Your Generation...

Anaya Riaz, social media manager

Every generation hears the same complaint: how technology destroys instead of improves. However, only with a new target. A decade ago, it was, “get off the telephone, you’re wasting your life.” Before that it was cassette tapes, then radios then even novels. Today, the blame falls on screens and social media. The pattern is almost comical; each era scolds the next, convinced its upcoming technology will be the one that ruins society. 

This skepticism is not new. When handwriting first spread, critics claimed it would destroy memory. The telegraph was accused of spreading dangerous information too quickly. Even streetlamps were protested because people believed artificial light would wreck sleep cycles. In time, each of these “threats” became ordinary parts of life, so natural that we can’t imagine living without them. 

The backlash often has less to do with irrational fear and more to do with a fear of change. New machines disrupt work, routines and values. Farmers once worried tractors would erase their livelihoods. Teachers felt uneasy about calculators making students lazy and reliant. Journalists warned television would destroy the written word. These fears reveal not weakness but a general human instinct to protect what feels familiar. 

To understand this cycle on a more personal level, Mrs. McGarvey, a psychology teacher at JCHS, who has seen several technological changes pass through classrooms, agreed to be interviewed. She recalled her early years of teaching, before email or online gradebooks existed.  

“When I started teaching, we had desktop computers, but no email and no programs to calculate our grades,” McGarvey said. “When those things started to come around, people were skeptical. Even today, some teachers still worry about grades syncing between systems like Canvas and Infinite Campus," 

Her reflection shows how even tools that now feel ordinary were once met with suspicion. When asked how her generation adapted, she described the mix of challenge and opportunity. 

 “As far as computers are concerned, I think it’s been a positive change,” McGarvey explained. “Once people are used to it, things get easier. Of course, there are still challenges. We're all still figuring out AI but people my age are using it too. Over time, technology becomes more efficient and more comfortable.” 

She also shared how technology has shaped her teaching. Finding lesson plan resources, once a slow process, became far easier with the internet. However, McGarvey warned against total reliance. 

 “There has to be a middle ground with any technology you use,” McGarvey said. “It can be helpful, but people can also rely on it too much. That balance is important.” 

Her words mirror a larger truth, that history shows that technology does more than disrupt, but it deepens human connection. Telephones kept families linked across miles, the internet enabled friendships across continents. During the pandemic, Zoom allowed classrooms to stay open and loved ones to stay present. What critics call distraction often becomes a tool for belonging. 

The cycle of tech panic repeats, but it also slows progress when fear dominates. Societies embrace new tools fastest when those tools meet basic social needs connection, inclusion and participation. Perhaps the real story isn’t that every generation fears technology, but that each one eventually learns it is less about gadgets than about people not wanting to be left behind.