Themes and message

Technology

Part of your assignment asks you to focus on the themes explored by Pico Iyer in the essay “Why we need to slow down our lives”. The essay focuses on two major opposing themes: technology and inner peace.

Pico Iyer explores the theme of technology from a critical perspective as he believes people are now being stressed out by some of the consequences of technological advancement. Throughout the essay, the writer suggests various negative consequences of technology: “The one thing technology doesn’t provide us with is a sense of how to make the best use of technology.” (ll. 36-39).

One is that information has become overwhelming: “Put another way, the ability to gather information, which used to be so crucial, is now far less important than the ability to sift through it.” (ll. 39-42).

Another negative consequence is that technology has become a stress factor because it interrupts and distracts people: “…it takes an average of twenty-five minutes to recover from a phone call. Yet such interruptions come every eleven minutes – which means we’re never caught up with our lives.” (ll. 29-33).

Furthermore, the writer argues that technology r...