Practicing Success

Target Exam

CUET

Subject

English

Chapter

Comprehension - (Narrative / Factual)

Question:

Read the passage carefully and answer the questions:

"The difference between technology and slavery is that slaves are fully aware that they are not free."

- Nassim Nicholas Taleb

What is Screen Addiction?

Tech or screen addiction is a broad term devised to define obsession with online video games, Smartphones, tablets, online gambling, online shopping, etc. It is indisputable that information technology has changed our lives for the better in myriad ways. We are better connected, well informed, more aware and can easily do much, much more - all at the click of a button.

Footage of unrest in a foreign land can be conveyed to the world in a matter of minutes and you can plan your trip to your favourite destination sitting in the comfort of your homes. We can converse/Skype with our Naani in the "gaon" with the same ease as shopping online for virtually any thing from anywhere.

We can research any topic from manure for our garden to the components of rocket fuel. We can find our childhood friends on social media or look at Alpha Centauri with ease. Smartphones and tablets function as a personal diary, daily planner, calculator, email dispatcher, camera and music player ; and are compact, easy-to-carry devices.

But, all this come with a price - excessive use of this technology can easily become a dependence, and is also addictive.

As with all other forms of addiction such as alcohol, drugs, and junk food, tech addiction is also characterized by a need to attain, a "high" which is temporary. This is followed by a "low" when the addict seeks to reach the exciting "high" again by all means. Children, teenagers and young adults, who are termed "Digital Natives" - individuals who have been exposed to online entertainment form birth or a young age - are at a greater risk of being hooked.

Tech addicts even have an abbreviation for real life: IRL - in real life. Being IRL is something they begin to shun after a while.

(Are you a tech addict ? - By Ujjwala Karmakar, Science Reporter, August 2014)

"It is indisputable that information technology has changed our lives for better in myriad  ways". This means :

Options:

Information Technology has done us more harm than benefit

The contribution of information technology has always been debatable

Our lives have become much more comfortable and well informed due to Information and Technology

Information and Technology has made us lazy and uninformed

Correct Answer:

Our lives have become much more comfortable and well informed due to Information and Technology