Writing for Academic Discussion Does technology help us understand ourselves better? - revised -

Does technology help us understand ourselves better, or does it hinder our self-awareness? (technology)

 

 

☆Let’s Think

1.        What does “to understand ourselves” mean?   Note: To understand ourselves may mean to understand what is a human as well as what kind of person you are. It could also mean where we come from, where we are, and what is important in life.

 

2.        How do we understand ourselves? Does technology help us do it?   Note: To understand ourselves, we need to be objective, compare ourselves with others, and have plenty of information.

 

 

☆Hints for Points

Technology helps us understand ourselves better:

1.        Accurate information about the universe and life is collected by technology. Studies of humanities are also helped by technology like DNA analysis.

 

2.        Watching the world and people leads to understanding of ourselves. The media, especially social media, provide us with abundant information about them, giving us opportunities to have insights about humans. YouTube videos show us we humans can be both brave and cowardly, angelic and evil.

 

3.        Interaction with other people helps us understand ourselves, and technology increases the opportunity to interact with others. For example, by communicating with others through social media, you can learn what kind of person you are.

 

4.        Technology helps find individual properties. For example, DNA analysis shows you what kind of people you are related to, what kind of property your body has, and whether you have the risk factor of a particular disease or not.

 

Technology hinders our self-awareness:

1.        Technology deals with matter, the physical side of the world, so it can tell us only about our physical aspects.

 

2.        The smartphone does not tell you what kind of person you really are. Apps can tell you what type of personality you have, but this categorization does not lead to real understanding of yourself.

 

3.        Information gained through technology might be distracting us from self-reflection. We think we have understood ourselves by watching television news shows and reading posts on social media and do not explore ourselves more deeply.

 

4.        Social media can distort our image of ourselves. It is easy to wear a persona online and we can believe it our real character. Also, when we should be satisfied with life just by being alive, many of us suffer from the gap between what we think we should be and what we actually are by comparing ourselves with others, even though those others might be making themselves look better than they really are.

 

 

☆Sample Answer for Ideas and Expressions

【Thesis】Data analysis of the 2024 U.S. presidential election failed to predict the result. It said the people were more liberal than ever but they elected a dictator. Technology failed to predict that so many more men than usual came out to vote for Trump and block the abortion right and the first female president. I agree that technology helps us understand ourselves, but with a reservation. It only scratches surface and prevents us from delving into our own being in the real.

【Supporting Details】Technological development has helped us collect information to understand humans such as where in the universe we are and what we are made of and how our body works. Now we know that we live on a planet that is orbiting the sun in our solar system which is a tiny part of the galaxy, which is a tiny part of an ever-expanding space. It has shown that the first human was in Africa and that all humans are brothers and sisters. It has also been finding out what is in our cells and atoms, and we all know that we are made up of the same elements that are in the outer space. Apps can also analyze our characteristics.

【Reservation】However, technology can only investigate the materialistic side of humans while what makes up humans is our mind rather than our body. It can quantify phenomena or behavior, but the findings are fragmented and superficial. Technology cannot help us organically learn about ourselves or people and society. To do it, we need to actually live in this world and interact with other humans and nature or read writings to intelligently interact with other minds, but we are increasingly living individually in the virtual world and are getting out of touch. Our memory and wisdom as human race passed down among us are now being lost as we lose face-to-face communication and read good writings less often, absorbed in information on online platforms, which is useless, meaningless, or deceptive.

【Conclusion】Although remarkable discoveries about us are being made thanks to technology, we might be losing insight into ourselves now. (349 words)

 

 

Write your response in 10 minutes. Show each other your responses. Write down questions or suggestions to each other’s response.

 

 

                                                   DRAFT