Monthly TOEFL Essay #2: Emotions

Topic for the response: The 21st century has begun. What changes do you think this new century will bring? Use examples and details in your answer.

Name: Kim Ho-Sung A

ID: 131048

             As the 21^st century goes on and as time passes humanity tends to develop. These developments can be advancements in energy use, scientific achievements, and economical growths. But as we strive for the higher goals of our lives we seem to fall behind. Humanity is losing their primitive functions like emotion or perception. This mainly connects with globalization achieved by technology. Therefore, I presume that the 21^st century will bring a change by lighting up the start for the eradication of humanity’s emotions, lack of expressions, and the first to experience the negative aspects of flooding information.

       Smart phones are being readily used by countless people. We see that people are staring at their phones in subways or in the streets rather than communicating face to face. Humans communicate using various areas of our bodies such as a little flinch in the eyebrow, gestures, and tones of which we speak. We detect these verbal and nonverbal communications through our experiences and emotions. But the technological developments in social networks are blocking our capacity to flourish our primitive emotions. We communicate by chatting with our phones, using social networks rather than asking people directly. This limits the exchange of emotions among people. But the problem doesn't end here. The real problem lies within the effect of technology concerning children, the future of our race. Children are drawn to high-tech gadgets easily as they are like sponges absorbing any kind of information. The problem is there are too much noxious information and addiction. They cannot overcome the temptation of technology when they should be playing outside communicating with their friends. A research done by Stanford University suggests that children who spend a majority of their time online are less happy among their peers because of the social disconnection they feel. This suffocates children emotionally.

             Next, people are losing their own ways of expressing themselves. We express ourselves in order to change or to communicate. Our expressions and emotions are the source in which other individuals comprehend and try to send their ideas back at us. But in the 21^st century we are laughing with our hands. We send texts to indicate that we are currently laughing like “kkk” when we should be smiling using our facial expressions.

This way of stopping our expressions, limits our potential for communication. Social life isn’t just about talking or sending messages. It’s about eye contact, a hand shake, and a smile. Another example of limited amount of expression is the use of cameras. Parents try to capture the moment by looking at their children using cameras. While they should be clapping and cheering for their children’s dance performances, parents are all holding their devices in front of their faces not expressing. The world has been brought close by technology, but it has also ripped apart humanity.

             Finally, information is increasing rapidly as the current devices are enabling people around the globe to communicate. We have access to a variety of information using the internet as a bridge. Flooding information can be interpreted as a positive thing, because it suggests an idea that we are developing. However, the concern is not for intellectual developments, but for emotional ones.

As we enhance our ideas and technology the question raises if the human race is able to follow the development as well. People are ignoring the human nature in order to develop their rationality with information. Because we are constantly shoving information inside our heads we are ignorant of our nature to feel emotions. In other words our heads are becoming bigger but our hearts are becoming smaller. We can never live without a heart.

             The new age of the 21^st century may be an age of development. We constantly construct new things in order to enhance our ways of living. But as we go on we sometimes forget to look back. Our emotions are being turned into stone by social networks, lack of expressions, and flooding information. We say that the world is closer than ever before, but the absences in close human relationships are making us fall back.