Swipe, double tap, like, repeat. These are the directions that dictate our everyday lives in 2018. People on their phones can’t seem to break the trance, and the problem is only getting worse. Texting and driving is a big problem, and an obvious drawback to people being so dependent on technology, but there are many other problems with technology that are ruining our society.

In the novel The Time Machine by H.G. Wells, the author predicts that in the far distant future, people will separate into two groups. One group, the Eloi, are fragile and weak from having all of their needs met, which leaves no need stay mentally or physically fit. The other group of people have almost evolved into a different species, more apelike than human.

Humanity is on course to become more like the Eloi, especially with the smart devices running our homes and whatnot. The scary part is, Wells’ prediction may have not only been right, but may come true much faster than in his fictional time travel account. Devices and home assistants like Cortana, and the automatic devices like the iRobot vacuum, a name derived from a novel about the exact problems which could arise from artificial intelligence, make it so that we don’t have to perform the daily tasks that used to keep us fit.

Instead of going outside to play, kids are staying inside on their phones and playing video games. Adults rarely go on walks unless they have to, and will most likely drive where they need to go. As a country we are some of the laziest people in the world at this point because of how advanced our technology is.

Wells predicted our demise, and he may not be very far off by the looks of things. People are distracted, myself included, by having to know what is going on in everyone else’s lives, combined with a yearning to be accepted by friends and even complete strangers. This concern with other people’s lives makes us unable to realize what that there may be other people right in front of us.

A once very social species, humans turned to technology to make communication more efficient. The solution to this, communication by phone, became the new problem, because people have been given the power to socialize with others through calling, which has now evolved to texting.

Texting is becoming a huge socializing problem. Texting was meant for people to have the ability to message others when necessary or try to discuss something when unable to meet with someone face-to-face. Texting has become the default for most teens, and, even when at a social event, people are on their phones when they could be talking to other people right in front of them.

There may be no solution to the anti-social social media epidemic or the rise of human dependence on technology. Even the people who try to shame others out of using their phones all the time turn around and do the same thing, as I will probably do right after writing this article. The devices that seem to have made everyday tasks easier and exponentially faster, are the same devices that will bring our society down to its breaking point. This is our modern tragedy.