Genre : Discussion

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Helpful and Harmful Effects of Technology

The technology that helped bring about our modern society began about 200 years ago. At the time, more and more factories were built. These factories began using machines powered by steam. The machines could make things faster and often cheaper than people could make them by hand. This kind of technology affected people’s lives more and more. It has had both helpful and harmful effects on the world.

Technology has helped people in many different ways. First of all, it allows them to make more things now than they did in the past. For example, 150 years ago, people and animals did most of the work on farms in the United States. Today, machines do most of the work on U.S. farms.

Another way technology has helped people is by giving them more time to relax. Because machines can do so much work, people today do not have to work as hard as people in the past. Technology has also made work easier and safer.

Pollutions is one of the most harmful effects of modern technology. Many countries face air, water, soil, and noise pollution. Our technology also uses up many natural resources, such as oil, wood, and coal. Many of these resources cannot be replaced after they are used.

Computers and other machines have replaced people in the workplace. It’s often hard for these people to find new jobs.

Another problem with technology is that it lets people produce more powerful weapons. Such weapons make the world a more dangerous place.

Today, technology helps people meet goals that would have been impossible a hundred years ago. But it also presents great challengers, or issue to think about. One challenge is finding ways to end the harmful effects of technology. Another is how to make sure the same problems won’t happen with new technologies.

Source : Achmad Doddy, Ahmad Sugeng, Effendi, Developing English Competencies for Grade XII of Natural and Social Science Programmes Senior High School (SMA/MA), Jakarta, Pusat Perbukuan Depdiknas, 2008.

The text is a discussion text in written form. It functions to present (at least) two point of view about an issue.

This type of text has the following structure :

1. issue

2. arguments for and against

3. conclusion or recommendation 

The language features of discussion text are :

• focus on generic human and generic non-human participants.
• use of material processes, relational processes and mental processes,
• use of logical conjunctive relations.