Automation. The act of implementing systems to operate without human intervention or, as defined by Merriam-Webster, “the state of operating automatically.” Automation is rapidly accelerating our modern world with artificially intelligent chatbots and driverless cars. Some see automation as a positive change to reach an automated, dependent society, similar to the 1960s ABCs cartoon, The Jetsons.
Vivik Wadwa, co-author of The Driver in the Driverless Car, says that automation will alter the purpose of life and allow humans to focus on what is important, family, enlightenment, faith, etc. But is this the reality humans really need or want?
Despite the potential and promotion of daily automation, I believe it is detrimental to humans in the long-term. However, if this automation is regulated for light consumption, I believe we can be better as a species.
In TED Talk, Sal Khan, creator of Khan Academy, introduces the website’s newest feature, an AI assistant called Khanmigo. Throughout the speech, Khan displays demonstrations of Khanmigo’s many features and its potential for education. Khanmigo helps students think, helps teachers prepare lessons, and guides students through the college process. The AI can impersonate people and things to help students to better understand a concept. It can even help them write!
Khanmigo has endless possibilities and should definitely be implemented to help educate students. However, this will only assist students in the short-term. It will be difficult for students to achieve decent careers, if they become dependent on the assistance of Khanmigo for understanding. This is a potential risk that would add onto the cognitive harm automation has already done.
For example, handwriting is a crucial skill for understanding, retaining information, academics, daily life, and cognitive development. The implementation of computers in schools has affected students’ ability to strive academically either because they cannot recall information or because their handwriting is illegible. A study conducted by Waleed Osman, where 185 female seniors from the Northern Border University College of Education and Arts’ Languages and Translation department answered a questionnaire involving handwriting, proved technology’s detrimental effects. It yielded that the quality and legibility of handwriting was affected, therefore impacting intellectual progress, educational performance, attention span, and concentration.
However, this is only the start of automation’s detrimental impact. As students get older, they retire their pencils and computers to pick up their cellphones. These addictive, user-friendly products reduce a student’s ability to maintain focus and prey on children’s malnourished ability to control their impulses. Cell phones are also children’s main source of social interaction, therefore making phones very important to them. If the phone addiction continues, the next generation of humans will be unable to focus on one another or communicate with each other without relying on a form of automation. As a kid from this generation, I know communication is a critical issue for most of us, despite all of the technology at our disposal. If automation overhauls all of our communication forms, we will become nonverbal and more misunderstood than we already are.
Phones don’t only impact our minds, but also the road. I’m sure we all have seen a “No texting while driving” campaign. Whether on a billboard, in a commercial, or watching a video in Drivers’ ED, we have all heard at least one negative story about someone on their phone while driving and either lost their life or took someone else’s. The automated solution to solve this problem was CarPlay and Android Auto. These features essentially project your phone onto a screen in your car and allows you to talk on the phone, hands free while driving. The idea is smart, but is it effective? The idea is to minimize distractions but, according to a study by the Cult of Mac, it is actually more distracting than a phone. Phones as a whole are a distracting entity that is slowly, but surely, damaging our brains and relationships.
However, we can fix this as a society. Individually, we need to take it upon ourselves and take breaks from our devices to rebuild our minds. Start by putting your device away, hiding it, or having someone else hold it. Alternatives to technology can be reading, walking, or even talking to someone. Parents need to encourage their children to take breaks to mend the problem at the root. This will help them be better students and evidently, better people. The government should step in as well. The Board of Education should encourage schools to enforce no phone rules and establish times when students can use their phones to ensure an even balance. The Board should also encourage schools to use more paper and less technology. Instead of completing a science lab online, teachers can take their students outside or do an in-class demonstration. These little implementations could be the saving grace humans need.
Automation has shown that it has endless potential. It has the potential to allow humans to become more efficient and productive. However, this efficiency will become short-lived if we allow automation to take hold of our lives. If we seek a society like the Jetsons and a world of enlightenment, we must regulate automation for a lower intake, so we can reach that level of technological and personal sophistication.
