We are now part of a new frontier: the technological era. We have more information at our fingertips than in an entire library, and that is something we should celebrate.

   Parents, adults and critics are quick to point out the faults in technology. “It’s distracting,” they say, or “It makes children lazy,” but the truth is that technology plays a key positive role in how our society functions today.  Technology helps us connect, discover and invent in ways people, only a few decades ago, couldn’t even have dreamed of. “Research shows that, for example, video games and other screen media improve visual-spatial capabilities, increase attentional ability, reaction times, and the capacity to identify details among clutter. Also, rather than making children stupid, it may just be making them different” (psychologytoday.com).

   Instead of standing idly by, we should take advantage of the various opportunities that technology offers, such as communicating to people in all parts of the world, sharing ideas or opinions and even searching Google for an unanswered question.  According to Business Insider, “Social media is helping fuel social activism, as it provides a way for people to connect over common causes and ambitions.” This new level of connection provides anyone with access to media an opportunity to take part in conversations he/she may not have been exposed to before, ultimately making him/her more educated. Also, social media can be used as a platform to get young people listening and involved in big issues and even politics. As seen in the current 2016 election, candidates are using social media to spread their messages and involve more of the American people (businessinsider.com).

Search engines such as Google help to educate people at a faster pace than ever before. Whether it’s how to change a tire or a math question, a student can solve a problem with just the click of a button. According to a statistics website, “Google now processes over 40,000 search queries every second on average…, which translates to over 3.5 billion searches per day and 1.2 trillion searches per year worldwide” (internetlivestats.com).

  According to the New York Times, in 2011, “…an article in Information, Communication & Society… found, based on a representative survey of 2,500 Americans, that regardless of whether the participants were married or single, those who used social media had more close confidants.” The new way technology is shaping our social lives is making a leap forward in how we communicate with the world around us (nytimes.com).

  As with all things, technology is something we should use in moderation, but using it for the right purposes can accomplish unprecedented feats. As a society, not only can we merely hope to move forward, expand our thinking, improve our lives and invent new solutions to old problems, but we can start achieving these goals with technology as a tremendous aid.