The Distraction Device

Sorry if this is posted in the wrong forum. Please move if necessary.

This isn't directed at people with devices, but it mainly includes them.

I have been meaning to say something like this because I have seen quite a trend. Remember when Cell phones were more uncommon than they are now? Remember when you talked to your friends either through text messaging or through the phone itself?

Now, cell phones are the thing nowadays, and everyone is talking o them, whether you're using Bluetooth headsets or without, it's uncommon for me to find a driver especially without them.

I'm not even sure if drunk driving accidents measure up to texting/talking accidents. Not saying they're higher, because I haven't checked statistics like that.

Now, think about the Palm series that came out in the 90s. It wasn't a very big hit, and then the iPod touch was released. I think this had to be one of the biggest problems that were introduced, It started with being cool and owning one, and then it became convenient. I see numerous people with ipods or other touch screen devices.

More and more games and whatnot are created to keep us busy with such an item. How often do you look away from your touch screen to see the world around you? how often have things gone slack because you've been playing with your touch screen device?

These items have become one of the biggest distractions that i can think of, rivaling even laptop computers.

I wonder how many sit back and think about how these devices take you away from what's happening around you and keep you occupied with games.

I wonder if this was a decent device that was made and it is since being used to distract people for nefarious purposes.

How often do you look up nowadays?

How often do you leave your precious device at home when you go out (understandable if it's your phone too)?

Think about how much attention those devices take away from those around you. If it's too much, perhaps you should worry more about the world around you than what word you can make, or how far you can fling a bird.

If someone has devise a plan to keep people occupied while things happen around them, they've certainly been using touch devices to the fullest extent, and in my opinion, it's WORKING.

Thoughts?

It really is not all that different from what they did in Rome.
Games games games, everyone had to have their games.
As long as everyone was entertained at the Coliseum, everyone was happy, content and distracted while Rome continued its expansion.

I guess it works both ways, as I am using a tablet to post this reply.

I often think of television in this way. Imagine yourself as a being that is unaware of TV viewing a person watching a few hours of TV, you are able to see everything in the room exept the video on the screen. Wouldn't you wonder what is so fascinating about that dumb box?

reply to post by SpiritualStar


Spot on, I think about this all the time.

Just the other day I was attending a play with my family and spent the whole time playing on World of Goo (its really quite good you should check it out), and before I knew it the play had finished and my family were staring at me like "what the hell are you doing", I havent heard the end of it since, my family are annoyed with me and I missed the play.

Terrible

You should read a few of my threads, because I generate the same thought pattern....

The television is just as bad if not worse that a cell phone.

It's not so much as they were created to distract us.
It's maybe that we allow what has been created to distract us.

Instead of living in the real world, with real issues, people hide behind their devices.
Either facespace or mybook, pda or iphonee, these things keep us from the real world.
Real problems, and real issues take place right in front of them. But that's not important.
They are too busy, chatting about some ridiculous subject instead of what's really going on.
Too enthralled in this digital world to even notice the drivers around them...
And that's only one scenario...I can list several hundred.

Maybe there is a reason for all this...
Almost, like you said, on purpose.

Nowadays, kids are "addicted" to texting and games.
As if it's a true problem. It's not, just as alot of "problems" are not real.
It's completely psychological and can be prevented by just taking things away.
I.e., the spoiled child syndrome... all too often I see that affect alot of people.
Yeah right....if these kids would just do something productive, it would never happen.
If they actually worked on things, such as a hobby or building something (like what I did when young)
Their lives would be more productive and they wouldn't seem so detached from the world.
But instead their minds are too deluded and they think that their lives revolve around a smartphone.

Unreal.


But, it's getting worse and the higher ups know what to do now.
It will be the ultimate control method.
This generation already believes that nothing is possible without the internet.
Might as well make them believe that they don't need cash...Just credit.
Might as well create the ultimate smartphone and present it as an implantable chip.
See where I'm going here?

reply to post by SpiritualStar


I could not agree more. There are many wireless companies now that will offer "family plans" to keep everyone busy. Some offer Free touch pads with multiple phone activation. It seems that the next logical step is to have one implanted in your forearm.

