Simplicity: Represents Modern Technology

“We do not ride the railroad; it rides on us,” Henry David Thoreau once stated in a caveat that, unfortunately, the majority of the population has failed to heed. Thoreau’s “railroad” represents modern technology and he believes that people indulge themselves in technology so greatly to the point that it essentially dictates their lives and actions. Similarly, in “Burned Out and Bored” Ronald Dahl reflects upon how the increased use of technology, among many other factors, has caused people to become overly dependent and stimulated that one can argue that, in a way, technology is actually setting us back rather than moving us forward. While the original intent of technological advancements is to enhance our lives, Dahl observed that technological over-stimulation has actually desensitized people and caused them to become bored with their lives. Even more worrisome is the social consequences of this desensitization. For instance, he watches as his 11-year-old daughter absorbs the gory special effects in movies, his son’s friends deal dismembering blows to their opponents in realistic video games, and his son criticizes, in a shockingly calm voice, that one of the world’s fastest rollercoaster rides is “not as exciting as other rides.” All of these effects highlight the alarming condition we live in where children are accustomed to high levels of violence in their everyday lives and people’s stimulation thresholds are constantly being pushed to the limit. Dahl is also seriously concerned by the adolescences’ “ever more densely packed schedules,” such as the “morning rush to make the school bus” and the “rapid shuttle through after school [programs].” He notes that even dinner, a traditionally relaxed time for family gathering, has become a “series of snacks eaten on the run” and he believes that there’s a serious imbalance with this new hurried lifestyle, for he states “…the pace of life and the intensity of stimulation may be contributing rising rate of