Could You Live with Less

“Could You Live with Less”

Stephanie Mills in her essay “Could You Live with Less” states her opinion about technology. According to this author, “technology comes at a serious cost to the planet and most of its people” (Mills 2). It is hard to argue with this author about how we can restrict our needs by using less technology. However Mills believes that technology has a more negative then positive influence in our lives.

Mills is proud to live simply, restricting herself to technology. This author uses technology just for basic need; she has a telephone and car because she needs connection with people. Her decision to restrict technology usage is profitable for herself since she doesn’t need to pay bills for heat or television. As she saves money, she can afford to own a huge property with a beautiful view. Mills is a writer with an unsteady income, so she probably would have trouble paying urban expenses. She enjoys nature and her big house and I believe it is a part of her inspiration for work as a freelance writer.

Another reason she chooses her lifestyle (a wood-heated house, no television or computer) is that she is not the slave to technology. Too many of us are slaves to technology. We spend a lot of money on technical devices. Some of us constantly want a better PC or a new “hot” cell phone. As Mills says, “we climb on the purchasing treadmill of planned obsolescence” (Mills 1). Surely, technology speeds up our work, but we still work more and more. Nowadays technology substitutes for human work power. Machines are reducing the number of workers needed. Very soon we will not need human power at all. Robots will substitute for that.

Technology can change our sense of common purpose. For millions of years, mankind was used to do everything for itself. For a long time peoples' main concerns were survival. To survive means to go out into the woods or forests and shoot animals for the food which the family needs to eat for the day. People of modern society never think about hunting for food or clothes. Now, it is all brought to people instantly through a new standard of survival. The new standard for survival means making money to go to a mall or supermarket and getting everything a family needs. A family can get food and clothing at these places without ever having to go into a forest or a lake. This thought is ever so frightening. When a person from modern society goes into a supermarket and buys a pound of fish, he or she doesn't even think of the process that went into the purchase of that piece of fish. He or she didn't need to go to a lake, all that was needed was to drive to the local supermarket and buy it. No fishing or hunting was necessary.