It's clear that we are addicted to technology, but what are we supposed to do about it? Let's look at some ways people deal with other addictions:
Cold turkey: We could remove technology from our lives completely, just cut it out and never look back. But, our society is completely dependent on it, so there is no way that cutting ourselves off would do any good. All that would do is put us at a complete disadvantage for grad schools and jobs. Not to mention technology is everywhere and understanding it and using it has become essential for survival. It would be like trying to get over alcoholism in the worlds best stocked bar... So, that option is a negative.
Group therapy: Considering that there are no help groups for technology addiction, I am thinking this isn't going to work. Looks like we won't be standing in front of a group of people glued to their iPhones and Blackberrys to say "Hi, my name is Meghan and I am a technology addict."
Pills and patches: I can't even figure out how that would work...
Aversion therapy: Electric shocks when you get near a piece of electronics? Wouldn't that be using technology??
Maybe technology addiction isn't something we should be getting over... maybe we need to approach this a different way...
Perhaps instead of figuring out how to reduce our addiction to technology we should be looking at increasing our knowledge of other things. Ah, there it is. Here is my solution, if you can call it that. Use technology, but also, learn how to do things the old fashion way. Learn how to use books and magazines to do research. Learn how to start a fire without a lighter and a fire starting log. Learn how to do math without a calculator, if you could do it in elementary school you should be able to do it now. Read a book instead of just reading Sparknotes. Take a walk instead of a drive. Learn how to talk to people face-to-face instead of texting. You get the idea...
If you know how to do things the easy way (with technology) and the hard way (without technology), then you won't have to worry if the power goes out for a couple of days because of a storm. Not to mention, you will be the most popular person during that storm!!
Technology is not flawless, but the more you know and the more ways you know how to do the same thing the better of you will be. If one method fails you know you have more ways to approach it.
In summary: Be as addicted to technology as you want, just don't be DEPENDENT on it.
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Well I just wrote a long comment to this blog and I don't think that it went through. This is extremely aggravating. However, I talked about how it is interesting that children can use computers and things of that nature better than my parents can because they are used to growing up with technology. Also, it is interesting to see what people do when they go camping these days because they still use cell phones and labtops. Moreover, I recently moved into a new house and when I did, I did not have the internet for nearly three months. This was a real problem because I had to leave my house, and waste gas, every time that I wanted to use the Internet. Also, it is interesting that people have lived for many years without much of the technology that we have today, however, people act like they can't go on if they have to do without many technologies, these days.
ReplyDeleteJoe- That is so true. My house mates can not continue life if Facebook is down. What else is there to do- Homework? Naaa
ReplyDeleteI agree technology is not flawless...but when is the best time to jump on the bandwagon and take a risk? Could it cost you your job?
My name is Gerret, I'm addicted to the internet.
ReplyDeleteYet I find the thing that consumes the most time is sifting through all the content I try to keep track of. Blogs, news sites, aggregate sites such as Digg, forums, etc.
I've started latching onto RSS feeds to try to condense all of this together. If I can get my internet in one wicked dose, maybe it'll free up more time to ride a bike.
If only it wasn't snowing. Or raining. Or whatever it's doing.
I'm going to check facebook. On my phone, on the couch, while I watch TV.
Joe- You made a lot of good points. It is amazing at how easily younger kids can pick up technology, but I think it is more essential to their survival (even socially). As for camping, that is one of my biggest pet peeves. I understand people bringing out GPS devices or something if they get lost, but leave the cell phone and laptop somewhere else and enjoy nature!
ReplyDeleteCase- I know A LOT of people that die without Facebook! I will admit that I am so addicted to Facebook and the Internet in general that I had to unplug the Internet from my computer to study. And I still tried to click on my Firefox icon... sad, isn't it?
ReplyDeleteAs for the job... I think that not being able to use technology puts people at a severe disadvantage when applying to jobs or evern working in jobs in general. So much is done online and if they can't keep up then they are basically dead weight...
Garret- It is time consuming! I don't know how people (including you) can keep up on so much stuff, even with RSS... I'm lucky if I can check both e-mail accounts... hahaha!
ReplyDelete