A Miracle in Disguise      Jalal Al-Zein

“Technology is nothing. What's important is that you have a faith in people, that they're basically good and smart, and if you give them tools, they'll do wonderful things with them”. The previous quote by Steve Jobs proclaims that technology is innocent in the matter of human conflict and nature’s pollution and so on. But is technology really that innocent… or is it? most people portray technology as the wolf in a sheep’s clothing. But what if it was the other way around? What if our side of the sword isn’t as sharp? Technology has a multifold of disadvantages and advantages educationally, socially and economically.

As a start, the silver lining on the cloud of technology is manifested in the fact that it distracts students from their studies, violates one’s privacy, and it facilitates piracy. Technology is most notable when it distracts people from what they should be doing         -especially parents- since nowadays, AAA games are being widely produced and published, some even for free to create a more massive appeal. Unfortunately, they have succeeded, and games like fortnite, R6S, and many others are taking away kids’ minds and imprisoning them forever in a fun, competitive world away from their civics lesson that they will never be asked about J Moreover, technology especially the internet, is becoming a major threat to one’s privacy without even him/her  knowing. One of the ways this happens is in order to provide appropriate ads to specific people. Google or whatever search engine one uses always monitor what he or she searches and analyzes this data to create patterns of stuff they are interested in. this, of course, includes you sliding into neighbors’ DMs. But technology “sins” don’t end there, for it has become widely popular to steal other people’s ideas and creations and plagiarize them. Especially on YouTube where demonetization is now widely spread like a plague because of copyright strikes. 

On the other side of coin lay technologies’ blessings. For instance, technology has offered online learning. This beats traditional learning on so many levels; first off, one learns only what he or she wants and what they need, so annoying side subjects like everything but some things aren’t a problem anymore. Second, one learns at his or her own comfort, in his or her house, and at the time desired. Third, and it is way less expensive. Also, technology is arguably the best way to make friends in our decade; personally I have made three close friends so far through online gaming. And besides that, there are countless services like tinder, omegle, discord, and others to meet new people and socializing. Finally, technology has made remarkable changes to the world of shopping, most notably in regards to online shopping. This service has allowed stores and companies to expand and increase its effectiveness in sales. Since it provides a cleaner, more comfortable experience, not to mention it eliminates worries of awkward interactions with employees for customers and saves companies the trouble of hiring them in the first place. This means that shopping is even more appealing to a wider “audience”.

Boiling down the

 subject, technology is inarguably a vital tool in the 21^st century as a means of communication and information, but of course, not all that shimmers is gold. For technology has both pros and cons economically, socially, and educationally. I hope that the people embrace this technology but at the same time, hold it carefully. 

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