Please read and grade: GRE AWA Issue Task... THANKS!

[mbmedina]

TASK:

Technology, while apparently aimed to simplify our lives, only makes our lives more complicated.

Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the statement and explain your reasoning for the position you take. In developing and supporting your position, you should consider ways in which the statement might or might not hold true and explain how these considerations shape your position.

RESPONSE:

In a sense, technology has played a major part in simplifying people's lives by lessening the time spent on basic human needs; however, the paradigm from self-dependency to technological reliance has further complicated our lives as human beings. This can be examined through consistent experiences when there are technological difficulties as well as the degradation of people's abilities to perform basic human tasks with minimal use of technological devices, which ultimately enhances people's reliance on technology and diminishes their self-sustainability.

Every time there is a malfunction in technological systems, people tend not to know how to deal with the issue due to their lack of understanding the basic machinery. This would occur when, for example, a computer has a virus and displays a blacked out screen. To my knowledge, the typical person would simply press buttons with very little luck in fixing the problem, leaving the person to flustered and forcing him or her to communicate with a technological expert.

Now, what should have been an efficient task has turned into a time and money wasting experience. This is not to say that once the piece of technology is fixed, this ends all problems; it most likely will be the first of many. Such experiences happen with every piece of technology that people utilize daily--such as cookware, transportation means or simple communication devices. While people would try to tend to the problem, the time that they could have spent on the task could have been better spent by attempting the task using basic human skills and techniques, which would depend on technology, minimally or not at all.Technology continuously corrupts one's once daily habits by restricting our use of basic human skills-like handwriting or conducting research through books-by relying on technology, which further complicates our human experiences.

Technology has proven to assist in simplifying our human existence in many ways, but it has also displayed to be too complicated for most people to truly use, let alone understand, especially without the appropriate guidance or expertise. When an issue arises with any form of technology, people often shrug and "give up" on their means of technology without any strategy.