Has technology taken over too much of our lives?
Posted at 5:00 AM on October 17, 2011
by Eric Ringham
(28 Comments)
Filed under: Science/Technology
Eighty-three percent of American adults have cell phones, according to the Pew Center's Internet & American Life Project. Nearly 90 percent own some kind of computerized device. Three in four Americans between the ages of 18 and 29 use social media. Today's Question: Has technology taken over too much of our lives?
Comments (28)
True technology is "know how" (and sometimes "now what?") not simply tools requiring "know how". Given that, assume the attitude that gives one the flexibility, insight and intuition to be free clear and happy.
Remember; radio, tv, internet, cellphones etc ... are all metaphors for the coming global empathic/telepathic resonance.
Learn to meditate that's the source of all technology and it's right-use-ness.
GregX, let's stick to ridiculing ideas, not people, please.
Once in a while, force your kid to "Live like the Amish" and TURN OFF ANYTHING WITH A SCREEN. HECK, TAKE AWAY THINGS WITH A SCREEN ONCE IN A WHILE. ...........
================= the original of this message was posted by the modern equivalent of the ancient Greek communities "town drunk" hired to show others the effects too much "drinking" !
Technology is a tool. It can be used for good or ill.
Eric Ringham - Please do more to keep this page on topic by removing posts that get to far off topic and/or blocking some posters. This section of the MPR website has been taken over by a few trolls encouraging others with decent answers and insights to click away or stop visiting this page altogether.
"You are takers and I am a producer."
Are you the same "Clark" that admitted to being an executive in the "financial services industry"? If so, you are most definitely not a producer. What you do may have some utility in helping others be more productive, but you produce precisely nothing yourself. And if you're getting wealthier than the actual producers, you have some explaining to do.
Yes. We limit the amount of time our kids spend looking at shiny screens, and they have no cell phones. At times they grumble, but we tell them to remember that someday they will rule the world because they are able to use their brains, their imaginations, and think without the help of technology.
It's not so bad being a Luddite.
A few generations after the printing press made books cheap and ubiquitous, Miguel De Cervantes wrote ‘Don Quixote’ in which the main character goes insane from having read too many books. Now we consider reading a book a quaint and wholesome act.
Clark - I'm glad you're happy. But while you might be financially wealthy, you might find that you would run into a debate regarding the healthy and wise part.
Now wipe the spittle off your chin and take your meds.
Technology is good; however it will be our Achilles heel.
Our enemies current and future know this. The radical Muslims are plotting to physically destroy it and our future enemies (the PRC) have built in so many back doors to shut it down at their discretion that it would be useless.
What part of our life would change without current technology…. Basically everything.
Electrical power generation and distribution, communications, JIT supplies of food and industrial supplies.
Imagine if it all stopped… think about it.
∑
DTOM
Leftist radicals:
Actually, healthy, wealthy and wise and quite happy. Will never come to agreement with left wing radicals. You are takers and I am a producer. North Korea is calling you to workers paradise!
I agree with James. And there is nothing we can or should do about it. Technology and what it brings is addictive.
Perhaps the biggest disappointment of the technology revolution for me is the small number of US jobs that result.
Facebook -- a couple of 1,000 US jobs, tops.
Apple -- no idea how many US jobs in total, but essentially no manufucturing jobs.
And on it goes.
A huge portion of our economy, whether measured in dollars spent, market penetration, or customer time consumed is not creating US jobs.
Kind of a drag.
There's the old axiom that no one on their death bed wishes that they had spent more time at work.
Similarly, no one will wish that they had spent more time on their ipad.
As the power and ubiquity of technology increases, as does it's power to enslave us.
Or free us. But we must step back from it as often as possible.
Poor Clark seems to be an extremely unhappy, angry individual. Take some deep breaths, friend.
"Technology in communication can only hurt the guilty."
Obviously, KimMN, you've never been the subject of nasty gossip, having people believe falshoods and outright lies about you. Technology is neither bad nor good; what matters is how people use it, whether thoughtfully and compassionately, or carelessly and selfishly.
Yes, when the time devoted to these devices increases at the expense of established social behaviors and manners.
Worse are the car accidents caused by people distracted by their little electo-toys. It appears that some people are easily amused by the latest audio-visual device that comes along, and will forgo common sense to play with them.
Actually, the statistics stated in the question seem rather low. I find it comforting to know that as many as 25% of people between 18-29 do not participate in the data mining schemes of social media.
