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Nelson Nguyen
Mr. Benson
AP English Language and Composition
28 May 2021
The Detriment of the Pursuit of Progress
To many, the terms ‘individualism’ and ‘progress’ have long defined the identity of
humankind. While this may be the case that these two terms continue to be the defining factors to
many, it is better to understand that human society has reached a sense of no proper direction due
to such defining motivations. Ever since man discovered fire 1.7 to 2 million years ago, human
intuition and selfish ambition have been the driving force of social and mechanical
progressivism. But, over the past couple of decades, a nihilistic and pragmatic realization has
altered the destined path, a kind of realization that has made people feel that when they follow
every scientific study to its logical conclusions, the entirety of the human existence is minuscule
and inconsequential. It is this pragmatic realization that has made the rise of fabricated
technological advancement being more prevalent than ever. As a result of the self-destructive
nature of such progress, human culture has lost a sense of hope and incentive to healthily
progress further as social and adaptable mammals by encouraging the expansion of synthetic
technological idealistic obsessions and the assimilation of technological interactions in place of
sincere relationships.
To begin, studies from experts suggest that modernized human-centered idealistic
obsessions with status and power have continued to have a global digressing impact in every
aspect of human society, a parasitic modernized reality that people continuously tend to
disregard. Paul Krugman of the University of New York assesses that in American society,
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"between 1973 and 2000 the average real income of the bottom 90 percent of American
taxpayers actually fell by 7 percent" and that "the income of the top 1 percent rose by 148
percent" (Krugman). This statistic suggests that upward socioeconomic mobility has become an
idealized myth as the average income of the bottom 90 percent of American taxpayers decreased
during those twenty-seven years and that the wealthy minority's income has increased by an
incredible amount. Many at the top of society are granted these privileges by inherent birth due
to their familial background, a trait that many are not able to achieve. The nature of becoming
successful through hard work is becoming a counter-intuitive source of self-fulfillment. It has
allowed people to become more dependent on the rigid economy to a level comparable to a
fixated obsession by inspiring a false message. Over the course of global history, the world has
modernized its approach towards the global economy by creating a more capitalism-inspired,
interconnected structure to keep those on the top of the socioeconomic ladder and leave the
bottom to remain and has “[made people’s] way to even moderate affluence” more difficult to
obtain due to the reality of the cost of working and earning a livable wage in a capitalistic
economy (Krugman). For this reason, although the state of humankind is set to seek and offer
new opportunities to fulfill societal gaps, people continue to thrive in a counter-intuitive
foundation, further tightening the freedom in the socioeconomic hierarchy and grouping people
into their predestined status.
In addition, experts tend to agree that the rise of consumerism in an idealistic world also
comes with the increase of more variety, an approach that sounds good as only an idea and has
contributed to the issue of human-centered idealistic obsessions for economic fulfillment.
Although this rise has granted people the power of choice, it has only heightened major anxieties
about what is deemed correct in the fact that "[people] are regularly troubled by the sense that
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[they] may have made the wrong choice" ("Preface to . . ."). Major technological companies,
such as Apple, Microsoft, and Google, have only added onto this anxiety-inducing struggle by
producing more options to the consumer, lulling them into a fearful incentive of their product.
This incentive is influenced by many factors, such as marketable reputation, the normalcy of
everyday use, and the fact that "[human] beings will always find some means to evaluate and
judge one another" (Faucher). Why have people reached a sense of mediocrity and inferiority
amongst others like them? Well, for one thing, humanity has met a point where others are judged
solely by their economic status in a technologically revolved world where idealistically, people
live through purchasing what others have deemed supposedly normal. This occurrence has only
encouraged bias and has caused people to stray from others different than them due to the
differing levels of technological preference. To be afraid of being distinct from others in terms of
one's preference showcases the level of control this sort of technological fixation has had on
people. It is essential to address this level of technological importance. By continuing to
disregard the issue, it will only stray humanity further from its primary roots and defining
motives, that is, to think freely regardless of one's choice.
Moreover, in the process of humans obtaining validation, status, and economic
fulfillment, it has developed a phenomenon where people with more money are more unhappy
than people with less money, a depressing conclusion about idealism in a technologically
revolved world people are beginning to acknowledge. This phenomenon can be explained in that
"[in] the working world—as opposed to, for example, lotteries—success is typically earned
through effort" (Brooks) and that despite the level of global economic prosperity, "happiness
[continues] to decline as the economy [improves]" (Twenge). This evidence implies that this
phenomenon has begun to become more apparent as time progresses since the engrained value of
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work has been watered down due to the difficulty of attaining such selfish idealistic status,
leading to more frustration among young adults in the economic network. It is this "inevitable
frustration. . . that causes a lot of young people to question their values and hopes" in their
motivation to healthily progress as a species (Manson 83). For a person to question their values
and hopes is a detriment to one's growth as a person as "when [people] stop valuing something, it
ceases to be fun or interesting to [them]" (Manson 57). The expansion of technology has only
made the pursuit of happiness in society paradoxically less attainable by promoting an unhealthy
value of happiness in the form of materialistic monetary gain rather than demanding
experimental work, minimizing humanity's selfish interest. Effort drives society forward, and
without one of humanity's inherent traits, the human identity of individualism and selfish
ambition is lost in the attempt to modernize and solidify ideals.
