Test

With so much technology in the world today, finding a legitimate excuse to tell your professor why you did not do your homework is becoming more and more difficult. The old excuse of my dog ate my paper is useless because he or she will simply ask you why you did not just walk over to the computer and print it out again, or e-mail them the night before and let them know that you had a problem. Technology is an extremely broad topic to talk about and varies from the smallest man made innovation to the most complex computer systems. Since it is so broad, it encompasses everything and is becoming a way of life. You can not walk out the door without seeing at least one person walking around using their cell phones, or walk into a building and see someone with a lap top. Our lives are becoming dependent on technology. Whether it is something small like a cell phone, large like an automobile, complex like a computer, or something as simple as a pair of glasses, technology is becoming our way of life.

Though these genius inventions are taking over our world, they can create as many problems as they can solve. They are man made, and any little flaw in their production can cause them to work improperly. For example, GPS systems are becoming so common that you can buy them virtually anywhere. They are pieces of technology that can be used to pull up a map of your surrounding area and give you directions to any location by signals sent through satellites in space. Though they are so useful, they are not always one hundred percent accurate and can leave you stranded in an unknown area without any sense of direction.

A GPS gives you turn by turn voice commands to direct you to your destination. It can help you find your way anywhere in the United States, whether you are taking your family to the beach for a vacation, or you are traveling to New York for business. No matter who you are you always want know how long the trip is going to take, especially as a child on those long car rides to the beach, or making sure that you are on time for that meeting so you can get your big promotion. The screen of a GPS displays all of those things,



so you always know where you are going, how long it will take, and you can give an answer to your kids every time they ask you “Are we there yet?”, or “How much longer.” The only requirement is that an address is needed to plug in to the GPS, and it will give you full directions to wherever you wish to go.

If you do not want to put in an address, or you believe you know where you are going, you can still turn on your GPS, and zoom out to see a map of where you are traveling. This map shows your exact location on the road that you are traveling and the entire environment around. You can see things such as rivers, lakes and forests that let you know where you are. A GPS can help you find activities in the area as well. It can help take you to your vacation, but it can also show you what is around your hotel or house that you are staying in. They can take you to dinner, a movie, or even bowling.

Because you know where these places are, you do not have to waste your time driving around looking at every single activity to do before you make a decision. You can make the choice before you ever leave. Time is a very valuable asset to people of our society, and the last thing that we want to do is waste it. A GPS can not only save you time in making decisions, but it can also help by saving you delay on your journey. How many times have you been in a rush to get somewhere, and you run into a traffic jam, whether it be an accident or road work. With a GPS you can take the first exit or turn and it will calculate to show you an alternate route to avoid the traffic. It works just as well if you are lost. No one wants to waste time when you are in a hurry because you do not know where you are going. It could take hours to find your way and you could completely miss your meeting or the important event that you are trying to make it to. All you have to do is plug in the address and you will never get lost.

What most people do not realize, is that all of this time that they save using a GPS is saving them money as well. With gas prices becoming so sporadic and ever changing, all of those delays and traffic jams are just as good as throwing money out the window. No one wants to burn half a tank of gas because traffic is backed up for miles due to construction on the interstate. A GPS is a money saver because it allows you to be able bypass all of those long delays, which in return saves gas. The more gas you save, the more money you will have to spend at the beach so you can bring your friends home a present. By using a GPS, you are also able to take the most direct route to your destination, which also saves you gas as well as money.

Everyone wants to save money and time because they are valuable to us, but a GPS can also help us save something even better. It can save us the stress that we endure when we do not know where we are. It has happened to all of us, we end up stressing out because we do not know where we are going, or what the road will be like. If you are somewhere out west you might be worrying about when you will be able to stop for gas again. You ask yourself “Should I stop now, or can I make it to the next gas station?” But how can you possibly know where that will be? By using a GPS all you have to do is look under points of interest and it will tell you exactly how far it is until the next gas station. With the relief of stress comes more enjoyment. You can enjoy the time you spend with your family, or enjoy the scenery as you drive down the road. You can relax and be at ease without the headaches and tempers that are so often experienced on trips.

Though GPS systems are becoming more economical and allow you to find your way around, they are, like many other forms of technology, becoming hazardous to others. People are beginning to rely on them more and more and can become distracted while driving. It can be very easy to take your eyes off of the road to look down at where you are, which can have serious consequences because you can not tell which direction you are heading or what the people around you are doing. We can become so focused on the end of our journey, because we know how close it can be, that we are too focused on this little piece of technology and not on our own, and our passengers, safety. This is especially true in congested areas. Big cities, such as New York City can be confusing to navigate through in the first place because of all the congestion, and if you add in this piece of technology that causes you to not pay attention then, you become an accident waiting to happen.

Even when used safely, a GPS is not guaranteed to work properly all of the time. Due to the fact that it is a man made product, human error has to be accounted for in the production of the systems. If one piece is not correctly put together, it could cause the GPS to not work properly. There are also places across the country that have poor satellite reception, and have to search for a long time to be able to pull up a map of the surrounding area. This can be a nuisance on you if you are in a hurry, or have no clue where you are. To find a signal you must drive around, possibly even further into an unfamiliar area. This can be costly as well as dangerous. Driving around for minutes or possibly even hours to find out where you are can cost you a large amount of money in the gas that you use. Being in an unknown area is also not safe for anyone. You never know what type of area you are in, or what types of people are around you. You are putting yourself in harms way, which should be avoided at all time.

Thesis

Guns are not the big bad things that people make them out to be. They are a duel purpose item whether it be for good or bad. It all depends upon how people use them. Guns should not have so many regulations, because they are completely misunderstood.