Another great benefit of technology: If it wasn't for social networking and cell phone cameras, we wouldn't know that this past weekend in Chicago, the mobs at the Occupy Wall Street had endorsed and welcomed the American Communist Party or that former Speaker of the House, (D) Nancy Pelosi has endorsed this protest, a protest using the contrived use of students by the SEIU and other Soros funded groups. Without technology we wouldn't have known quickly of the e-mails implicating Attorney General Holder in the Fast an Furious corruption or of some of his own staff quitting because of Holder's racial agenda to not_ enforce certain USA laws.
Technology in communication can only hurt the guilty. I wonder when we will see Obama's admin push for more censorship just as Obama's appointee, Cass Sunstein has gone on record as supporting?
How come NPR never does a story on these czars' radical agendas? Not liken they haven't been on tape at speeches and fund raisers to advocate for such abolition of our freedoms over the past several years. Gosh, non one wants to air SEIU's Stefen Lerner's speeches on wanting violent protests and attempts to collapse the system by advocating we don't pay our mortgages or worse today, that students should not pay on their student loans and have the banks wipe their debt clean.
Hmmm_ there's a plan. Forgive student loans, the banks go bust or can no longer make loans to anyone..small business can't expand to hire...economy gets worse, those on federal and state relief aren't paid, mobs protest and martial law is declared and elections are suspended to " safe guard the citizens from the mobs." Now which country was it that saw that very scenario in the past where cell phone service was cut off??
Obama spoke of technology being a problem. He said the ATM bank machines were "responsible for taking jobs away from tellers." But then he allows stimulus money to the tune of 2.2 billion wasted , lost on just two solar companies..solar technology is good? really?
While recent discoveries in MT and ND show we now have more oil and gas finds that would take 2,000 years to pump out at the current rate..we could be energy independent within 2 years if his EPA and Dept of Energy would be controlled or shut down.
Technology of cell phones, electric cars and I pads require one common factor_ consistent generated electricity, not the sporadic 28% available wind energy for 500 ft. tall propeller blades.
Yes.
Technology has always taken over too much of the lives of the succeeding generation as judged by the morality of the preceding one. Humans are an adaptable species, we get used to what we consume and use that baseline to judge others.
There are some very droll responses posted here. Technology has always been with us and in some form will always be. I imagine that there were some who were appalled when the wheel was invented or when it was discovered that fire could be useful.
The 1st use of technology was probably someone thowing a rock at a animal to get dinner.
It (technology) only overwhelms if you let it.
It's not just technology. The bigger issue is the delusion that having stuff makes a person happier. Our addiction to technology is nothing new, just another manifestation of that age-old phenomenon called greed.
Actually, without my internet/computer/android phone, I wouldn't be able to find any news that is not controlled by the Zionist media.
Simple answer. Yes it has, and thank God for it. Life and times are extremely fast and busy. Without our current technology, staying organized and up to speed would be far to difficult.
Sums up my feelings (Sung to the tune of I Will Survive)
At first I had a phone on my kitchen wall
If someone had to talk to me they simply had to call
Unless of course the line was being used right at that time,
Then they’d hear that busy signal we’ve hardly heard since 1999
Oh now I, I’ve got a cell
I’ve got an Ipad that I always seem to have with me as well
I’ve got two emails a website and I’ve got a blackberry
Now there’s no excuse for someone not to be in touch with me
Oh and I, cannot survive
Without all of these gadgets I don’t think I’d be alive
I no longer use my brain now I just use a data base
If the power grid went down I might as well be lost in space
Oh now I, I’ve got a cell
I’ve got Facebook, Linkedin, YouTube and a voice mail just as well
I only wish sometimes that people’d just leave me alone
And we’d go back to that old time when I just had a kitchen phone
Hey Hey…
No, it hasn't.
I can remember a time when some folks thought Buck Rogers was leap too far.
It also allows misguided information and opinions to go viral and cloud the debate. Lighten up Clark.
Sure, but what are you going to do about it?
Pheasants Forever likes to say "no child left inside". MN DNR/PF Youth and Women Hunt this weekend! Free program to introduce new people to hunting!
You need to get outside and turn off the phone and pull the headphones out of your ears.
Go fishing, go hunting, go hiking AND BRING A KID!
Get your kid outside and play baseball, softball, football, soccer, or SOMETHING.
Tell kids to "go play out side". Don't let them back in the house except to use the bathroom.
Once in a while, force your kid to "Live like the Amish" and TURN OFF ANYTHING WITH A SCREEN. HECK, TAKE AWAY THINGS WITH A SCREEN ONCE IN A WHILE.
But, unfortunately, technology is needed to make a living and be productive. Balance folks. Balance.
Yes. Allows groups of slackers, freeloaders and debt scofflaws ability to congregate in one location and continue to avoid their search for employment.
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