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Whatever miss out on real life experiences mean? People keep saying that their time on Facebook, video games, texting, and all forms of modern technology are a waste of time and a distraction from reality or real life experiences. I wonder why do people say this? Is it because they don't like change? What about people like Steve Jobs or Bill Gates who spend a lot of time with technology? what are your thoughts?
I think first we need to define what a "real life" is. Most humans probably believe a "real life" is getting married, having children and then a good job to support this life style. This is a old human tradition, one I'm not necessarily sure is good for our long term survival, especially when considering how quickly our population is getting out of control. Technology can certainly distract from this ancient paradigm, but it can also enhance it.
Personally speaking, I don't want to be tied down to children and the stress of having to support them. With gaming, social media and other forms of entertainment, I'm perfectly happy to skip the whole notion that we should all settle down and have families. I actually see this distraction as a positive for myself and our species.
I blame myself and technology for missing out on life. I used to be an outside kid. But moving around so much (because of my parents), I became an inside kid. And to reduce my boredom, I would use the computer and go on the internet. I taught myself to do all kinds of things and I became hooked after that. Before getting hooked on the computer, I was also an avid reader. Once books become really morbid with vampires and crap like that, I stopped reading. And all I've done for years now is go on the internet. I'm absolutely fed up now. I'm actually getting ready to quit the internet cold turkey and go back to what and who I once was because I'm so sick of the constant negativity that so many people on the internet perpetrate.
They do in a way, take from real life experience, but if someone enjoys technology they should enjoy using it, not do something they think they should be doing instead.
Technology has homogenized the world, so the thing that one misses out on now is the rich variety of the human fabric. Everyone is now growing up in the same technological world, so all social experiences tend to be the same.
Getting off a train in the middle of the night at a remote station in Mali, where there is no electricity, and a man with a kerosene lamp has a hot cauldron of coffee and tins of sweetened condensed milk, and a few tin mugs of hot sweet coffee are being passed around to all the passengers, who drop a few coins in a can and get back on the train when the whistle blows -- technology makes experiences like that disappear forever. That was in 1969.
Perhaps it would be more appropriate to ask.. what kind of technology we are using, if it is the right technology in relation to human life and the surrounding environment, is possible that the large masses are forced to use products of pseudo technology, imposed by major oil companies, pharmaceutical groups, occult power of policies groups, technological progress does not coincide with the development of the individual, the ancient philosophical thought has not been surpassed by today's technology
Considering technology, personally would not enjoy living without a phone, running water, vaccines to save lives, or a 24-hour-open pharmacy... all of those have given me convenience, comfort, safety.
But i do agree technology, in some cases, has and is leading us away from interpersonal contact. Remember the enjoyment any of us felt picking out that "just perfect" Happy Birthday card? And writing something heartfelt and personal to the recipient? Now it seems easier to send a text saying: HBD. Or when cell phones first came out, how excited and proud we were to get one, and be content and keep it for a long while? Now we want to constantly upgrade every month it seems... more gigabytes! more features! And to invite people to a wedding, party, or any social get-together... once you wrote little notes to each individual you wanted to attend and waited for the RSVP; now you post a message on a Facebook page to all those in your circle of acquaintances & family.
guess i love a lot of the new & exciting offerings of technology, but am beginning to feel constant mechanization is taking away some of the simple pleasures we once enjoyed
Whatever miss out on real life experiences mean? People keep saying that their time on Facebook, video games, texting, and all forms of modern technology are a waste of time and a distraction from reality or real life experiences. I wonder why do people say this? Is it because they don't like change? What about people like Steve Jobs or Bill Gates who spend a lot of time with technology? what are your thoughts?
It depends on what you value.
If you think that 'real life" (aka: being with physical people physically and being outside physically) is the only way to go and other ways of living is a "waste of time", then yes, people are missing out on "real life".
But if you think that life consists of people doing the things they prefer and like doing, then no one is missing out on anything. Everybody is choosing to do what they feel is best for them.
I love technology and what it enables me to do. So I would say: without technology, my life would not be nearly as good.
Here is a interesting web comic that describes this trope. We may have been complaining about technology far longer than we realize: 1227: The Pace of Modern Life - explain xkcd
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