Techno, Help... or Hinder?

[Dave S]

As I'm sure many of us have, I was looking at the rate at which Technology has affected our everyday lives.

Remember when...
You had to be in the office to make a call?
Your Secretary did the typing and needed Tippex?
Games were played outside between you and a group of friends?
Vacation meant nobody could get hold of you for a couple of weeks?
And so on...

Today we have our cellular phone on 24/7/365.
We can type and correct docs on our laptops, over and over, if we happen to print while there is still a mistake, no problem, fix the error and print again.
Games, how many kids actually see more than an hour a day of sunlight, and how many can play, Jukskei, Piggy in the middle, Dodgeball, Fly, or many of the other group games of yesteryear?
Vacation... Huh?

Ask yourself, has your particular flavour of technology, helped you or hindered you? Yes I know the question is not that simple, as all technology will help one way and hinder another.

[tec0]

Technology made it possible for me to communicate and spell with little to no mistakes. Without it you will NOT be able to read anything I type. Technology made it possible for me to hear tanks to a small piece of plastic.

My mobile phone made it possible to communicate to family members with hearing impairments. I can see and talk to family that is in other countries. Technology made it possible look inside your brain " how cool is that!!! "

But technology is not the problem. We are. If your phone is on while you are on vacation then you are the problem. If computer games are melting your child’s brain it’s because you didn’t turn it off.

If people are not making calls in office anymore, it is only because your office policy didn’t specify that all business calls will be done in the office.

So what am I saying?

Technology for now will be the servant of humankind. Yes there will be a time when we will give technology the ability to think and become self-aware I personally think this is evolution taking its next inevitable step.

But last time I checked almost everything still comes with an off button.

You forgot Dave S you are still able to simply disconnect. Try it is really fun especially if you see all the miss calls!!!

[adrianh]

DaveS - Tough one - Some good, some bad and some downright terrible.

Good
- Fast access to information, communications...(download music, movies books & information)
- online ordering
- microprocessors
- home office equipment
- ATM & online banking

Bad
- Fast access to information, communications...(Propaganda, advertising, marketing, customers calling you at all hours)
- Laser speed traps
- Google Earth having a 3D view of the front of my house
- Electronics in cars (You need a masters degree to operate some cars)
- Device complexity (Tv DVD remote has so many controls that my 10 year old is the only person in the house that knows how to work the thing)

Terrible - Technology makes people stupid:
- people no longer think about letter writing in terms of structure & content. When we wrote letters in pen we had to plan ahead. You were unable to chop and change after the fact. Today people write whatever trash comes to mind and expects the computer to fix it. They think that the computer understands grammer, context and sentence structure.
- sms writ style 2 comms 1on1 wit < peeps if u kn kop dis den u ken my mean
- 10 year old kids need calculators to add & subract
- arts and crafts is a thing of the past - kids think that MS Paint is art
- if you can't stick batteries in it then kids don't play with it
- people buy whatever rubbish is advertised on TV
- soaps
- E TV porn & cel phone advertising (Try watching a movie after 11pm)
- Tele-Evangilists

[tec0]

adrianh >> You missed one: under Terrible: Please call me massages

[Dave S]

Adrian, you hit the nail on the head, Techno makes us stupid.

For instance when last did one of us actually calculate something without a calculator? (believe it or not, just the other day I had to divide 100 by 5, and I used a calculator??? I even double checked the answer... LOL)

I can't even type a letter without running spell checker, even though my education tells me I spelt (spelled) it correctly the first time???

Tec0, yes all these things have an "Off" button, but how many of us know when its prudent to use it? - Just a thought.

I'm not attacking technology, technology is great, but don't we rely a bit too much on it?

[adrianh]

I catch myself doing the same with a calculator & spell checker.

Prudent to use it - cell phones are a case in point - I drove back from the Cape Town airport to Goodwood with somebody the other evening. This guy drove the entire way with the phone in hand having what seemed to be an online MxIt conversation.

I agree that we could turn the devices off, and maybe we should do so more often.

"Call me messages" are a real pain, but Vodacom has the audacity to tag an advertisment onto the damn things as well. Talk about being bitten twice!

[Dave A]

I'm reminded of what the PC does for small business every time I do a statement run. Without a PC and accounting package the number of debtor accounts you can handle is way limited.

Terrible - Technology makes people stupid

I'm not so sure on that one. I hear you about the calculator and simple maths, but it also makes the very same person able to do some pretty heavy calculations too!

I reckon technology helps make you more of what you are - it multiplies us. For most of us that's a good thing.

