As people rely more and more on technology to solve problems, the ability of humans to think for themselves will surely deteriorate.

The statement asserts that if people increasingly use technology for their work they will lose their sharpness of mind. I do not unconditionally concur with the statement. Advancements in field of medicine, space exploration, weather prediction etc. are just few examples where technology has played an instrumental role in the advancement of the human race. Technology has made us smarter, alert, efficient and prepared.

Technology has made us more efficient. About two centuries ago people used horse carriages for commutation and it took days sometimes months to travel from one place to another, but today people use automobiles like cars, trains and buses which help us reach our destination in a few hours. Computers are used almost everywhere from homes to factories and offices. Today computers process humongous amounts of data in a few nanoseconds which would have taken days and months before the era of computers. One of the greatest examples is creation of a computer for cracking the enigma encryption machine by Alan Turing which was of paramount significance in the Allies victory in World War 2 and would have been impossible to accomplish manually. Hence I disagree with the statement because people can tackle more number of problems by the time saved by using technology.

The statement asserts that people cannot think for themselves. I disagree by giving the following examples. Polio was eradicated in India because of the combined effort and proper planning by people who with the help of technology accomplished the aim of vaccinating every child in such a hugely populated country. This task required great insight by the government and the common people. Technology has made social networking possible. Today a large number of solutions are conceived by people sitting in different corners of the world. GitHub which is an online open source platform where people can come together and develop software. Twitter and Facebook are social networking platforms where people can not only talk but use it as a platform to tackle social, political problems etc. Today because of e-governance the common people can actively participate in governmental decisions. Technology has made us more alert. We can predict cyclones and thunderstorms and take the necessary action.

Nevertheless using technology where it is not required can lead to deterioration of mental faculties. Today many primary schools encourage the use of calculators. This can severely affect the sharpness of students if they don’t perform simple arithmetic with their minds. Nowadays people use cars to travel a few hundred meters. The lack of physical exercise can have a drastic impact on health of people. The Google search engine is one of the greatest benchmarks of technology. It helps millions of people every day by connecting them to information. But nowadays many people just look up the answer to a question whereas they themselves should put some thought in it. Rather than remembering directions people use GPS everyday to go to the same destination. This can have an impact on the sharpness of memory.

I would like to conclude that technology has made our lives better, us better and helped us to solve problems whose solution was inconceivable before the necessary technology was invented to solve it. But people should not be over dependent on technology. We should use our minds to solve trivial problems which can be easily solved without using technology. Otherwise our minds will be in a state of decadence.