The year 2009 will go down in history as the year that gave technology a tangible number: one billion. Within nine months of opening its App Store,’ iPhone’ users have collectively downloaded over one billion applications.

The phenomenon has taken off in the United States, and around the world, as millions upon millions of patrons carrying the portable Mecca-for-technology, the iPhone, click, pinch, and drag their fingertips across their touch-screens. Through Apple, technology has grown to benefit mankind, and also to appeal to a 21st Century ideal: instant gratification. An interesting App can be downloaded in seconds from almost anywhere.

When asked if the one billion applications downloaded represented any kind of special significance for technology, Sarah MacDonald ‘- a Criminal Justice major and student at SUNY Suffolk ‘- said ‘I won’t be surprised when the count is two billion.’ New creative applications arrive to the App Store every day. Many applications could be considered helpful or superfluous.

Specifically, the many applications for determining weather and locations can be useful tools for people living in a busy society or unnecessary infatuations.

When asked if she thought technology had run rampant, MacDonald said, ‘Today technology is the most influential component of our society, both in keeping society stable, and also challenging the norms. Para-social interaction is the largest part of social interactions. The hunger for more and more becomes insatiable for some.’

This view that technology grows and becomes an integral part of society, while it shapes the social structure, is intriguing. No one can deny that one billion applications have been downloaded and are therefore, used by millions of different people.

‘I think it’s a bit ridiculous. Why do we need all this stuff?’ Kerri-Ann Boutcher said. The junior undergrad at SUNY New Paltz said, ‘Technology is like a drug in this generation. People don’t even know how to drive places without having to use a GPS. It’s making people lazy and totally dependent.’ Are people using tools like the applications to aid and amuse themselves, or are people becoming more and more enslaved to technology?

Technology has grown exponentially. One billion applicatons have been downloaded for Apple’s iPhone. Technology has, throughout history, been used as a tool to help society, and as a tool to damage it. The sword is useful, but double-edged.