Technology is rotting your brain!
It is really amusing to read articles by technophobic noe-luddites; they always seem to know what is best and how technology is rotting our mind and making us unsocial.
So I decided to pick this article apart.
To start with, let’s look at email. It’s a pretty amazing thing email, as it completely revolutionised the way we do business in the world today.
However, I know mates who will send a colleague a question via email, when their desks are right next to each other. What ever happened to good conversation?
Ah yes, the horrible email technology that has made us stop communicating the old fashioned way. I think a read an article like that when I lived in Europe, 10 years ago.
Sometimes it is better to agree on something via email than over the phone, especially when doing business. Email is considered to be something that is written and is fairly difficult to deny; a conversation between too people can easily end up being he said/she said.
On tope of that, I can send an email to my sister and she has it within seconds, whereas a regular letter will take over a week. Ah yes, email is such a time waster.
Email isn’t evil, if you use it the right way.
Text messages are another technique we use to avoid connecting with each other.
No, it is not! Sometimes you have to give someone a quick message, but you do not want to disturb them at work; so you simply send them a SMS, which they can read when they have a break, go to lunch or finish for the day.
It’s also very handy to tell someone something discreetly.
Again, SMS is not evil, if you use it the right way.
I remember when I was younger, science fiction comics would see the future full of technology designed to make our lives easier, leaving us more time for play, more time for socialisation.
I also remember those comics, they also had robots killing people, people killing robots and so on. Not all that peachy and dreamy as you claim them to be.
Australians work some of the longest hours in the OECD, and technology now affords us the ability to keep on working, even when we get home. We are now contactable 24/7, and can now even get our emails at home. But why can’t we just switch off and spend some time with family and friends?
That Aussies are not willing to stand up for their right to not work so much overtime is their own fault, not technology. Of course, it is always easier to blame someone or something else than yourself.
If you do not want to be reached after work, turn off the mobile; if that results in losing your job, it is worth it.
Even our non-working home time is being sucked up by so-called “social networking” sites like Facebook, where we chat and interact through LCD screens, instead of in-the-flesh.
It’s something called escapism. People are so stressed about their life that they do things like this because they just want to get away from it all. Again, not technologies fault. Some escape in games, some escape in books. Should we start blaming books too?
What ever happened to kicking a ball around the park?
People would probably do it if they didn’t work so much. Let us assume someone worked 10+ hours Monday to Friday; do you really think that person is really excited about going out to kick a ball around? Based on my own experience, I would rather kick back at home and relax.
And what if that person like computer games more than kicking a leather ball around? Why is that wrong?
Now I know that not everyone can turn off the TV for a whole week, but what about just one day a week, or even an hour each night.
Why is everything black and white with you people? Why do you have to either have the TV on 24/7 or off 24/7? Why not turn it on for an hour or two, so you only watch your favourite TV show and be happy with that? Of course, if you are unable to turn it off when it is on, I can understand why you need to go cold-turkey.
I believe the key here is connection. We all need to disconnect from our addiction to technology and reconnect with each other, for at least one day a year.
No, it is not connection, it is about priorities and moderation!
You don’t stop drinking beer because you think that will make you a better person. You stop drinking beer if you have a problem and drink more than you should.
Note: I might also add that the article the qoutes are taken from seems more like plug than a serious article.