That seems to be the trend. BUSY BUSY BUSY . too busy to see the elephant in your living room

Not only that, but wireless companies seem to "know" everything that is going on with each of their wired device. Software designed to capture every bleeping thing you do on your phone (see Carrier IQ)

Every youth is now so attached to their device that ironically enough, it is great punishment to "ground them" from it.

My daughter actually ranted at my wife OVER TEXT.. THAT WAS FUNNY and pathetic at once.

[Daughter] - Can I have $70 to get my hair done for the dance?

[Mom] - Honey, you can do your own hair.

[Daughter] - But Mom, I don't know anyone who isn't getting their hair done !!!

[Mom] - I do

[Daughter] - OMG



I remember a day when people took on an alter ego or a new persona when they were chatting online. These days, there is no such thing. Teens are as abrasive online as offline and seem to fear nothing.

thanks a lot device creators (sarcasm)

Originally posted by Skewed
It really is not all that different from what they did in Rome.
Games games games, everyone had to have their games.
As long as everyone was entertained at the Coliseum, everyone was happy, content and distracted while Rome continued its expansion.

Yes, the emperors in these days were very well council-led in entertaining the masses to keep them from seeing the elephant in the living room.

Funny how history repeats itself uh.

Historical tidbit
Why the Roman Games

In the dawn of PC gaming
there were a few games that allowed two people to play on one computer simultaneously.
Jockying for position on one chair with a young sister or brother was not too disimilar to what
one might have been doing on the bench in front of a piano, not too long ago.

But.

Consumerism requires that every single individual get a device.
None of these "shared keyboard" games were picked up for wider distribution.
The only vestage that remains is maybe hot-seating a game of civilization.

I don't think this was intentionally designed to atomize people into asocial zombies,
just that the profit was much greater if people were discouraged from sharing tech.


David Grouchy

reply to post by Glargod


It is amazing how blood thirsty people really are, even if they do not admit it.
Look at today, times have changed of course but it is still the same principal as football and basketball. Millions of people gather to watch these modern day "blood baths" played out on a hardwood floor or a field. Boxing is by far the closest we have to match the brutality that we say we despise.

Most of the work in our society is pushing key's (on keyboards) few really produce something, like food, catch fish, closes, etc etc...

i grow up in a time when suposed a promissed "miracle" machine will do everything for us...perahps know we all do thing for the machines ..

in past book's where a kind of entertainment, but they at least instruct people... know everything haves to be fast..and for the eyes...not for the brain...

Sure we need some kind of new aprox on the education to give to kids, that takes in matter all influences of tecnological advance and internet society...the old paradigma of learning History, maths, physics, etc based in what happened, haves also to be aplied more closely to the future.. to evolution and to the need's of our planet.

Originally posted by Skewed
reply to post by Glargod

 

It is amazing how blood thirsty people really are, even if they do not admit it.
Look at today, times have changed of course but it is still the same principal as football and basketball. Millions of people gather to watch these modern day "blood baths" played out on a hardwood floor or a field. Boxing is by far the closest we have to match the brutality that we say we despise.

edit on 20-12-2011 by Skewed because: (no reason given)

totally agree.. humans with less education...gather around that ... to discharge anger and live winning sensation... lack of happiness in their lives

The devices may have been made with good intentions, but nowadays, I don't see anything good coming from them. Except maybe the news.

I just imagine, one day, what if all the power went out? Well, there would be no more devices. What will those people do with their times if they're so conditioned with screens?

Granted, they're entertaining, but so is the world around you!

I just think people need to take a step back from the devices and realize that their world around them is falling apart. How many relationships were lost to something as simple as this? How many families suffer because of this?

What is it going to take for people to get unstuck from their screens and stuck back in reality? When we don't have them anymore?

Originally posted by SpiritualStar

What is it going to take for people to get unstuck from their screens and stuck back in reality? When we don't have them anymore?

Unfortunately I see no other way. Until people quit living their lives from one text to the next only until they loose it will they start crying, and I fear it will be too late then. If people want to save the world from an all out blood bath which is on the horizon I suggest they start waking up now, otherwise that is exactly what we will have on our hands. There is still hope and time that things can be straightened out, but not too much more. We are approaching the point of no return and the only way to return would be an all out fight.