Is Technology Taking Over Our Souls?

In the past, people used-technology as a tool to survive. Today we are witnessing a shift in which technology plays an important role in our society, it is no longer a survival tool but a means of communication and entertainment to connect with people.

From an early age, the human being loves pressing buttons that light up and make noise. Maybe we do not realize it but that is the first moment in our lives in which we are captivated by technology.

And right now, on a daily basis we are invaded by various lights and beeps of which we can not do more for less.

From electronic toys for infants up to the smartphone, today’s children are in fact right now accustomed to the use of tablets and smartphones developing a kind of addiction that later age can become either positive or negative. Many times people will discuss both sides on Technology Podcasts, forums, and in reports and research.

Technology and the internet are a winning pair for today’s society, technology both entertains humans and makes work and social life easier as well as faster, although it is not exempt from possible bad uses and abuses which then generate, possible addictions. Many believe that humans are already too reliant on technology and the internet.

But not all dependencies can be considered negative. Large companies such as Microsoft, Apple and Samsung are working on their own projects on the basis of information obtained through psychological investigations on human beings and their dependencies. What emerges are advertising campaigns designed specifically to meet all of our needs.

Even a Stanford University study, conducted in 2013, revealed that strategies based on human psychology are the right solution for better functioning of a product. It is no coincidence that such a large part of the companies that are developing online games of chance are pinning their own marketing strategies on the relationship between technology and psychology.

Technology is even changing sports in ways that 20 years ago, nobody would have even imagined. Esports, (professional video gaming) have taken the world by storm. Esports are already considered a sport in many parts of the world and as an industry, it is booming. The top esports tournaments take place in sold out stadiums, the 80,000 capacity Beijing National Stadium is set to host the League of Legends World Championship final later this year. If at all you want to learn about the various champions in this game, find more info on sites like MOBA Champion. Venues across the world – from America to South Korea – are being designed and built specifically for esports. The top players are earning over $1 million and are worshiped like rock stars by their fans. Businesses and sponsors are flocking to esports in order to advertise themselves to the millennial generations. Esports are becoming more and more like real sports everyday – audiences can watch a number of esports events on their televisions and are able to bet on the outcome of esport matches online like they would a real sporting event.Real life football clubs are even working with esports FIFA players and teams. Many top European football clubs are investing in esports in an effort to attract the future generation of football fans to their own football clubs.

Esports are probably a very extreme example to understand technology can “kidnap” our souls but it makes it easier to understand and see how technology is completely changing our lives and it is not just changing sport, it is changing our everyday lives too.

The use of the smartphone is the most concrete example. It is quite common in today’s society to have dinner at home with the phone at the table and this makes us completely separate from each other causing a lack of communication.

The paradox of mass communication technology is that we become more distant from each other when we choose to abuse and to make smart phones, computers, televisions, etc. our main means of communication with each other. Technology is a wonderful tool that should help human beings to improve their quality of life, but instead sometimes prevents us from being able to form meaningful relationships. However, the long-term effects of modern social communications are yet to be seen, but at the moment the beneficial aspects and harmful ones go together.