When I was about 5 I lived outside. I’m serious. Ok not literally! What I mean is I used to eat, sleep and, play outside most of times. The constant question that flew out of my mouth was “Can I please play outside?” It was the same thing with my sisters and my friends. We used to love playing outside enjoying the weather all seasons long be the spring or summer. For instance, in autumn we used to bring up a big pile of leaves and jump in them, when we went home bits of gold and red leaves would be stuck in our hair. In the winter it was time for snowman’s and snow forts and red ears, mittens and lopsided hats. Life was all good, the exception was the fact that IPads did not exist then.

Now that I’m a bit older, I don’t get to play outside as much. Don’t get me wrong though, I still play manhunt with my friends on the street late into the summer nights and have bonfires and hot chocolate in the winter, but it’s just not THE SAME! I am not going to go and blame it on the fact that I have too much work or the fact that it is because of technology -although I am going to be speaking about that-, I just wanted to put it out there. Now I know that some of my fellow watotos have touched base on technology, but as much as we all know with so many varieties of technologies readily available out there for us to use, no one is willing or can afford to live without any so as to speak. Remember when one of us shared in her article about her mom who lived without Smartphone for months? Well that could sound as a way long time to others but why? This is the topic we have been discussing in my French class and a lot of interesting stories were brought to light and the need to write about technology and our society surfaced. So I wrote my essay at that time and now here I’m again!!

I’ll start off by asking you all a question. Are we as a Society too dependent on technology? Let’s think about it. Whenever our computers stop working or our phones/iPods/portable technology get lost or break, aren’t we anxious, don’t we feel lost or something of the sort of? I have felt that way when my iPod cracked, then stopped working. I wish I can get it fixed or replaced sooner than later. Fine, we put all of our information on our computers or portable “gadgets”. Schedule? Check! Alarm Clock? Check! Phone numbers of everyone we know? Check! We easily can Google anything we need to instantly know about. It’s not a bad thing, having some information on our technology, especially as back-up but we can’t always rely on them. Many people have abandoned writing letters in favor of email or messaging. Many have abandoned the beautiful cursive writing in papers in favor of typing on the tech screen. Right now most of our school work, home works, and other communications are accessible through online, some on our secured site, some not. Technology!

Some kids prefer playing on their gadgets instead of playing with their family and friends. There are tones of games and ways to pass by times with tech savvy so as to speak! Isn’t that sad? We went from having no technology to having an overload of it. Technology isn’t all bad nor is it all things electronic. Maps are considered technology as well as many other non-electronic technologies. Technology has taken us so far in life. It has helped us find cures and vaccines for so many different diseases and given us safety measures beyond compare in our cars and homes, schools and workplaces. Without technology my two dear friends who have diabetes would not be living as comfortably as they are now. Technology was the way insulin was found and my friends use technology in forms of pumps and insulin pens that inject insulin into them. I view technology as one of those things that is excellent if you don’t have too much of it. Going one year without your favorite technology like me now without my IPod? Probably not! Not being too dependent on it? YES!!!

Do YOU think that we are too dependent on technology?

Serena Wambura