy of the information they borrow from the internet and not their own efforts. Weyers (2012) argues that the tendency of individuals to rely on other people’s ideas and opinions is threatening human authenticity and higher-order thinking, encouraging laziness.
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Additionally Weyers (2012), states that human beings are transitioning from producers to hunters and gathers, in the technological forest. The internet promotes a systematic trend of data collection and reporting. People have become too apt in sharing other people’s thoughts, rather than developing and expressing their own authentic ideas. Furthermore, Weyers (2012) argues that the internet has encouraged shallow thinking which is extremely detrimental to cognitive thinking. The man has become extremely insular, less exploratory and decreasingly inquisitive, as a result of technology.
Moreover, extensive internet usage stimulates the development of systematic repercussions such as dispersed thinking and short attention durations. When individuals work online, their minds are subjected to immense pressure to absorb a wide range of information, For instance, the tantalizing photos in web pages, and the advertisements that normally appear in on sidebars cause distractions when an individual is searching for certain information. The chief consequence of this continuous process is the reduction of a person’s ability to pay keen attention to a single section which instigates a variety of other cognitive related problems.
Weyers (2012) argues that the constant interruptions and disturbances which commonly occur on the internet render the brains unable to forge strong neural connections which are critical for giving depth and uniqueness to human thinking. People have, in the virtual world, become simple signal processing units with which data is let into and out of the short-term memory. Internet intricacy and comprehensiveness is impacting a reduction in the ability of individuals to concentrate, making them lazy. Studies suggest that the continuous usage of the internet reorganizes human brains with distinctive neural connections. Additionally, the interruptions, complexity, and massiveness of the internet promote a shift in focus in order to grasp information. The brain is therefore restructured to integrate shorter attention spans so that it can recall the wide range of information. Human minds are susceptible to laziness when they cannot be able to pay keen and long attention to a single item.
Moreover, the internet exposes the human mind to a wide range of information which the working memory is unable to retain. The working memory is not like the long-term memory which has an unlimited capacity and can hold a lot of information. It is fragile and a minor distraction can make the mind to lose its content. Distractions brought about by the internet can hinder a person’s ability to recall, intellectualize, and comprehend information, making an individual lazy. Therefore, online learning is detrimental to a student’s cognitive wellbeing.
Danaher (2017) argues that modern technologies have made the world easily accessible since it is right under people’s fingertips. As a result, this has promoted desensitization of people to the world. Technology offers most of the luxuries that real life provides to people. Consequently, people have become lazy in engaging in processes such as socialization, since they can easily do so in the virtual world. Concurrently, individuals have become incapable of creating good relationships with others who they can physically interact. People no longer have to go through the tedious process of making friends, since they can obtain a lot of virtual friends online. All that is required is making an impeccable presentation of oneself in social platforms. Technology has not only made people lonely, but lazy to function in the way that they are supposed to.
Danaher (2017) argues that the internet fixation that most people have has inhibited them from exercising. For instance, people who specialize in academic writing spend most of their time seated in front of a computer. Consequently, these people have meager time to exercise and get used to just lazing around. As a result, they become lazy and avoid exercising even in their free time, which is the main reason why the majority of human beings in this century, suffer from diverse chronic ailments. It is extremely crucial for people to use the internet and technological gadgets such as phones moderately so that they can have time to function as normal human beings do. Additionally, engaging in regular exercise should be embraced, since it is beneficial to human health.
Individuals can augment their knowledge, innovate, and heighten their productivity through the moderation of internet usage. Effective and moderate usage of the internet can increase individuals’ ability to intellectualize and think rationally and critically, which is crucial for the effective functioning of the mind. Consequently, this can serve as an avenue to foster more research probabilities and enable people to contribute meaningfully and efficiently to the society through their increased productivity. Concurrently, human beings would become more active and seize to be lazy, enabling them to function better in the community. The internet is very useful in making things easier and faster. Nonetheless, faster is not always better, especially if it is in this process that people lose their productivity. Human beings should moderate the use of the internet, to stimulate their productivity and cognitive wellbeing.
References
Danaher, J. (2017). Will life be worth living in a world without work? Technological unemployment and the meaning of life. Science and engineering ethics , 23 (1), 41-64.
Weyers, B. (2012). The Internet’s Impact on Our Thinking. AP Literature.nd.Online.< https://www. nshss. org/media/1497/weyers. pdf .
