Technological Somnambulism

Langdon Winner states that human “form of life” is changing because of our “technological somnambulism.” Technological somnambulism is the fact that we take our technological advances for granted because of how often we use them and how often they appear in our lives. Since things that become a pattern in our daily lives usually become unconscious actions, this means that the technologies are being absorbed by us and becoming a part of what it means to be a human. What is interesting to Winner about technological somnambulism is how willing humans are to simply ignore these changes to our lives, as if they had no importance. The human form of life is very easy to define, it’s simply how humans live and what is apart of it. It changes as we progress. The same way that a few centuries ago, televisions were not a daily part of our lives, nor were radios, nor were telephones, and so much of what we take for granted wasn’t even an idea.

An example of technological somnambulism is how news is now being delivered via social networking sites. Since it’s widely known that people are constantly on these social networking websites, news and media stations have begun to deliver news through this platform. The fact that we can know what exactly is going on across the country or across the world as it is happening through a phone in our pockets is incredible. We are even more connected, and more knowledgeable about the world around us. However, we don’t seem to understand how to handle this and what it means about our responsibilities to these people. It was not a subject that was considered, and people still try to ignore it. The new technological advances require that we change what we consider our responsibilities. People instead prefer to just ignore that this is an incredible privilege, or that it even means anything to us. It has simply become a daily part of our lives which we use and benefit from without thinking.

I agree that we are unwilling to realize how our technological advances are changing our lives. We have access to so much information at almost all times, and nobody thinks about how that impacts us. It’s simply a fact of life. People should be more preoccupied with how we have been put into a position of privilege and it should be changing what we consider to be our moral obligations. Instead, we continue to use our phones, and our computers, without thinking about what it means. Our daily human lives have definitely been changed by the evolution of technology, and we are responsible for making sure that we use these tools in a way that benefits the most people overall. In the end, all these technological advances are not just a way to make our lives easier or safer, they are also tools which can be used to help others. In order to do this, though, we are required to way up from our technological sleepwalk and reconsider what our responsibilities are.