Social Technology Is Destroying Life As We Know It

We have an abundance of technology aiding us in our day to day activities and making it easier to connect, but is this really a good thing?

I don't know if it is because I am getting older (I'm only 25!) and just losing interest in the latest gadgets etc. or if Technology on the social level is genuinely becoming out of control. I would like a mobile/Cell phone which will make calls, text, have a few games and access to the internet that just works. Instead, I have to be practically forced into buying a 'smart phone' which as well as the above can be a spirit level or a fitness coach, or a talking cat, or a shopping assistant or a machine gun, or a barcode scanner not forgetting the general GPS tracking capabilities which can be abused so easily..... the list goes on almost infinitely. Give me back my old Sony Ericsson Cyber Shot any day.

What happened to Gaming? Instead of inserting a disc and shooting computer or (one or two friend) controlled characters or racing your favourite car against the computer gradually improving we are now funnelled into playing people online in which most cases play day in day out to the point where it is no longer fun to play for the normo unless we use cheats. Most of the content will soon be downloadable as well killing the high street music/game shops. One of the best parts of being a teenager was going into town on a Saturday afternoon with your mates and buying the game you've been dreaming about since it was first announced.

Gone are the days of getting your photo's developed and keeping them in albums which are passed on through the generations, now hundreds of photo's which should be dear to the individual are posted online for all and sundry to see, is nothing sacred any more? Why would you want the whole world to see pictures of your graduation, birth of your first child or your wedding? We no longer need to write letters as you can instantly speak to anyone anywhere in the world, is this really a good thing, do we all really want to be tethered to eachother as we are led into the grim future by the people at the top?

The sad thing is, there is no return from this situation, nobody, not even myself will be able to revert to the old fashioned ways and as we become more and more reliant on technology to go about our daily lives, we will lose the natural skills necessary to communicate and survive and are opening ourselves up to be controlled by... you will have your own opinions on that subject.

As Freddie Mercury said.."I want to break free" I want break free from this control, this insatiating need to constantly have the best technology. Just stop to think about what is really important in life and maybe get rid of some of the things which make life so easy. Maybe if we had the old challenges, we would be able to rebuild our old skills and MAYBE today's youth would not be in the state they are, I don't blame them, I blame past Governments and society as a whole.

My Grandma often says to me, the War (WW2) were the best days of her life... that says something about today.

Take Care

50/50

in another 25 years youll most likey be saying the same thing but about the technologies of today. (when smart phones where hand held and not just another part of our brain etc...) im 25 as well and miss the olden days too but what can ya do other than adapt?


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hmm

I was having similar thoughts today.
Maybe it had something to do with Christmas shopping, and the "things" people want now.
I still have a canister of Tinkertoys at my dad's house. I don't know how old they are, buy they were Hand-me-downs, when I got hold of them. Ah tinker toys. Wood with holes drilled into it.

And it's not just technology..It's complexity.
How did we allow our lives to become so complex?
you can't even file a tax return without the help of an accountant or a service like HnR block.
Congress writes bills that are 3000 pages long. he Reps ad Senators don't even read them admittedly.

Forms to to fill out for everything. Permits to purchase for everything.
I challenge the average person to even understand their satellite or Cable bill. You don't buy the service, you pay for "packages". Once you get a grip on what you are paying for. They repackage the packages.
And even when you get up to the 300 channel packages...50 percent are infomercials after midnight and on weekends. All that for 80-100 bucks a month. We don't question,We just pay (that may change soon if we play our cards right).

You can't really own land, just lease it from the Government. Then you have to argue about water and mineral rights.

Too many lawyers i guess.

Why are we letting this happen, and what are we going to do about it?

Thank you for your post!

Destroying it? No. Yes, life has changed but I wouldn't say it has been destroyed. All the things you mentioned are your choice. You aren't forced to use any of the technologies you mentioned.

Personally I love how fast things are progressing. I'm a big fan of science fiction and it is amazing to see some of the stuff I was reading about 20 years ago come to fruition today.

A lot of people are despondent because they see us, the social beings we are, regress and no longer communicate and socialize as per the norm for the last few thousand years, face to face. They think that communication done over the interwebz isn't as intimate as close as it once was when we had no intermediary. When we had to write letters, and make phone calls on an old rotary. From my personal experience online relationships can be just as intimate, intense and close as any face to face one. I met my partner online, on an online game no less, over five years ago. The first year of our relationship was purely online, no phone calls, no video chat, nothing. I have never felt closer to another person in my life.

Life is changing. We will adapt. As long as we make it through the next few years unscathed I am excited about what the future has to offer.

".....then that thar railroad came thru these parts and brought with it all them city-slicker whores....durr...durr...durr..."

in the course of technology, its the good with the bad, im afraid.

your criticisms are myopic. from my perspective, we are witnessing an evolutionary leap. the birth of the noosphere. potentially resulting in an entirely new type of organism.....or at the very least redefining what it means to be human.


i can never figure out why people think that if they go dig up the pavement, they will find the beach underneath. no, no, we are not sacrificing paradise for progress. paradise is in the direction of progress....it is what we are moving toward!


and, to answer your question: no. nothing is sacred.


boo hoo.

