“America is false to the past, false to the present, and solemnly binds herself to be false to the future.” Frederick Douglass. is experiences, eventually led to the emancipation of the slaves, but now, in 2014, are we truly free? Are we being false to the present that slavery, one of the most inhumane events in U.S history, is 100% over in this country? Nowadays technology has enveloped our entire lives, almost as if people are its slaves. Even as I wrote this essay, I had some difficulty finding differences from slavery, to our addiction to technology. Slavery is similar to technology because we do everything on our phones, or masters say, we are behind the world when we don't have a phone, they both hurts us, can both be profitable and it consumes our lives such as slavery would. However, the two topics are different because everyone benefited from slavery, but many are hurt by this sudden rise of technology, and end up losing money.


The harsh, cruel American treatment of slaves in history, slavery seems to be dangerously similar to the rise of technology today. The phone is master, and you’re it’s slave. Everytime it goes off, it is commanding you to drop everything you're doing to answer its need, and as its slave you will. Homework, dinner, hanging out, none of that matters as the deep desire to rush to your phone manifesting inside us all. In fact, according to psychology today 33% use their phone on a date, 12% in the shower, 35% in a movie theatre, 19% during religious ceremonies, and the worst of all, a staggering 55% while driving! Secondly, people are weaker without our phones, just like a plantation owner would have. Slave owners without their slaves wouldn’t be able to work as quickly, or efficiently. Their acres of farmland would be forced to trudge through the fields working on their own. This compares to when a kid loses his phone, because he is more vulnerable to bad things happening, such as to kidnapping and injury (no way to contact anyone he receives a serious injury). His parents have little idea where he now is when he leaves the house, and is conspicuous to kidnappers. Adults would also be weaker without their phones, having no contact with the outside world, like a slave enslaved in the walls of his plantation. “We need to tell our young that thoughtless worship of the latest technology, and the anxiety of constantly adapting to it, is not the be all and end all.”

We are not just weak to our will of the controlling world of phones, but weak to the mind. Phones may also lower your intelligence, as a slave owner would. Studies have been shown that by taking pictures constantly, your memory is weaker, because you just rely on your phone to be your brain and remember everything. Also, you are not reading books when you're on your phone, and books are a great way to increase your brainpower. Slave owners had a similar motivation as your phone would, trapping you unabated from reading, writing, and learning anything.

Finally, people get hurt from both instances. For example, cyberbullying. This hector uses technology to hurt other people, and sometimes drive them into suicide. In fact, nearly 43% of kids have been bullied online, and 1 in 4 has had it happen more than once. Thats almost half of america's children, being hurt, and while you may say it is only mentally, it can be shown physically as well. Victims of cyber bullying are 2-9 times more likely to consider suicide. Now if kids weren't on their phones all the time (slaves to their phone), cyberbullying wouldn’t be such odium.


Now for differences, there are a few, but not nearly as much similarities. What’s scary is, some of the differences point in slaveries favor. For example, my first difference, is that everyone (not included blacks) was receiving the benefactor of slavery. The owners made money, more food could be made in a quicker amount of time, everyone was fed well, and america flourished as a self sufficient country. Now once technology rised, all that changed. Through transaction we just ship it all from China, so less people have to do that work, and we can send it to factories where technology and robots perform all the work. Because of this, there are less and less jobs americans have, as they all are sent for other countries to do. We are no longer self sufficient.

A quailed difference, those who partake in slavery always made money, while many who live in the rise of technology are hurt. Many job pathways are suffering due to this revolutionary digital world, such as authors, bands, and painters. If their song isn’t on itunes, or their books not on amazon, you might as well be invisible. Digital drawings and animations demote painters, leaving a lot of people behind and in the dust with their former careers.
While slavery was abolished on December 6, 1865, the world still manages to whip our minds, and scars us with the need to listen to everything that comes out of our phone. It is strikingly similar to the united states past history, such as we do everything our phones tell us to, we are behind everyone else when we don't have technology, they both hurt us, can be profitable and it consumes our lives such as slavery would. The only two differences are in slavery’s favor, as technology hurts many careers and everyone benefited from slavery, while many suffer from our rise of technology. So next time your phone beeps on and you’re busy, turn it off and free yourself from this newfound slavery!