Technology not to be used as crutch

Smart phones are awesome.

Mine has everything I need to keep myself entertained through long classes and while I’m bored at work. It has a GPS that helps me zoom through crowded Houston streets without ever having to memorize a single street sign.

Last week, my smart phone broke and I was angry. I was bored out of my mind and horribly lost in the Third Ward; I also found myself paying attention to details I had never really found to be that important.

New technologies have many undeniable advantages. In many ways, however, these technologies are making future generations soft and dumb.

While Generation X’ers were known for their plaid, flannel shirts and softer attitudes towards sex, Generation Y is quickly becoming known for its demanding attitude, so much so that many have nicknamed it the “entitled” generation.

Not only does today’s youth have a raging appetite for the finer things in life, they also have a major aversion to hard work.

Information is so easily accessed and entertainment is so simple to find that many young people today lack the drive and motivation necessary to face a competitive and daunting work force.

In an Army Times article published March 15, Jim Tice reported that the U.S. Army is adjusting its basic training program to “harden” recruits from the technological generation. This new training system “places additional emphasis on marksmanship, combatives, physical fitness, values and culture.”

While it is a good thing that the military is responsibly adjusting its programs to fit today’s soldiers, it reflects poorly on the youth of society and the people who raised them.

The Journal of Management published a study of 16,507 Americans and found that people from Generation Y seek all the benefits of hard work without being willing to put forth the effort.

As nice as it is to be able to fall back on technology, it’s a little outrageous to believe that these advances were made so that people could be less productive and lazier.

Many students also get false senses of security due to increased financial help from their parents. While experts disagree on the exact amount of money parents should provide their children with for education, most agree that working throughout college and establishing one’s own income is important.

To be successful, students need to start seeing technological advances and financial help for what they really are — gifts to aid them in becoming better people, as opposed to something to be depended upon.

Liz Price is a communication junior and may be reached at [email protected]