Technology Creates Social Isolation and Neurosis

by

Brennan Kellett

World of Texting

• First Cellphone invented by Motorola researcher Martin Cooper in 1973

• First Cellular network created by Japanese wireless service provider, NTT, in 1979

• First text message sent by software engineer Neil Papworth in 1992 from his computer

Texting to Isolation

Once the world got a hold of cellphones and texting became the incredibly popular way of communication it now is, the amount of isolation in the world greatly increased. It was so much easier to communicate with other people, that face to face social interactions took a steep downhill. Why go to your friends house or call them to see what they’ve been up to when you can just text them?

Video Games

• 1958, first video game ever created by William Higinbothom, called “Tennis for Two”

• 1967, first video game for the T.V. created by Ralph Baer, called “Chase”

• 1972, first commercial video game console, designed by Ralph Baer, called the “Odyssey”, released by Magnavox

What They Looked Like

How They Affect Us Today

• Kids nowadays don’t go outside to play with their friends, they just stay in the house and play games all day

• Thanks to online multiplayer, their friends don’t even have to come over to play with them

Last but not least… The Internet

• Unlike other technologies, not created by a single inventor or company

• Started off in the Cold War, used by scientists and researchers in the United States to send data and communicate with each other

• Was essentially a telephone network called ARPAnet

• M.I.T scientist invented “packet switching” which is the breaking down of data and sending it

Internet continued

• Once more computers got connected it began having issues integrating them into the network

• 19700, Computer scientist Vinton Cerf solved this by creating “Transmission Control Protocol”, which is essentially a handshake that introduces computers

• 1991, Tim Berners-Lee introduced the World Wide Web, transforming a sending of files back and forth to a web of information that anyone could retrieve

Internet and Social Issues

• People no longer have to go meet each other to transfer information, it can now be done all online

• Can live entirely by yourself without any social interaction at all by having a job and ordering everything over the internet

Conclusion

Due to so many ways of being able to isolate yourself with the inventions of new technologies, people are becoming more and more distant from each other and developing lots of social issues and mental disorders. The new technologies are extremely helpful but in a way are also detrimental to humans and their way of life.

References

Aquino, J. (April, 2011). Meet the geniuses behind the cellphone, texting and other mobile tech you can’t live without. Retrieved from http://www.businessinsider.com/inventors-of-mobile-devices-texting-phones-email-voicemail-2011-3?op=1

Bellis, M. (n.d.). Computer and video game history. Retrieved from http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blcomputer_videogames.htm

History Network (n.d.). The invention of the internet. Retrieved from http://www.history.com/topics/invention-of-the-internet

Rhoudabi, H. (May, 2012). How video game consoles in the previous century began. Retrieved from http://www.v-warriors.info/how-video-game-consoles-in-the-previous-century-began/

Hall, J. (March, 2013). Computer – showing importance of technology in every sector. Retrieved from http://importanceoftechnology.net/385/computer-showing-importance-of-technology-in-every-sector