Why We Need to Rethink Our Relationship with Technology Before It's Too Late

We are living through a technological revolution unlike any in human history. Within the span of a single generation, we have witnessed the birth of the internet, the smartphone, social media, and now artificial intelligence systems capable of composing poetry, generating images, and engaging in conversations that blur the line between human and machine.

Yet for all our collective amazement at these developments, we have done remarkably little thinking about what kind of relationship with technology we actually want. We have allowed convenience and novelty to dictate terms, adopting each new platform and device without pausing to ask whether it serves our deeper interests.

The Attention Economy's True Cost

Consider what we have surrendered in exchange for the blessing of constant connectivity. Our attention—once our most precious cognitive resource—has become a commodity bought and sold by advertisers. Our innermost thoughts, relationships, and daily movements are tracked, analyzed, and monetized by corporations whose interests rarely align with our own.

“We did not choose this world. It was built around us while we were looking at our phones.”

— Author

The evidence of harm is mounting. Rates of anxiety, depression, and loneliness have reached epidemic proportions, particularly among young people who have never known a world without social media. Our public discourse has become fragmented and polarized, as algorithms optimize for engagement at the expense of truth and understanding.

The AI Inflection Point

The emergence of advanced AI systems represents an inflection point—a moment when the trajectory of our relationship with technology can still be altered. These systems are powerful enough to reshape work, creativity, education, and human connection. Whether that reshaping serves human flourishing or undermines it is not predetermined.

We can choose to deploy AI in ways that augment human capability, that free us from drudgery while preserving what is meaningful in work. We can design systems that enhance rather than replace human connection, that help us understand each other across differences rather than retreat into echo chambers.

What Genuine Progress Looks Like

Genuine technological progress would not be measured by processing speed or user engagement metrics. It would be measured by whether people are healthier, wiser, more connected to each other and to their communities. It would be measured by whether we are better able to solve collective challenges like climate change, disease, and inequality.

This is not an argument against technology. It is an argument for technology that serves human needs rather than exploiting human vulnerabilities. Such technology is possible, but it will not emerge spontaneously from market forces or technological momentum.

The Path Forward

Creating a healthier relationship with technology will require action at every level—individual, community, corporate, and governmental. It will require us to become more intentional about what we allow into our lives and more protective of spaces where technology is unwelcome.

At the policy level, it will require treating digital platforms as the public utilities they have become, with corresponding obligations to serve the public interest. It will require investing in alternatives to the advertising-based business models that have proven so toxic to our information ecosystem.

A Question for Our Time

The question before us is not whether to embrace or reject technology. That framing is both false and unhelpful. The question is what kind of technological society we want to build, and whether we have the collective wisdom and will to build it.

The answer will define not just the next few decades, but the trajectory of human civilization. We owe it to ourselves, and to future generations, to get it right.