Einstein Said Technology Would Make us Idiots

Before you read: some questions to help you think about the topic and the words you might need.

What do you think about the title for today’s discussion?

Why do you think Einstein said this?

A long long time ago before the invention of the smartphone, Albert Einstein, is said to have predicted:

 ‘I fear the day technology will surpass our human interaction. The world will have a generation of idiots.’

Some historians dispute that Einstein ever said it. But whatever may be the truth, it seems that Einstein’s words may be coming true. Everywhere you look around people are only looking at their cell phones. Whether eating out with their family, sitting on the subway, watching soccer, or even riding a bike, people are looking at their tiny screens.

We can ask ourselves a question: Do we really need to be looking at our smart phones every second of the day?

Even when we are with other people, people seem unable to detach themselves from their smartphones.

A survey by a digital marketing firm found the average British person with a smartphone uses it 221 times a day. They are looking at emails, texts and other social media. Typically, they first click on to their phone at 7.31am, and then keep touching the phone until 11.21pm.

For an average of three-and-a-quarter hours a day, our eyes are connected to our phones. We don’t know what is happening in the world around us. That’s almost equal to a whole day a week.

The effect is that we no longer act as humans. We’re communicating face-to-face much less, says the famous scientist, Susan Greenfield. Her book, Mind Change, explains how the digital age is changing our brains for good and bad. She says that if we don’t speak to each other, it’s harder to have empathy.

Women are the worst — using their phones for an average 23 minutes a day more than men. And the younger we are, the worse it gets. Adults between 18 and 24 spend four hours, 20 minutes a day on their smartphones. But even those people older than 55  — who grew up in a time with no cell phones — use them for two and a quarter hours a day.

Wherever we are — on holiday in a beautiful environment, with friends - nothing is more important than the attraction of a new message, or the sound notification that someone wants to contact you.

Studies have shown how texts give us little bits of excitement. But never quite enough of that excitement. We are addicted: we want more. Apparently, when we can’t sleep, half of us play with our phones. Whatever happened to a good book?

If we could not have our phones, 80 per cent of us feel lost; especially men, who find it so much easier to talk to a piece of metal than another human being.

‘You hold your phone so close to your mouth and body; and now you put everything about yourself on it — selfies, your likes, your dislikes. Phones have become an extension of ourselves, like another body part.

Seventy per cent of people turn to their phones when they’re on their own in a crowd, to make themselves look busier. Sixty per cent have texted a friend in the same building rather than walking the few meters to see them.

Two-thirds of us, according to researchers, have found ourselves like zombies, using our phones without really knowing why.

Just like alcoholics, we know that the addiction is doing terrible things to us.  That we’d be better going back to old human habits, such as being able to have a continuous conversation for more than three minutes. The technology isn’t bad. ‘But it is very powerful and we must harness so we control it. We need to get back to the real world.

Try to guess the meaning of the words in bold and match them with their closest meaning from the choices in the right. Some of the answers are very close and have similar meaning. The meaning of these words is how they are used in the reading. Some of these words have different meanings in the dictionary depending on how they are used.

 The answers are below the table.

A=3, B=1, C=9,D=7, E=2, F=8, G=5, H=6, I=4

Some example sentences using the new words or phrases from the meaning of how they are used in the reading to help you understand better.

1. A big storm is predicted to arrive next week.

2. China has surpassed Japan as the biggest economy in Asia.

3. Since last year, there has been more interaction between North and South Korea.

4. The Hyundai car workers are in a dispute with the management about pay.

5. The man fell because the rope that was holding him detached from the building.

6. Caring teachers have empathy towards their students.

7. It is apparent that I will fail this test because I can’t answer most questions.

8. He was acting like a zombie because when I talked to him his eyes were open but he didn’t hear a word I said.

9. If we can harness the Sun’s energy then we can make power for everything.

Some questions using the new words/phrases. Try to use the words/phrases in your answer.

1. What other things did Einstein predict? What do you predict will happen in technology in the future?

2. In what ways do you agree or disagree that technology has surpassed our human interaction?

3. How do you think we can interact better as humans if technology is making us not talk to people?

4. Why would some historians dispute that Einstein said these words?

5. Do you find that technology makes you detached from other people? How?

6. Why would it be harder to have empathy for other people if we don’t interact?

7. What changes with younger people do you find apparent these days?

8. Have you ever walked into someone who seemed to walk around like a zombie? Describe the situation.

9. How can we harness technology to make our lives better not worse?