It has bugged me more than once. I'll be walking to class, my headphones on, checking for text messages. It hits me. I've become a techno-junky. The constant urge to listen to music, to send little meaningless messages, or to be on Facebook, for God's sake. It depresses me slightly knowing I'm not the only one. In fact, perhaps nearly every American has fallen into this pro-technology stance. We see it as a convenience, as a mode of protection, as empowering. And since we are the only species to have formed such "conveniences" that must make us superior, right? Sadly, a fallacious mode of thought. We've become divided, individualized, melted and molded, brain washed, time-consumed, more and more depressed, and above all, developed a false sense of supreme. We argue that technology has united us when, indeed, it is the opposite. I sit here in my room, writing this blog and listening to music. My roommate, listening to music separate of mine. Time and time again. We walk around with phones to our ears, headphones on, ignoring our neighbors, just turning each other into numbers throughout a mundane day. We text instead of call. We skype instead of meeting up. We email instead of fax, even. How can this be united? I'm not even delving into the cultural melting pot versus tradition issues. On security, I often hear "I have my cell phone in case of emergencies." I can very well see some instances where this may be the case. However, their argument seems to imply that this piece of technology will save me from danger. As in, watch out, I have a cell phone!!! It gives a false sense of security. You can now walk the streets at night, alone and listening to music, because you have your cell phone. No. Television. Meant to inform and seen as a means as to such. Whereas, this is not true, either. On television we get many stations, not just the news station. These stations broadcast shows that will rot your brain, turning it into mush. It passes the time. And why? Throwing away life? That's not a good view point to technology at all. Technology was created to solve issues. This only brings up more. (depression, OCD, anger issues, etc.) And when you actually DO watch the newstation you get bombarded with negative issues, with problems of society, and then we say we're the best and most fit country on this Earth? Another issue. Television is contradictory. Has anyone ever read anything by Jerry Mander? I've read some exerts in Ethics class, and that is where this rant stems from.
I havent read anything by the author you mentioned but I have found these same faults in human society since I was a young teen. See, the problem lies in the fact that your values and beliefs are chisseled into you by the information you are offered as a kid and as such you will find that as more and more generations put more and more of their daily lives into the hands of technology it will porgessively get worse and worse fro the coming generations. But as the world stands today there is really only two ways things might go and beyond preparing for both I dont bother worrying much about it as I, after putting way to much thought and effort into the matter and similar problems I have been forced to come to the conclusion that I as an individual will not be able to make anything change and people as a group are to stupid and easily steered by our current leaders to be able to. Either we leave earth, start colonizing and secure the human species's place in the universe for the future or we cripple ourselves either by convenience or war to the point that only a few will survive and will have to start from scratch with a bare minimum of the resources we have available today if the earth is not made barren to human life. Why worry? We are all going to die one day, no need to go around worrying about it all the time. Same thing applies here, unless you can come up with a soulution and a way to implement it you might as well enjoy the comforts this twisted world has to offer as much as you can and attempt to make your own life meaningful.
Just ask this question - take away all the technology, and would the world be any different? I think not. People still won't talk to each other on trains and buses, ignore each other on the street. You argue that technology has separated us. I would argue that if we weren't already separate, technology wouldn't sell. Its success is an example of how divided we are.
And you dont think the genetic predisposition all humans have for the easy way out, be it high fat food, cars, mobiles etc has anything to do with it? We are biologically programmed to take the easy way out or rather "less strenuous path on account of applying intelligence to the problem". Thus we developed bigger brains and less muscle mass... fascinating that... As for people still being divided individuals in an electronic collaps.... Well, that one can easily be dissproven by the "tales of the elders" as you might call it, lecturing us young wipper snappers on how we are spending to much time on all them electronic thingamagiggs and not enough time out in the fresh air with other kids like they did back in their day. If that's not enough for you it would be worth noting that statistics on subjects like spelling, and articulation in school has steadily declined in the western world in conjunction with the development of mobiles, txt msg's, email and so forth, slowly rendering the language into something akin to a neanderthal'ish runescript for robots. Not to mention the immense crises that would arise all over the world and thus forcing people into tight knit groups to even be able to survive. The lack of the rudimentary skills to do so without the convenience of huge electronically powered factories, delivery systems, traffic systems etc, etc would also put a major krink in the pants of someone trying to "live on as normal" There are lots and lots of other reasons why you are wrong but let's just conclude with this: Your wrong ^^
