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I think it's killing the social graces of society.
That's true. Before cell phones, if you were visiting with someone and the phone rang, you would tell the person on the phone that you couldn't talk at the moment, but you'd call them back. Now that people are accessible everywhere there isn't that sense of "I can't talk right now."
That's true. Before cell phones, if you were visiting with someone and the phone rang, you would tell the person on the phone that you couldn't talk at the moment, but you'd call them back. Now that people are accessible everywhere there isn't that sense of "I can't talk right now."
Eh? I remember simply not answering the phone.
Still do that with a cell. There are very few people I'll answer for to begin with.
You provide poor examples, but I get the jist of what you are implying. My favorite example of dependency on technology is GPS. It seems everyone has one stuck to their windshield and they still don't where they are going. In my line of work I have a specific territory and a couple of coworkers use GPS on the job. Because of this they have no clue of where they are going and how to get to the place in there own territory, even after being on the job for a couple of years.
I got maps.
Though the Internet does make it a little easier to print out precise directions--sometimes the route they give isn't the one I would take.
I call it the 'unoccupied mind syndrome' seems as though a lot of people are waiting for some kind of outside stimulation to fill up the old brain and make them whole for a time. Are we really dependent on all this communicating? No, but we are all unfortunately bound to the great God technology in all other aspects of life. After reading some good stuff on peak oil I came away thinking that maybe the human race needs the comeuppance of a failing technology to appreciate what we can do without it. I like my hot running water as much as the next guy but sometimes it seems we have gone overboard on the idea that every techno-gadget is a great one......
I kind of agree. It's nice to have that stuff, but at the same time I feel like I'm surrounded by drones sometimes. You should see it here in Chicago. I take the subway to work and I would say most of the people are fiddling with their electronic devices. Does anyone ever just chill out and take in what's around them anymore?
I used to take the red line to work every day. Initially, I thought it odd that people would not look each other in the eye or communicate with each other. I had a culture clash as I had moved from an island. I had lived on the mainland and in many different states prior but not for almost a decade. Everybody was reading something or listening to tunes. It is about maintaining personal space when there is not much space to begin with.
I like my toys I am not dependent on them, but could not see giving them up. Except for my cell, my electronics are more of a convience for me.
I like having a cell so I can keep in touch with my wife and my son's school if they call.
As far as everything else, I think our ways of communicating have not really changed that much. Maybe made it easier, and sometimes for the bad (texting while driving etc). We still send letters. Sure, electronically, but I send 1000's more emails a year than I ever did real letters in my whole life. I think it has helped us become more efficient. I can communicate with my family easier. They live all over, and now I can cummunicate instantly from anywhere in the world.
Of course as I said there could be some bad points. We are a NOW society. Maybe it is not technology that changed us, but us that made it play catch-up.
Sorry, it is getting towards the end of the day and I am brain dead Funny we are discussing this on a forum with people from all across the country and possibly the world. Some ofo you are probably on an iphone
When you are having a family meal and the children at the table would prefer to communicate with someone who isn't even PRESENT by texting, that's a problem. When I see a mom in work clothes at 6:30p driving her SUV talking on the cell with 2 kids in school uniforms sitting in the back watching 2 different movies on screens thats a problem. She obviously hasn't been with them all day and heaven forbid she should talk with them during the ride home. When the power cuts out at publix and the cashier can't figure out that my change is 23 cents, thats a problem. And lastly, pay attention to teens around you. They SLEEP with their phones. Other children are still learning math on an abacus. In 30 years they can cut the electricity here and just walk right in and take over. Our kids won't have a complete thought between them.
I think it comes down to the individual person. But for many people my age, not all, but a good amount, we are. I did not get my own cellphone until I was 22, pretty late by the time my friends had theirs. I'm not sure if you're trying to see if this a good thing or a bad thing, or not. When I was a teenager I spent a lot of time on my computer rather than hanging out with friends. My computer was slow, so I began to tinker with it. I'm now 22, almost 23 and every computer in my house I built or repaired myself. I don't really think its an issue of being dependent on it, its what you do with it. I am guilty of checking texts at stores, in public in general. But its normally to check that no one is dead or dying lol. I love and hate technology. The way it works interests me greatly. But I hate how it can become such a time vampire. I am also grateful for it because it has allowed me to meet friends I would have never met without it. I think it has made, my generation at least, very lazy and impatient.
I've noticed the same sort of thing. There are a lot of things I don't have, and people are surprised that I don't.
While I do own a cellphone, it isn't Internet-capable. I'm not going to get one just because it could make things "easier" for me at some point in the future. I'll just be unavailable. I'll be gone the last week of July, and I won't log in until I come back.
I also have a regular cell phone. I have had people actually gasp at me when I tell them no, I don't feel the need to connect to my Facebook account 24/7. And no, I don't even have a Twitter account. Talk about becoming unpopular quick!
I see so many young people walking around texting texting texting nonstop, but it's also a trend I'm starting to notice in older adults. I know people who refuse to talk on the phone, they just want to text (and I hate texting). That's odd to me, but I guess that's just how isolated and insular we really are becoming? Nobody wants to talk to one another or deal with one another face-to-face. But I get really POed when I see somebody driving and texting, though.
Location: Finally escaped The People's Republic of California
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As technolgy advances, peolpe become dependant on it, been that way forever.....an interesting thought though, how many people could survive today, with the technolgy of 200 years ago. Not many of us still know how to salt meat, or even butcher a hog or cow, or break and then ride a horse..
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I am not dependent on them, but could not see giving them up. Except for my cell, my electronics are more of a convience for me. 
