Henry David Thoreau's View On Technology

Henry David Thoreau is one of the most influential writers of the nineteenth century. Thoreau’s remarkable journey to ‘find himself’ is published in 1854 and given the name, Walden. This novel is written over a course of two years, two months, and two days and during this time Thoreau does everything in his power to seclude himself from society and “the luxuries, and so many of the so-called comforts of life” because he says they are “positive hindrances to the elevation of mankind” (Thoreau 19). Thoreau’s views are very centered on self reflection and the problems within society. His main goal is to leave a lasting positive effect on the community with his deep insight on what he believes people need. I inferred this when Thoreau states, “Rather

Technology from Thoreau’s view is an unnatural element of the modern world and it has wrongly sped up the normal time of life, itself. Not only has technology sped up the rate of time it takes to accomplish goals but also how we are not running the machines, social media or networks, but they are controlling our lives because we do everything based on them. Thoreau repeats his theme once again when he states, “(man) has no time to be anything but a machine” (Thoreau 6). You can especially see the hatred of technology when Thoreau repeatedly states how you cannot truly be one with nature if technology is in your life because of the distraction it is. Technology costs your relationship with nature. This idea is stated when Thoreau states, “One attraction in coming to the woods to live was that I should have the leisure and opportunity to see the spring come in” (Thoreau 3). The relationship between technology and nature I believe is like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich because they go hand and hand. I cannot focus on what is around me if I am distracted by my phone or laptop. I completely agree with Thoreau on this topic, other themes in his text however are debatable. For instance, the theme of transcendentalism is not necessarily controlled by nature because, in my opinion, I don’t believe that nature completely defines your own inner balance. Thoreau describes Mother Nature as human characteristics. For example, Mother nature has a personality that could cheat you or be sincere. This was written in Walden and stated, “I love nature, I love the landscape, because it is so sincere. It never cheats me. It never jests. It is cheerfully, musically earnest” (Thoreau 91). Thoreau described nature as having feelings and how nature could affect him dramatically. I believe this is a weakness in Walden and does not help his case at all. If I was to follow his