Try hitting the easy button. Put the big red button under your desk at work or at school, and when you’re bogged down, try hitting it. Make your life a little easier. It’s what we all want, right? For something like that to actually work? Well we do have an easy way out, it’s called technology. People think that technology makes things easier, and I guess that’s undeniable. Where these people go wrong is when they think that this is a good thing. Easy doesn’t always mean better. In fact, easy often means worse. The rapidly growing technological age is a major contributor to crime. It makes it easier for criminals to evade the police. Easier for stalkers and hackers to follow our every move. Is this really the society we want to be living in, raising our children in? A society where TV shows tell criminals exactly how to get away with crime, and cell phones make it easier for people to track you?

Take, for example, the television show CSI. Every episode begins with a crime scene. Detectives enter the room and search it for evidence. The criminals they portray in this show are extremely intelligent and make almost no mistakes. However, in order to make the show interesting the detectives always find a flaw in the plan, and catch the criminal. Imagine yourself as a criminal, looking for a way to get away with your next crime. Why wouldn’t you sit down in front of the TV and watch CSI? Figure out the mistakes that those in the show made, and make sure you don’t make the same mistakes. If you follow the carefully set guidelines CSI has given you, you could easily get away with your next crime. Oh, and if you’re having trouble coming up with a brilliant idea for a crime, just watch CSI. It gives you plenty.

Suggesting that television is the root of crime problems is over-the-top. However, television is a major factor influencing the rising rate of crime, and that is undeniable. According to Statistics Canada, the crime rate has increased by 6% since 2001 – CSI was released in October of 2000. 1939 was the year when commercial television launched. In the United States, television became more popular in the 1950s, when the crime rate was at about 4.6, and by 1980, the crime rate had shot to 10.2. It is safe to assume that crime rate has increased because people are getting more and more ideas for crimes from television. Criminals can commit more crimes because they are getting smarter. They are watching these television shows and learning how to not get caught, and as a society we are allowing these shows to air. We are giving them the ratings they need by watching these shows. We are directly linked to the rising crime rate and we need to take responsibility. Our reliance on technology and simplicity in our lives is dangerous.

The incredibly popular obsession with cellular phones isn’t helping us much, either. Teens trying to text their friends without the teacher catching them, people calling and answering their phones while driving home, or to work, or to school. It’s ridiculous. And stalkers are using your cell phones to watch your every move. With new technology shaping the way we live, we are so focused on how easy it makes our everyday lives, that we forget to realize that it is also making it easier for the people we don’t want watching us to monitor us. Computer hacking has become so common that security experts are now teaching computer safety self-defense classes. A startling 77% of people are convinced that they are safe from hackers when the reality is that only about 30% actually are. Our cell phones and computers are the windows into our lives and some of us just don’t understand how to close the blinds.

Recently, an episode of The Tyra Show brought on a family who had been victimized by cell phone stalkers. A family was being stalked by a man who used the family’s cell phones to toy with them. He would activate the camera on the family’s phones and be able to see where they were, what they were wearing, and who they were with. He would then call their cell phones and threaten the family and friends of the family. This is becoming more and more common. The cell phones that we think make our lives so much easier are doing the exact opposite. We are at risk and many people are victims of cell-phone stalkers among many other technological related crimes. The victims of these crimes will not tell you that their lives are so much easier since they got their phone. They will tell you that their lives have become nightmares. Constantly worrying about who is watching them, never being able to gain self-esteem back after someone stuck a camera up their skirt and took a photo.

The amount of car accidents having to do with cell phones is ridiculous. The amount of victims from technological crimes is growing. The number of people who are safe from computer hackers is getting smaller and smaller. The crime rate is rising, and rapidly. The amount of criminals getting caught, however, isn’t as high. And yet we watch the shows, we buy the newest, top of the line cell phones with the built-in cameras. We spend thousands on computers but find ourselves taking them in to get the viruses cleaned once a month. In our search for technology that makes our lives simple, we are only adding to the amount of crime in our society. Simple has never been so complicated. Why don’t you try something different today? Do us all a favour, and hit the hard button instead. Wait until you get home to make your calls. Wait until after class to talk to your friends. Watch a different show, or don’t watch one at all. It really isn’t that much harder.