It’s 2018 and everyone and their mom has a Netflix account, and if you don’t, you’re using someone else’s, whether they know it or not. One of Netflix’s most popular original series that people go wild for is “Black Mirror”, which gives a new scenario each episode. For the past 4 seasons, the show has focused on the detrimental consequences of technology with its constant advancements. One episode, “Arkangel”, tells the story of a chip being placed into the mind of a toddler by her mother. The chip allows the mom to see and hear everything the daughter experiences, and also gives her the option to censor anything deemed inappropriate or “stressful.” Without spoiling the whole episode, that device caused a lot of issues for the daughter as she grew up. There’s a very real and twisted ending to it, solidifying the idea that while technological advancements might be made with good intentions, it also may cause more harm than help. Anyway, I probably didn’t need to explain that to you as you’ve most likely already binge watched the show.

Too much of anything can be a bad thing, and in our rapidly evolving world, technology has gone just a little too far. It’s time we settle down. It’s okay to appreciate life the way it is for a while. Maybe I sound like a grumpy old woman complaining about, “Kids these days.” I get it, and I’m not much older than the generation of children who grew up with their face glued to their tablet. I did have tech toys growing up, but I also took some time to play outside and, I don’t know, learn about the world from experience and not solely YouTube videos. Did you hear about Toys R Us filing for bankruptcy late 2017? Yeah, apparently going to the Apple store has surpassed running around aimlessly at the toy store. Rest in peace, LEGOs.

Remember the days you’d walk to McDonald’s after school for the okay taste of a McChicken and dollar large coke? You would walk through the doors beneath the infamous golden arches and be greeted, hopefully, by one of the lovely cashiers. “Welcome to McDonalds, what can I get for you?” speaks the friendly soul behind the counter. You place your order, slide over your crusty five dollar bill, and go sit and wait. Well sorry to inform you, but those glorious days are coming to a close. Now, your local fast food restaurants don’t want to speak to you, see you, or even just come in contact with you. Instead, they are implementing touch-screen kiosks where you can place your order and pay for it without ever interacting with a single staff member. When did human interaction become too much for our society to handle? I mean in all honesty, how much time does it really save someone to order with a tablet rather than a person? The only thing that it saves is humanity from ever growing together. Mic drop.

     On the topic of replacing real people with technology, brace yourselves, robots are becoming more prominent than ever. We’ve always heard of robots, seen them in cartoons, and if you’re like me, feared them ever becoming a reality. Robot is a general term, but I’m talking about the real deal: human copies. Sophia the Robot is close to being indistinguishable from a person walking on the street. Well, maybe if she gets a new wig and improves her footwork, but regardless, her purpose is to be exactly like living and breathing humans, and she’s definitely getting there. We have seven billion people in this world, and enough can reproduce, so why is it necessary to put time and money into creating a mechanical version of such? The moment our world is crowded with robots living as people is the day we will have failed. Instead of curating robots, help those with an actual heart and brain with the money that would be put into it.

Now I’m not naive enough to believe we can completely seize all technology from advancing. I’m not suggesting we stop supporting Elon Musk (that guy’s a genius). All I’m saying is someday, one advancement too far, technology is going to be the death of human interaction and any sense of normality. Get woke.