, our propensity to be selfish. In the past, maybe we hid it better, but I think it was always there.
No, I’m not angry with technology, nor am I against it. As I said, it’s made all of our lives much easier in many ways. I guess the point I was trying to make is that we have become a little too yoked to our gadgets and conveniences – and perhaps this is one of those cautionary tales. I was really wondering what would happen if there were some sort of major power outtage, not for a day or two but months. How would we survive? Would some of us basically become basket cases without our gadgets? That sort of thing.
Certainly people who have a propensity to being rude, are just ruder with their little toys in hand – I’m not sure it changes a person or their behavior per se – but it seems to accentuate some of the bad behavior more. Know what I mean?
You are right on! We are at the mercy of our cell phones, computers and credit cards. We have to remind ourselves to think. It’s become too easy to overlook other people as we have little need for them. I think 1 of 2 things may happen: We will get worse or we will get better because of these things. I’m thinking we’ll get better as we see others utilize new technology in a selfish way.
I don’t know if we will get better. I think that our dependence on these things have become so much second nature that in an emergency without benefit of them, few people would know what to do. How to get along without them and become possibly even mob-llike if the government didn’t ‘fix’ it right away.
Also, I’ve read articles that discuss the literacy rate is declining in this country and one of the sources was teenagers texting – with the ‘new’ shorthand created for texting, it seems kids are losing their ability to spell properly.
I think when you have machines thinking for you all the time – you could end up in some trouble, if the machines ever break down and you’ve forgotten how to think for yourself.
Sure, I love the internet, blogging, having the convenience of a cell phone and laptop. But if I lost my cell tomorrow, I’d still know I could call from a phone booth. I don’t need a keyboard to write, pen and paper do just fine. I got along for most of my lfie without the internet – there are still libraries and books and halls of records I could get information from. But I wonder if others would feel the same should they lose the little gadgets that don’t require them to think nearly as much as we used to.
This sort of reminds me of an alternate ending for Gilligan’s Island that my dad wrote. I have a point, I promise.
In the episode (it was intended to be the final episode), Gilligan reveals that he’s not a dunce. He was purposely screwing up the rescue plans of his island mates. He wasn’t crazy, he was smart. He realised that The Skipper wasn’t happy being stuck on a tour boat. The Millionaires had all the money they could need, but not happiness. Ginger was, he figured, not content with being a movie star, with constant panderings from the paparazzi. The professor and Mary-Ann had their reasons for unhappiness, too. Gilligan wanted to keep them all on the island. They were happy there, away from civilization.
I think we’re not happy in our present lives. I also think cell phones and all the technochocolates are partly to blame. How many times have you seen someone get pissed because their iPod or Blackberry or some other gadget stopped working? Frankly, we’d be much happier without all the complications of civility. We don’t have to be stuck on an island, but we can do with moderation.
Humans want to be free, but technology just ends up owning them.
I agree whole-heartedly DT. That episode sounds cute. Too bad it never got bought and produced.
I think it starts with philosophy. It made the individual supreme over community. It did this because other ‘collectivist’ philosophies led to big trouble – a world war for starters – and we needed a new philosophy that would never let us get in this state again.
So the ‘individual’ became everything – and as time passed, products began to reflect this – toys moved from ‘communal’ games, to things you could play with on your own. And the kids begin to become acclimatised to individuality.
Hence, when hi-tech really got going, it also reflected the inidividual and allowed us to ‘cocoon’ ourselves, making the situation even worse.
And then tech got into our heads, making it easier to watch a video than read a book, where you would have to think about the concepts you were reading.
It’ll get worse soon.  There have been several breakthrough steps in the technology in the last handful of years. I wonder if the sockets in the back of our necks will come in designer colors?
I’m one of the ones who still reads books at home and only turns on the cell phone when she’s driving in case she has an accident or needs to be picked up if the car dies. I don’t even own a credit card!
I guess I’m just an old fashioned sixties kinda girl (yeah boy, a sixties girl with four computers in the house) as you mighta guessed.
Hey, where are you people anyway? I could use some folks to come and keep me company on my blog once in a while, I’m lonely today! I’m coming to visit you too but first it’s naptime!
Peace, love and gadgets.
 I only got a cell phone for emergencies. I rarely have it on. I do have credit cards though – but I wasn’t thinking that was a big reflection on technology, now I’m thinking maybe it is. And I will always read books – reading something on a computer screen just doesn’t have the same feel to it for me. Especially a book. I want to cozy up with it, have my water glass nearby and fall into that universe for a while. Can’t hardly do that sitting in front of a computer, at least I can’t.
I’ll be by to visit in a little bit. I planned to do some catching up tonight.
Wow, did you see the reactions of people when the Blackberry system crashed a couple of months ago? I’ve never seen so many suits about to cry in my life. I’m surprised by the perceived need we now have to be constantly and instantly connected to each other, whether it be through the internet or a cell phone or both at the same time (iphone anyone?). Interestingly, those two things connect us to others, yet leave us so isolated. When there’s no longer a need to have face to face contact, we as a species seem to prefer to avoid it. Since we’ve compressed our lives down to “I”, so many people have forgotten that they still coexist in a world of other people. I’m rambling again.
You’re not rambling at all. You are simply letting me know you got my point. And thanks, btw. You’re so right on about the no longer needing face to face contact and what it will and does do.
Good questions. Take away the technology and where would many people be? I am afraid that some would be lost, however I am confident that they would come around and find the fun they have been missing while they were wired.
I think we’ll just have to agree to disagree here. I honestly don’t think they would come around and if they did, it would be begrudgingly. Ever try taking someone’s cell phone away from them for an hour? It’s like withdrawal. We have a policy at work, no cell phones on during working hours. The employees were so freaked out they had to take breaks every ten minutes so they could check their voice mail or whatever they check on them.
Imagine these people trying to get along for two weeks or a month without them – they’d be basket cases.
I’m still here…me, me, me… I have had a cell phone glued to my hand for fifteen years (starting with “the brick”).. now its blackberry, laptop.. iPhone. Take all that away and my life becomes pointless. These toys subtley mask that problem.. And anyway they’re mine… so nobody can take them away.
I wouldn’t dream of taking your toys away. I am simply pointing out that we’ve become extremely dependent upon them and we should pay attention to that.
Despite the fact that I have blogs and am online a lot – and do research and various other things – I’ve actually unplugged quite a bit. It was weird at first, I felt like I was missing an appendage – but actually I’m happier now. I actually don’t want anyone to be able to reach me 24/7 – I want to be left alone sometimes.
I think it’s technology, and fear. Fear of other people. And I blame the media. We don’t see any feel good stories about what people do to or for others, we only here about the murder and mayhem…all the bad shit. We are shitscared that the little old lady -who 10 years ago we would have helped across the street- may actually be the mugger not the mugge