Unfortunately if you're a pain-in-the-ass, it also makes you even more of a pain-in-the-ass. I'm pretty sure that without IT, the spammers of this world would have been spamming whatever they could reach anyway - it's just their reach would have been a lot smaller.

[tec0]

Think about this, technology connects us and enabled us to handle mass amounts of information. We are able to build a robot to build a car. It was never the robot’s intention to fire the human worker but the company did. That decision was completely human.

Not using the mystical off button is a completely human decision. Most teenagers don’t know how to exist without chatting on a mobile 24/7

The truth is technology is not an inhibitor; you can use brain training software and actually get your math up to speed again. The Nintendo DS loaded with Dr Kawashima’s Brain Training software is a good example of what is possible.

I say technology was never the problem it is how we use it. Also why must you be available to the world 24/7? Anybody that knows me knows that my phone goes dead on weekends. Yes I will play a game or just grab my IPod and find a nice spot in the sun and just become as lazy as a lizard.

I invite you to do the same... The time you spend on relaxing aka "doing nothing" is probably the best way to spend your day, simply because your body needs to recover. is my hobby

[garthu]

It wasnt just a few days ago i was going to post something here on cell phones .... didn't cause i was in such a CUCK mood, probably would have had me hot oil..

But reading it now have to say this

But last time I checked almost everything still comes with an off button.

Tec0, couldn't agree more... BUT the problem seems to now lie with peoples perception of when, how you should be contactable and what suites them.

Had a guy try to contact me, the phone rang some 7 times on private. I wasn't able to take the call...simple... couldnt call back no message, he tried again later, missed me again while in loo... that was just really shit luck

Finally gets a hold of me and starts raking me over the coals SEVERELY for not been available. The conversation lasted about 2 mins, told i didn't care if he wanted a million R install, never should he call me back.

At the end of the day maybe not the wisest decision, BUT when you can't even go to loo without the expectation that you should be available... man just can't do business with a guy like that. And i'll put bets on it, some funny little R350 job, no a mil like i would REALLY like

[tec0]

People expect you to be on 24/7 then let them. That is there standards not yours. Yes some services like banking, police, fire department and medical must be a 24/7 but that is why you get shifts and the system works ok...

Now I suggest an answering service... it tells the person at what time they can phone or they can leave a massage. Simple solution... Also I only phone people that leave proper massages and that is the end of it.

The truth is you do not have to please everybody.

[adrianh]

It is not as simple as just turning it off. We say that guns don't kill people - maybe - but ready access to guns makes it easier for people to use guns. Technology is an enabler but it is also a disabler - it allows you to run 10,000 invoices in an hour but it also makes you reach for the calculator to do mundane calculations. I think that technology is a double edged sword that should be wielded with discretion. You can't simply turn a nuclear warhead off. The mere existence of the technology meanse that we have to safeguard ourselves against the technology. Yes, it takes a human to lob a nuclear bomb, and of course we have done so already. To restate what I said earlier, guns don't kill people but the mere existence of a gun forces us to protect ourselves against the usage (accidental or otherwise) of that gun.

The gun / weapon / computer etc is an enabler if used in a particular way and a disabler if used in another. Some say SMS advertising promotes trade, some say its a pain, a gun is good in a policeman's hands but bad in the hands of a criminal. Explosives are bad when the kill innocent people but good if they demolish old buildings.

And yes, I get completely off my head when the same twat phones me 10 times in a row but never just leaves a message so that I can get back to them at my convenience.

[Dave S]

Techno... YEEEEHAAAA!

To refer to an old movie, think it was Jamie Uys, "God's must be crazy", goes on to explain that modern man has adapted his society to the degree that he must adapt and re-adapt to a new environment repeatedly. This is what technology has done.

On the other hand, who wants to live like a bushman all your life?

Technology has certainly made it easier for us to adapt...

[garthu]

On the subject of tech, for those that recently would have seen the latest FHM, there is an article in there regards Google.

If tech hasn't started to scare you, then maybe it's time!! They use reference to the movie terminator and so on....

Heres a link to a video on same but not the same as the article in the mag.

Not sure, but i reckon the term conspiracy theorist will soon change to "realist".. scary stuff

[Dave S]

I watched the video, it seems more like a doomsday speculation than a reality. What I did find surprising, there is no mention of Facebook and its increcible power? To this day I steer clear of Facebook, simply because it has too much personal information.

[garthu]

Yup, maybe "doomsday" is the correct term for it and whilst pretty far fetched, what is there to stop them going bad? With the amount of information they have been capturing since inception, your searches etc, and never ever deleted, imagine the profile they could build of you!

I just think that it is pretty concerning as there is potential merit to it....