Furthermore, studies from psychologists suggest that this prioritization of technology for
humankind has only strengthened a sense of endlessness due to the increasing demands of the
business sector for the average person. This has led many to seek less demanding and more
relaxing methods to obtain a sense of fulfillment and validation. Experts, such as Larry D Rosen,
advocate that the use of the internet has culminated a sort of deprivation in that "the Internet in
general. . . allows [people] to correspond with others who share [their] interests" because
"[psychologically]. . . [people] gain a feeling of status" (Rosen et al.). People delve into the
internet searching for a better form of reality, a reality where they are validated and welcomed
for their societal oddities. These oddities are typically founded in those that are unpopular
amongst their peers due to their differing personalities, strengths, and backgrounds from the
norm. It is this constant fear of invalidation that causes many to become secluded in their
ignorance of the natural world and strengthen their attachment towards the internet as it opens
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virtual chances of happiness. The expansion of technology has only encouraged such humancentered idealistic desires for status and power by advertising the attainment of such ideas to be
more accessible. People must find a way to control their image by being selective in connecting
to others. Overall, the effects of prioritizing technology must be considered so that people can
learn to earn their purpose and happiness in life healthily.
The expansion of technology has not only solidified synthetic human-centered
technological obsessions, but studies from human-centered experts seem to suggest that this
expansion has extended towards human relationships by adjusting preexisting dynamics among
popular culture in younger generations. This has led many to seek an unhealthy and insincere
source of validation from an outside source by closing the social gap between celebrities and
ordinary people. This kind of effort is made to gain a following income by "[using] public
acknowledgment, in the form of replies, to connect with others" (Marwick and Boyd) and by
creating an "obsessive competitive drive in accumulating ever higher scores on social media"
(Faucher). Celebrities gain an audience, or income, by bringing forth a sense of normality
between their following in exchange for more publicity, money, and notoriety. However, unlike
a celebrity, the follower receives insincere acknowledgment of their existence. This exchange
between the celebrity and their source of income brings up a question, why do people continue to
believe in the façade, the persona, and the artificial identity of celebrities? Is it the lack of
genuine intimacy, the lack of equivalent emotional exchange, or the lack of status people have in
their lives? It seems that all three have contributed to the issue of low interconnectivity among
the global population. The problem with humans is that they focus on their ability to control
situations to their liking. People tend to focus on themselves for their benefit and initially fail to
understand the complexities of a relationship. As a result, the faults in society occur because of
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the misguidance of their knowledge regarding relationships. The truth is present, yet people
continue to stray away from their responsibility towards making healthy and natural
relationships.
Likewise, this need for insincere validation towards humankind is apparent through
various social media posts, especially towards the functionality of likes. Likes are a form of
communication, usually used on social media, that allow people to signal their validation and
approval with a single click, without having to type anything. Although this tool may seem
innocent and basic at first, it has become one of the most powerful online tools created as it has
created a harsh environment where "[instead] of truly being social, [people] are making it more
of a competitive [endeavor] to accumulate more likes" (Faucher). Alternatively, it must be
admitted that this may not come from the functionality of likes, but rather the number of people
online as "[time] spent online doubled between 2006 and 2016, and 82 percent of 12th-graders
now use social media every day" (Twenge). The rowdiness of teens, their growing unpredictable
behavior, and their need to find their purpose in the world have led them to actively seek
insincere validation through social media. In their search for validation, they encounter those
with similar experiences or others with extraordinary materialistic lives, further frustrating
themselves of the abundance of the other of visual happiness. But teens do not recognize that this
"sort of empty status rises [people] up high yet leaves [them] somehow low and disconnected
from others" (Wallman 279). The functionality of likes contributes to this empty status by failing
to provide information of what likes truly are, a statistic. This obsessive fixation over a simple
number has continued to stray humans, especially teens, from genuinely interacting with others
as they place their self-worth dependent on the amount of positive feedback they receive. It is
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essential to acknowledge the harmful effects of likes, and by continuing to ignore their impact,
humanity will continue to decline as sociable mammals.
However, like the nature of technology, there are two sides to the argument of how
people's actions can be justified for the current circumstances. Understandably, people delve into
a sort of activity to tackle a struggle. Whether it is fixating on celebrities or on a technologically
based institution that strips one's individuality, it is for the sake of finding purpose and finding
meaningful relationships. These needs derive from the sole nature of humankind. Humans are
sociable mammals that require interaction and a sense of self-importance. With the recent events
only being elevated as of right now, humanity has reached a period of isolationism that has
heavily impaired social norms and limited genuine interaction. Children are at a higher risk of
this lack of natural interaction as "[young] kids are still developing. . . communicational
competencies to understand the finer points of language like irony, humor, fantasy" (Yarosh),
and as a result, children could possibly develop negative social habits that will affect their ability
to make meaningful relationships. If children are put into an environment that encourages
isolation from others, they will fail to understand the complexities of the human psyche and fail
to adapt to different situations. As a result, people are making efforts to maintain the sense of
interconnectivity with loved ones by developing artificial replicas that have the effect of making
". . . children. . . [initiate] more than half of the conversations" and has improved “the
relationship between the parents and the children" (Yarosh). As convincing as that may be, there
is such thing as reprogramming the standard. Aside from external factors, there is no other
reason to change how people interact with one another. Humans are all the supporting blocks of
civilization, yet the establishment of each block's value in a relationship is being torn down due
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to synthetic interaction, ultimately weakening the social aspect of humankind towards
relationships.
Technology has only disconnected people further from their humanity, their relationships,
their individualism, and their happiness. As the supporting factor of humankind, society itself
incentivizes the failure to achieve a perfect progressive society. Humanity is flawed despite the
radical beliefs of technological culturists who claim the technological institutions of society as
anything but imperfect. In the end, people establish the importance of themselves based on the
synthetic mechanized technological culture that integrated itself from the start of human
civilization. It is the people's responsibility to eliminate their submissive nature towards
technology that will determine the fate of humanity. Perhaps everyone can say that society's flaw
remains in the inability to surmount to anything in a modernized world, regardless of economic
background, interests, and differing levels of interactions. So much for all that progress.
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