I haven't read anything by Jerry Mander but I agree with: You go on to point out how we claim that the technology has united us when it has done the opposite- by enabling us to avoid transacting all manner of business and exchange face to face. We often argue a point less as a result of observation and more because of a sales pitch that enticed the purchase to begin with. To clarify the true objective, please allow me to point out the obvious: The purpose of all manner of technological gadgetry has nothing to do with the sales pitch- it couldn't be further from such wholesome sounding platitudes like protection, security, convenience; the purveyors couldn't be less concerned about uniting us all .. unless by "uniting" they include the phenomenon of collective dependence on new technology to transact all manner of business previously available through low-tech means. This bore itself out to me when I recently had to begin trying to find gainful employment and after buying a local paper found help wanted ads to be absent from the classified ads. My extended stint being gainfully employed rendered me absent from the process by which it was collectively determined that those seeking work would have access to computers and internet in order to place an online application- and NOT have at very least a voice contact with a prospective employer- a critical first step in establishing what is hoped to be a long term relationship. These days a job seeker is more likely to interact with a third party staffing agency than with the actual employer so even on a business/professional level, technological advances have created institutional social regressions. Then there's the cultural pressure- akin to what I dealt with because for the longest time I didn't own a cell phone- the (usually good-natured) ridicule I got for not keeping up with the times. The unpaid promotion for the latest and greatest must have quite the positive effect on bottom lines when cultural ostracism supplants the need for sales staff in selling... particularly when it appears that traditional land lines are becoming passe... fewer and fewer people have one. I can envision a time in the not-too-distant future where the older technology will be unavailable... and through the market forces that themselves are driven by what is initially an artificial sense of need which is made all too necessary as older alternatives become less and less profitable and eventually disappear. It's not very far from addiction really... and it's nothing new either. I often stop and envision a world that functioned well- not only without the presence of cell phones and computers but without televisions, radios, electricity, cars, supermarkets, and all other manner of what was once the cutting edge of technological miracle- a time when common man had not been weaned off his self sufficiency... generally through the incremental process of crisis management. A bad growing season for a region would create the need for wider distribution of food.. as well as the need for industrial labor enticing farmers to put down the plow in order to join an growing industrial economy.. Fewer and fewer farms were charged with the task of feeding more and more people... look at where we are today with the small family farm being a money losing relic as big agri-biz has priced it into virtual extinction. From a survival perspective, we've allowed ourselves to be painted into a technological corner- becoming increasingly dependent on an inherently fragile infrastructure to sustain and connect us. Lose power for an extended period and people are unable to feed themselves. Much of my own food stores reflect an assumption that I will have electricity to cook a meal... which indicates that I'm likely just as addicted to it as the next person. Our dependence on our "toys" to sustain social contacts certainly is not lost on the manufacturers and marketers of those toys- after all, they almost certainly cultivated that reliance- which reflects less a desire to help us communicate and more a desire to keep us spending our money as old tech becomes obsolete- as planned- and new gadgets step seamlessly into the void- available for a price. That price goes well beyond currency. Television is the major means of delivering the toxic message- helping to condition us- not only to go after the latest and greatest- but to apply pressure to those who choose to do otherwise.
^ I couldn't agree more. And to the person that said we were always divided, I believe you are wrong. There's many points to draw on from here, but the one that comes to mind is in argument. For a lot of people (that I have witnessed) when they are in a quarrel with someone, they would rather text, IM, or talk on the phone about it, instead of to their face. Pre-modern technology at one point wouldn't allow any of this, and therefor force us to confront each other. Now, whether or not you see this as a bad thing is another point to make. That's all opinion.
Technology has actually helped people like me, people who used to stare at their shoes to avoid talking to that lady on a train that just HAS to talk to everybody. Now I can just pull out my phone and check my facebook! I'm actually being facetious. I don't really enjoy talking to strangers and I am guilty of burying my face in my phone to avoid it, but I do think its quite sad when I walk into the break room at work and everyone is sitting alone at a table with four chairs, and everyone is facing the same direction, looking at the tv. Or when friends get together and spend more time texting the friends that couldn't make it than talking to the friends that are there. I really abhor frivolous technology. I basically watch 30 minutes of tv a week. I watch the new episode of one sitcom religiously, and thats it. One night some friends stopped by just as that show was going off and I didn't immediately turn the tv off. I noticed my loud, warm, joking and lighthearted group of girlfriends were being unusually quiet, and it was because they were all glued to the tv. As soon as I turned the tv off it was like everyone just shook themselves out of a coma and immediately started talking and laughing again. Technology really does have the power to rob us of intimate moments with loved ones.
The fact that you realize what you are doing makes you yourself partly to blame. You are whining but not doing anything to change the behaviour. Technology, in my opinion, is around for two reasons; some of it frees human beings of doing repetitive jobs and chores, and some of it is designed to enhance life in general. It is only when corrupt money interests become involved that technology can be misused or used against human beings instead of for them.
You can still be friendly and connect with people in a technological world; I know that for a fact. Why blame technology for people's alienation? It's really caused by their fear and suspicion. The level of technology and the level of alienation have no necessary link.
yes, people have become progressively alienated as time wears on, but it truly is nothing new. Sociologists have long known that human social structures almost always tend towards greater prevalence of secondary groups rather than primary groups. For example, feudal systems, emerging always with a prior background using kinship as the primary means of social organization, contain more secondary groups than the prior version. throughout history, you went from four generations of an extended family working the same farm, to smaller extended families with farms and some relatives who moved elsewhere, to nuclear families living in suburbia, to single parents caring for their only child in a two-bedroom apartment. you may bemoan the loss of the primary interaction in human society, but you now have the ability to choose who you spend time with.