There was a very bad trend occurring where technology could have very much destroyed our lives. It is complex, has many ramifications and like any power left unchecked is destructive. An awakening to these risks is in the pipeline with some significant reassessments recently happening: American Native title, START treaty, Net Neutrality and discussions of a single global currency. People are looking at the risks and more accountability is getting built into the system. I do like science and see it as the best path to understanding and managing these risk for a sustainable solution. Money has been a corrupting factor recently and more peer review is required for the more complex aspects. I can see both cultures of technology acceptance and technology rejection coexisting based on the communities decision. I can see understanding and compatibility across this technological range. The one thing I cannot see is if humanity is ready to accepts its responsibility. Time will tell, I wait in hope.

reply to post by tgidkp


If the OP is myopic, so is your post: "the future will be better."

Social technology simply isolates individuals.

In the U.S., youth ask each other if they want to "go out," but then never actually go on dates. They are just "an item."

Dances as social events for teenagers no longer exist. Apart from the death of danceable music, this is because young people no longer have the social skills to meet and make new friends, and learn to get to know each other in a social setting.

I know of multiple offices that no longer allow emailing intra-office, because it leads to grave misunderstanding and flame-wars, when if the people would just walk down the hall to a conference room, the whole problem would have been resolved.

Letter writing is dead. What letters did was, they were slower to create, and you thought more carefully about your choice of words, since you were writing them out long-hand. But with typing, you barely even consider your typos, much less your tone or how your words will be received.

Texting and tweeting take the opposite tack. You cannot discuss deep subjects on a text or tweet; meaning that every relationship you maintain mainly via those techs is automatically a shallow one.

I have turned off facebook for that reason. What's the point of "re-connecting" with people I knew 25 years ago? If we still had stuff in common, we'd still be friends, and would never have drifted apart.

I feel sorry for young people of today. no dating, no dancing, no time together in group activities. Just star trek communicators.

reply to post by dr_strangecraft

I know of multiple offices that no longer allow emailing intra-office, because it leads to grave misunderstanding and flame-wars, when if the people would just walk down the hall to a conference room, the whole problem would have been resolved.

I found this particularly significant! At the last company I worked I got seriously 'told off' almost to the point of being sacked for walking to other offices and departments to sort things out.

"We don't do that, we send an email."

I ignored the admonishment - too long in the tooth to take any notice of stupidity like that. It was not long before I became know as the person who could 'fix' things and they started sending me to sort things out. Just goes to show.

I have an average basic as they come phone.I dont want it to make me toast on the way to work while it autmaticly updates my current choleseral level to my facebookpage.In fact i dont even have a face book page so this rant might be a bit biased but people need to unplug from the virtual world.

The internets great,but people are posting their life on facebook like its a reality show on tv.They want to be mini celebrities.Technology is cool too,but when I read about people who feel the need to que up overnight to get the first releases of the new ipad thingy or the new smart phone,its nothing short of crazy.The constant updates and new versions and most people have to keep up with it,even look forward to the next like its a drug.They have to have the latest tech to feel complete.

Even phones,people yapping down the phone while they are trying to pay for the food inline,some unimportant trivial #.people walking right out into traffic while reading a text message,more in the phone virtual world than the real,unplug people,

I see teenagers more and more now have an unbreakable link with their phone,Its not just to keep in contact with friends,or to be able to connect online anytime they want,they are addicted to it.It has become part of them.The next generation will que up overnight giggling exitedly for the new implant chip, they are so connected with technology already.

It's just a fad, it it will pass.

25 is a milestone. It's a time when one ponders the manifestation of their life as a whole and, commensurately, the quality of that life. You have written a thread to yourself, and, wisely, asked for input from others. You are in charge. You choose what will or will not define your quality life. I have two friends with dark rooms. I have more than one friend who will shoot only on celluloid. I have friends who will not touch a synthesizer. They pay a high price for this, but are happy. Its up to YOU to live a quality life.

I have read the posts on the thread and am, honestly, horrified. Not being able to talk and forced to send emails...along with the other posts, well, it must be turned round. The only way is for all of us to decide what an authentic life is and then live it.

Thanks to the OP for bringing this up. This is a topic I've pondered rather frequently lately.

The thing about "social technology" is that it that it is a poor substitute for actual socialization. Human communication goes beyond words as most of us know. Over thousands of years, we've developed all sorts of little complexities to direct interaction that simply cannot be completely captured without engaging in up close and personal communication. Even things like Skype deny us things like touch, smell, and the subtle role of pheromones.

In truth, the time we've had indirect communication methods other than letters or telephone is still in its infancy, though. It's still an experiment of sorts and there are still people who have yet to take part in any form. The question is: will people know when to stop? How will a species adapted over millennia for direct communication react when it is torn from them in the space of a decade or two?

