ENGL 101 Cause and Effect Toulmin Final Essay
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Isabella Latas
Liberty University
ENGL 101
Professor Kristen Welch
October 10, 2022
What is the Impact of Technology in the American Workplace?
Technology has been around for quite a while and has been a major help in American
workplaces. An article named “A Brief History of Digital Workplace Technology” written by Nai
Kanell mentions that the first-time technology was in the workplace was in 1951 when the first
ever computer was booted up or in 1971 when a person named Ray Tomlinson sent the first ever
email. It is a toss-up on when technology was first really invented and put into the workplace.
Even though technology has been a huge revolution there are bound to be some disadvantages to
technology. Some of the disadvantages are that when using email there is spam that can prevent
you from finding important emails. A disadvantage of messaging apps is that people can forget to
reply to them because there is no unread button so people can still have the notification on their
device. Technology has had an amazing impact on the American workplace. People use
Technology such as email/messaging apps and computers to complete the work they do at their
jobs.
Email and messaging apps are one of the most important things that contribute to
technology in the workplace. “Messaging apps integrate with various other cloud apps, which
puts communication front and center at all times. Employees can leave notes in a collaborative
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file or send a thumbs-up emoji to sign off on a memo” (Sheynkman). Not only do email and
messaging apps help colleagues communicate but it has also made it easier for companies to
have people working from all over the world, “
Email has enabled companies to have more
spread-out and diverse work teams. Employees can interact and collaborate without the need of
face-to-face conversation at times” (
Chron
). Email is one of the effective ways of sharing
documents/work projects and getting answers to questions. An example of this could be your
boss emailing all the employees some valuable information regarding the business and what
they need to do better or what they should be doing. Another good example is messaging apps.
Imagine there is someone that is working on a business project, they get stuck on something,
and they need an answer to a minor problem that they are having. They are not going to have
the time to set up a meeting with another employee or their boss in person. So, they pull up a
messaging app and quickly type out their problem and send it to a fellow employee or their
boss. Shortly after sending the message, they get a notification, that their colleagues or boss
messaged them back with a solution to their problem and now they are able to continue
working on the project.
Now, getting quick answers back from people is not always the case. When it comes to
email, emails can get lost in the sea of spam that you get from other companies advertising
their products or you just get spam emails from random people. So, you may not see important
emails from your boss or colleagues. For messaging apps, a person could open a message and
think to reply later but forget to reply and will not remember because there is no notification
showing that a person messaged them. So, it is possible to not reply for hours or up to many
days.
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Email and messaging apps do have their downsides they are not completely perfect.
There is some work to be done to solve the issue of spam as well as there should be an unread
button for messaging apps, so people do not forget to reply to important messages. The
introduction of email and messaging apps into the workplace is an effective way for colleagues
to message each other about work projects and questions or concerns about the company to
their boss. While these communication platforms do help people’s emails can get lost in the sea
of spam of messages without responses.
Computers are one of the most important pieces of technology when it comes to the
American workplace.
“
A poll by the Kaiser Family Foundation, Harvard's Kennedy School of
Government and National Public Radio shows that over two-thirds of American adults use a
computer at work, and over 80 percent of them say that it is essential to their jobs”
(
Anaejionu
). One of the main things that computers help with when working on projects is
fixing grammatical and spelling errors. An article written by Regina Anaejionu called “How
Do Computers Affect Our Work” writes that computers help us solve equations, fix grammar
and spelling mistakes, search the web for answers to questions, etc. With all of that on a
computer, people can present accurate final projects in less time. Computers are extremely
useful in the workplace in America. There are a lot of people that rely on their computers to
complete the work they must do for their jobs in a timely manner, as well as help them fix
some grammar mistakes that they would not have seen without a grammar checker.
As amazing as computers are there are some people out there that do not desperately
need a computer for their job. Not only that but for people that do rely on their computers for
work, when they go to check their project with grammar and spell check, there are times where
it does not catch everything and might end up with a few mistakes. Though there are times
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when a computer is not needed or fails to catch all of someone’s grammar mistakes in a
project. That just shows that there is some work that needs to be done to fix the grammar
checker to be more accurate. As for people who do not use computers to complete their tasks at
work there are other uses like keeping all your work nice and organized in a file, so you do not
end up losing it and never being able to find it again. Even though computers are arguably one
of the most important pieces of technology in the American workplace. Some people think that
technology in general is not helpful in the workplace.
With the introduction of computers into the workplace, there are also distractions that
come with it. I do agree that there are distractions on computers like having easy access to
social media, messaging apps to talk to friends, and colleagues messaging and wanting to talk
while you are working. But by simply allotting a set time in the day to give in to those
distractions so that you are less likely to get distracted at your work. To help eliminate
distractions companies have blocked certain websites on their internet,
“Using social networks
at work may result in distractions and affect the employees’ productivity. This is why some
companies have decided blocking off access to certain websites such as YouTube, Facebook, and
Twitter since they divert attention” (Sintelly
). A good example of how to get your colleagues to
leave you alone while you are working is mentioned in the article “10 Quick Tips for Avoiding
Distractions at Work” written by Steve Glaveski mentions that telling your colleagues that they
should not bother you unless there is a critical issue. One of the ways you could signal that
people should not bother you is as easy as wearing a pair of headphones. These quotes make
some great solutions on how to not be distracted while at work. Though it can be challenging,
some companies attempt to provide help to their employees by blocking employees from being
able to search for social media apps so that their employees can focus on work instead. With all
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that being said technology can be a distraction at times. But with the right discipline and setting
aside time to do those distractions people will be good to go and be able to work without being
distracted.
With all that has been said there are some improvements to be made for notifications and
spam control for email/messaging apps as well as developing better grammar/spell checkers for
computers. To combat getting distracted people can manage their time better as well as letting
their colleagues know not to bother them when they are working. Even with the changes that
need to be made, overall technology is very important to the workplace in America and most jobs
require some form of technology one way or another.
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References
5 Advantages and Disadvantages of Technology in the Workplace
. Sintelly. Retrieved October 2,
2022, from https://www.sintelly.com/articles/advantages-and-disadvantages-of-technology-
in-the-workplace
Anaejionu, R.
How Do Computers Affect Our Work?
Chron. Retrieved October 2, 2022, from
https://smallbusiness.chron.com/importance-computers-business-world-4013.html
Glaveski, S. (2020, January 6).
10 quick tips for avoiding distractions at work
. Harvard Business
Review. Retrieved October 2, 2022, from https://hbr.org/2019/12/10-quick-tips-for-
avoiding-distractions-at-work
The Impact of Email in the Workplace
. Chron. (2020, August 29). Retrieved October 2, 2022,
from https://work.chron.com/impact-email-workplace-7915.html
Kanell, N.
A brief history of Digital Workplace Technology
. SpaceIQ. Retrieved October 2, 2022,
from https://spaceiq.com/blog/history-of-workplace-technology/#:~:text=Workplace
%20Technology%20Assessment&text=There's%20no%20succinct%20point%20in,sent
%20the%20first%2Dever%20email.
Sheynkman, A.
The impact of technology in the Workplace
. SpaceIQ. Retrieved October 2, 2022,
from https://spaceiq.com/blog/impact-of-technology-in-the-workplace/
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