In the last twenty years technological advancements have changed the way we work, live and communicate. According to English-Lueck and Molitor, technology has had a mixed effect on the balance of family life, technology has either improved the balance of a family or it can restrict the way a family operates. Through the years, we've watched technology grow, we’ve seen technology fail, and we've seen it succeed. We've poked fun at it when it doesn't make sense, and we've praised it when it's absolutely brilliant. We treat technology as a family member even if that is a little co-dependent. Technology has certainly made aspects of our lives easier: We're no longer forced to send letters through the postal service, book vacations through travel agents, shop in stores, visit the library for research material, or wait for our photos to be developed.
Graham T.T. Molitor feels technology has affected families in many ways successfully. He has proposed computers and other devises have taking the place of personal assistants, as they can handle a vast growing range of activities. Molitor believes problems that once required armies of people working their entire lifetimes to solve now can be solved in seconds. He thinks increased computer speeds pave the way for machines and surpassing the capabilities of the human brain. He also feels that artificial intelligence will be taking over more and more, making it easier to communicate and less stressful for families. (Molitor, 2003)For many of us, communicating with family used to mean sending letters and cards through the mail and getting no response until weeks later. We'd pass hand-written notes to friends in class. We'd pick up the telephone—paying for long-distance calls, no less—and could only talk to one person at a time. On top of that, there were no answering machines to leave messages if a person wasn't home, or Caller ID to screen calls if we didn't feel like picking up the phone. And pay phones were the only option to call home if our car broke down on the side of the road, or if we had to stay after school.
Technology and social media have become a double-edged sword in the development of all of our relationships. It’s much easier to be friendly, outgoing, and flirty using Face book and texting, just by using the proper emoticons and exclamation points. It has greatly facilitated the interaction between people by eliminating the physical interaction between them. People would never feel the real sting of rejection or embarrassment through a phone or computer screen. But this is where technology and gadgets have the potential to undo us. By eliminating personal interaction, the social skills that we would normally develop by actually interacting have become increasingly rare. I know many people who seem like the most charismatic people on an IM chat screen, end up freezing up the second they’re put in a social situation and their virtual charisma turns into real shyness. I have seen this in my own interactions. When I was a freshman in high school I would talk to this one boy on IM a lot. We became really good friends and told each other everything. The problem was that we never hung out outside of a chat room. So when we finally made plans to go see a movie, there was a constant looming feeling of awkwardness between us. So while it is true that social media and technology can allow us a greater reach in terms of contacting people, it also comes with the risk of lowering the quality of these relationships and making them less stable. There are so many advantages and disadvantages with improved technology in our daily life. With the help of mobile technology we are able to talk to our friends and relatives who are living far from us. With the help of internet, we are able to learn new things and online courses etc. With the help of aviation technology we are able to reach distant
