Magoosh Issue Essay

[p-Erk]

First time poster on this forum. Thank you ahead of time for your feedback!

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

Essay Response: 

Technology has become more pervasive in our lives in the recent decades. Notably, the popularization of smart phones, gadgets, the internet, and similar innovations has enabled widespread access to and use of technology that purports to improve our lives. Although technology can and does simplify our lives in some instances, it also can make our lives more complicated in others. I will argue that technology has the ability to simplify and complicate our lives, and that is does not "only" make our lives more complicated. Here, I will examine how technology interacts with our lives in communication, navigation, and social media.

Technology has provided us the ability to quickly connect with one another via platforms such as Skype, Google chat/hangout, and texting. Although nowadays we take ease of access to others for granted, it can arguably be said that such technology has simplified our lives. Instead of waiting days or weeks for postal services to convey important messages to loved ones, we can expect to have our messages delivered in a manner of milliseconds. However, such technology also can make our lives complicated. In using text-based chat, users may be tempted to shorten messages to get to the point, thereby reducing the amount of tone that can be conveyed. This may add to confusion, as humans have evolved to extract and interpret tone in messages. Text-based chat can also dramatically reduce our physical contact with each other as we grow accustomed to being on our computers or devices. Technology has the ability, therefore, to both simplify and complicate our lives.

In navigation, technology has similarly made our lives more complicated while making smiplifying our lives at the same time. Instead of having to read physical maps, which involves more complicated procedures such as determining ones current location, determining direction, and physically identifying a path by oneself, we now have the ability to "plug and play," by entering in our destination into a navigation system and allowing complex global satillites to lay out the path for us. At the same time, navigation systems are another added distraction in our vehicles. With each added distraction, our lives become more complicated; not only do we have to drive safely by keeping our eyes on the road, but we now have to ensure that we are indeed focusing on the road ahead and not on our digital navigation systems in front of us or in our laps. Distracted driving due to a more complex environment in the vehicle is one risk that we take with navigation technology that does simplify our lives but at the same time can also add some complexity to our lives.

Finally, social media technology has greatly simplified our lives by ensuring that we get around-the-clock news at the touch of our fingertips. This ability has greatly expanded our individual reach beyond the local community and into the global community. it has also enabled individuals to express their opinions and contribute to global discussions about topics that otherwise may have been difficult to learn about. Unfortunately, social media also can make our lives more complicated. Individuals now have to decide what truly matters to them; not all news is important to everyone. Furthermore, individuals have to decide how to manage social media so that what happens beyond their lives does not intrude too much into their lives. Social media management, for example, is now an important topic among socially engaged individuals who use social media technology. Therefore, social media is another form of technology that both simplifies and complicates our lives.

In conclusion, many examples of technology simplify our lives. Technology has enabled us to be more connected to one another and takes away labor-intensive work. However, it is not true that technology "only" complicates our lives; examples of technology in communication, navigation, and social media demonstrate that technology can have both positive (simplifying) and negative (complicating) effects on our lives. Ultimately, individuals will need to determine the proper balance of the two for the technology that they are using.

Edited September 1, 2016 by p-Erk
Formatting

[Vince Kotchian GRE Prep]

Don't bother writing Magoosh essays! All the possible GRE essay prompts are on ETS.org. You're gonna get one of the real prompts. You won't get a Magoosh prompt.

With that said, this is a very good essay - I'd give it a 5.

[p-Erk]

Thanks Vince! How can I improve?

[Crucial BBQ]

On 9/1/2016 at 6:45 PM, Vince Kotchian GRE Prep said:

Don't bother writing Magoosh essays! All the possible GRE essay prompts are on ETS.org. You're gonna get one of the real prompts. You won't get a Magoosh prompt.

With that said, this is a very good essay - I'd give it a 5.

 

For what it is worth, there are over 100 prompts (I stopped counting, estimate 150 total?) for the argument essay alone.  I also suggest working with their prompts, too, but only because no one can write them like they write them.