Cultural Differences in Technology

American's have become solely dependent on technology. We file away our financial information online and communicate through social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. Even businesses jumped onto the cyberspace bandwagon advertising to online consumers via tweets and Facebook status updates. Many relationships are built upon text messaging alone. Others blossom out of online dating sites such as eHarmony or Match.com.

Our society has yearned for faster, more inventive and even more attractive technology of all sorts, ranging from cars to computers to internet speeds. Days and nights are spent partaking in every form of technological advancement imaginable. Many stop signs have been replaced by electrically generated stoplights. LED billboards promote and boldly state how people can obtain the glittering devices connecting them to the rest of the world.

Not to burst anyone's bubble, but the rest of the world is not necessarily so internet savvy. Our culture has become defined as technologically progressive. American charities and Oprah are taking this technology and placing it into schools in Africa in the form of Mac desktops, where the children have never even seen a computer before. The mass culture in America largely differs from that of most of the rest of the world.  Children in other cultures do not grow up playing video or computer games and watching television for hours on end at the age of five. These children are lucky to have clean water. The technology available to people in third world countries cannot compare to the incredible amount of mechanical devices that function as America's supporting arm.  Without many electronics we use today, some American's would be unable to function.  Have we forgotten The Millennium?  

Even within our own country, there are subcultures disconnected from all of this technology. The Amish make it a point to travel by horse and buggy, use outdoor plumbing and live their lives as though they are unaware of the technological hyperspace surrounding their communities.

You cannot ignore the fact that the technology available to the masses in America is far more progressed than the majority of the world. Many other countries including China, England and France are just as progressive or even more so going places with technology. However, I feel as though many people engulfed in our society do not realize just how fortunate they are to live in a mechanically driven society.

How do you wash dishes? Clothes? Think about bathing in anything cleanlier than your shower. Running water in your home in general is a blessing. Going to school forces the internet upon you and if you can tell you know someone without a television in their home I would be pleasantly surprised. We have cars, Marta and airplanes to get us from one place or the other. The Amish travel by horse and buggy. If you actually think about it, it can be a lot to grasp. Your life void of these luxuries.