Technology is blamed for insidiously destroying the human art of communication, but is this the reality? Undeniably, technology has evolved and changed society, influencing the behaviors and interactions of humans; however, technology has been demonized to be an unstoppable force, accused of laying waste to small talk and stunting human relationships. That mentality is a sensationalized dramatization of what people are afraid to admit: Technology is a societal scapegoat used to avoid the actuality that lack of face-to-face human interaction stems from individual choice and not a smartphone.

Creating an online presence is a conscious decision to participate in technology, and, specifically, social media; people intentionally choose to make social media accounts. Tumblr, Instagram, Snapchat, and Facebook are not necessities. Social media accounts arise out of free will and the desire to engage in virtual connections. Thus, it is not accounts like Twitter or Pinterest that ruin human relationships; these stunted relationships arise out of a personal choice to remain online. Dr. Larry Rosen, a psychology professor at California State University, said, “The time and effort we put into our virtual worlds limit the time to connect and especially to communicate on a deeper level in our real world” (Rosen n.p.). While more time and effort is being poured into creating a perfect façade for virtual peers, relationships outside of the realm of technology suffer. In addition, after studying human behavior on social media for more than eight years, Danah Boyd notes that technology is, specifically in the case of teenagers, a “release valve” - an unstructured environment where they can talk to their friends with little worry of the interference of adults (Boyd n.p.).  Because of this desire to communicate with others online, people, especially teens, seek out social media accounts, purposely foregoing direct interaction with peers. Furthermore, participating in social media is not the only conscious decision that perpetuates the negative connotation of technology.

Though seemingly insignificant, notifications are also a conscious choice to disengage from the outside world; notifications can take the form of text messages, emails, or a social media account alerting a person of recent online activity. These notifications can sporadically “notify” a person all through the day, making distraction from the world easier, thus, perpetuating the fabricated notion that technology is the bane of intimate human communication. However, the bottom line is this; when a person chooses to have a social media account, they also choose the notifications that come with it. Mitch Joel, president of one of the largest independent digital marketing agencies in North America and author of Six Pixels of Separation, observes that notifications, rather than relaying important information, merely inform a person when there is something new to look at (Joel n.p.). Indeed, Joel is describing that with the constant barrage of notifications, people choose to attend to their phone instead of conversation. That being so, technology has increasingly been personified as a savior to society’s problems, yet, when its influence does not go as planned, it is portrayed as a force of evil.

Undoubtedly, technology truly is a societal scapegoat, used as a crutch to reassure an individual that they are not to blame when technology goes awry. For example, if one’s bank account were hacked, technology is expected to assume the fault because it is easier to blame technology than oneself when something online goes wrong. Hence, the expectations for technology have been set unrealistically high. The advancement of technology was foreseen as a gateway to utopia, the answer to society’s problems, yet, with technology’s failure to reach such expectations, disdain and mistrust were bred. This mentality can be seen on a popular T-Shirt, designed by John Slabyk, that reads, “They lied to us. This was supposed to be the future. Where is my jetpack? Where is my dinner in pill form? Where is my nuclear-powered levitating house? Where is my cure for this disease?” (Boyd 15). Slabyk’s T-Shirt reveals the mindset that when technology does not meet the preconceived bar set for it, it is accused of being a lie and deceitful. Consequently, to quote Danah Boyd, when technology fails to solve the world’s solutions, people are “disillusioned”, spurring a “backlash as people focus on the terrible things that may occur because of those same technologies” (Boyd 15). That is to say, a person conjures their own expectation of what technology can do for them, and when technology does not project those expectations, it is condemned.

Ultimately, the negative effects of technology can only be blamed on an individual’s whole hearted willingness to fully immerse himself in it. Though technology is increasingly being attributed as the reason behind lack of face-to-face human interaction, an individual is dependent on technology solely because he choose dependence, whether it be through social media accounts or notifications. It may be easy to incriminate technology for cold social encounters, yet it is clear that humans make their own choices in dealing with technology, often taking no responsibility of how their online actions effect their interpersonal relationships. Further, participating in technology is a conscious, active decision, and therefore, technology is not responsible for a person’s societal shortcomings.

Works Cited
Boyd, Danah. It's Complicated: The Social Lives of Networked Teens. New Haven, London: Yale UP, 2014. Print.

Boyd, Danah. "On Social Media, the Kids Are All Right." Interview. Audio blog post. Science Friday. Bluecadet, 28 July 2014. Web. 13 December 2015.

Joel, Mitch. "Don't Turn Off Technology - Turn Off Your Bad Habits." The Huffington Post. The Huffington Post, 25 June 2013. Web. 13 December 2015.

Rosen, Larry. "Is Technology Making People Less Sociable?" Wall Street Journal. Dow Jones & Company, 5 May 2015. Web. 22 Nov. 2015.

This will certify that the above work is a completely original essay of Hannah Kendall.