The above question is why I think we have a right to be concerned. Some technological advances, mainly in the fields of medicine and transportation, improve our lives and make things much faster. Communication tech. makes things faster too, but people seem to think that it's a decent substitute for actually being with people. It is in that mentality that I see a danger for humans. We are capable of adapting, but not within the space of a few decades. Our entire structure of socialization may see its undoing in just that little amount of time, however. As for what happens then, we can only guess. The very thought of that gives me an image of a numb, dystopian kind of place, though.

There's something so significant about the intimacy we risk losing with the advancement of social technology. As we head closer and closer to that loss, I can imagine we'll see a redefinition of human relationships. What will love, family, and friends mean in a world where, say, people use texting as their primary method of interaction (we're pretty close to that now, as a matter of fact)? What will happen when people are less and less directly associated with the most important people in their lives? Once again, I can only guess, but I think it's a troubling idea to say the least...

Personally, I try to live a life that embraces direct interaction as much as possible. And, while I have a Facebook, I use it sparingly. Sure, never texting and such is not exactly practical anymore. Nonetheless, I value quality over quantity when it comes to people.

Here's what I honestly think, though: regardless of the consequences, the growth of social technology is a monster that won't be stopped short of a global disaster. OP, you are wise to think about what's going on and question the consequences. Mainstream society, however, is unfortunately willing to go along when it comes to things like this. By the time this comes back to bite us (in some ways it already has), most people won't know what hit em'. Sad but true.

Thanks for reading.

reply to post by fiftyfifty


Life as a person knows it is always being destroyed. Change being the one great constant of the universe.

Technology isn't destroying the world. It is people's greed and the way they use technology that causes such destruction. The real culprits are our leaders, the people who try to regulate it, limit it's use so that corporations can monopolize on exclusive use for themselves. The people that lead us, who suffer from a serious lack of vision.

I don't mind that there are lots of cameras, but if you are gunna film me I bloodywell better beable to film back.

It is the fascist one-sided application of technology that seems to tear at this world the most, not the use of it by the surf.

This brings to mind only one thing.........Has anyone ever read the UNIBOMBER MANIFESTO???? and to think he predicted this all in the early 80's

reply to post by fiftyfifty


Your feelings are natural, but most people tend to want to revert back to old times because its a natural thing to want when your current life is making your thinking a bit tense.

Myself? I'm a true geek. I have 2 desktops, 1 laptop, 1 htc evo 4g, 1 iTouch, 1 gaming console (360).

But in actuality, they all communicate. they connect. and that's what you're seeing today.

Not an abundance of technology in the sense of new hardware.

Just that EVERYTHING CONNECTS. My desktops pull pics from laptop who stores pics on my external hard drive, which is networked so i can grab pics from anywhere, my htc evo, is linked to FB, GPS, etc etc. My itouch pulls music from my itunes which is shared via 3 computers on one account, which i can then stream over to my xbox through Windows Media Center. You see my point?

If you ever feel like you're being overwhelmed. DISCONNECT. I sometimes literally turn everything off, phone included, open all my doors and windows. pop open a book, even if its a research book, or a novel, and just read. Doing this atleast once a week will relieve you from being overwhelmed by today's technology. It's ok to love the tech... just don't be swallowed by it. Open yourself to the world whenever you get a chance to do so without having you use a single piece of digital gadgetry.

I was driving down a fairly busy street with some moderate traffic. About 100 yards from the intersection, I watched a young adult cross the road in front of me. She only made it half way before I passed her but I witnessed her staring at her phone while crossing the first half and as I looked back she was deeply interested in the phone vs, the oncoming traffic. Keep in mind, she was not using crosswalk and was standing in the middle of a street.
This is not the first time I have witnessed such moronic behavior by a younger generation. I view it as a form of evolution or herd thinning.
So in keeping with the OP topic, I would have to agree but disagree that it is a bad thing.

I wasted a significant amount of time in elementary school learning how to write in cursive. I own and manage my own company daily and interact with lots of people daily an have NEVER needed cursive writing. I use a signature but it not based on cursive. I can type out a multi page document in less time it would take to hand write out even in free flowing cursive. So did the typewriter/computer destroy life?

The way I see it is technology that allows, aids and encourages global interpersonal connections and instant, unrestricted information sharing is a good thing, while the will to control and regulate that technology is a bad thing.

If mutually consenting people are allowed unrestricted and uninfluenced access to communicate and share with each other all around the world, our geologically separated cultures will all grow in maturity and become more secure.

If that access is successfully regulated by some sort of authority we will regress and our future will hold little more than toil and ignorance. I think that even the pleasant distractions that our western cultures currently enjoy will be slowly but drastically reduced, one reason being the returns will simply not be worth the investment for the corporate machine. But the more subtle yet more decisive reason will be that without mutually consenting people having free access to communicate and share with each other, distractions won't be needed to keep the corporate gears of commerce turning.

My son sent this to me (out of the mouths of babes).

www.youtube.com...

facebook friends of mine are now deleting anyone they do not know personally as a New Years resolution.

Just thought you should know.

P.S. I do think an English teacher in South Korea is very important.

I agree with you about the social networks,it does keep people in your life that should be long gone.
But i disagree about the gaming,i enjoy having an endless amount of people to go against,that do not know my strategy the second i start a match.