We live in a world where anything can be found with the click of a button, friends and family members can be reached within seconds, and smart phones are constantly in the hands of everyone you see. Our society is consumed with the latest and greatest smart phones, tablets and laptops, and the days of face-to-face communication have almost gone by the wayside. While technology can be helpful and a useful tool, it can also become dangerous and hinder one’s social skills, depending on how you use it.

One of the benefits of technology is that it allows you to have all your most valuable programs and apps together. In this way, it is easily accessible and helps one to stay organized. For example, let’s say you have a project due tomorrow. You’ve had a week to do it, but of course you procrastinated until the night before and now, your computer has decided it doesn’t want to work. This is an easy problem to solve, thanks to that handy smart phone that never leaves your side. All you have to do is pull up Google Drive and start typing your paper, and if you need to do some more research, the Internet it literally right at your fingertips. You have finished your essay, are able to keep it organized, and can carry it with you.

Also, technology allows people to keep in touch with friends and family members who live far away. The days of handwritten letters are gone, replaced with text messages and FaceTime. Want to catch up with your cousin in California? Log onto Instagram or Facebook and you’re immediately connected to her life.

While technology can also be very helpful when needing to contact someone in an emergency or when you need to get somewhere in a hurry, people have become too dependent on it, allowing it to do everything for them. Members of society have become attached to their precious devices and if separated from them, they would be lost. When walking into a store or school, phones are constantly seen in people’s hands and their heads are down, concentrating on texting, updating a Facebook status, or posting pictures to Instagram. They don’t always pay attention to what’s in front of them or what people are saying, and that can quickly become a problem. Social skills will be lost if we continue to pay more attention to beating the next level of Candy Crush, rather than asking the person next to us how his or her day is going.

Another way technology can be harmful is the fact that people are becoming less aware of Internet safety. They are becoming oblivious to the people they follow on Instagram and Twitter or who they befriend on Facebook. Anyone’s information is available to look at on the web and makes it easier for predators or other dangerous people to find innocent targets.

There is no doubt that technology will only continue to improve and control even more of society than it already has. However, the way we use it and to what extent will determine how much we are at risk.