Technology
Over the past few days I have been observing peoples general use of technology. It would seem that technology gives people the permission to be dangerous, it removes common sense and makes people damn right rude! This is a generalisation and obviously doesn’t apply to everyone.
Danger!
When I was learning to drive, all those years ago, my driving instructor told me that (at the time) the most common cause of accidents was people messing with the radio while driving. It now looks as though the radio has given way to the mobile phone. Despite the warnings people still seem to HAVE to answer their phones regardless of where they are and what they are doing, not only putting themselves in danger but everyone else. It’s not just mobile phones it’s also mp3 players and even laptops – yes I have seen someone driving while using a laptop!
Driving is not the only place where people allow technology to put them in danger, but it is the most obvious.
Common Sense
I would have thought it common sense that texting, watching youtube clips etc while walking down the street was a little on the daft side to say the least. Or is that just me?
At the weekend I watched as a teenager who was listening to an mp3 player and texting (I assume) on his mobile phone, walk straight out in front of a car, totally oblivious to its presence, fortunately for the lad the driver WAS paying attention and not on the phone otherwise I would have been witness to what could have been a very nasty accident.
Again this is just one example of where technology supersedes common sense, there are plenty more!
Rudeness
Plan and simple good manners also seem to have been superseded by technology.
I have seen people stop mid conversation to answer a mobile phone or reply to a text, how very rude! I’m sorry but if you were talking to me and did that I would get up and walk away. Mp3 players are just as bad, the number of people who walk around with just one ear piece in and the volume tuned up to compensate, so that everyone can hear their music and they can also hear everyone else. What makes them believe that others wish to listen to their music?
At the small Coffee Shop where I work, you WILL NOT get served if you are texting or talking on a mobile phone OR listening to an mp3 player, I will NOT compete with tech for your attention.
Good or Bad
Technology has its place and uses and generally I believe that it has more benefits then hindrances. I still believe that technology is a distraction, it’s generally designed to speed up our lives, which just encourages us to rush from one thing to another, not experiencing the journey in between. It’s not technology itself, it’s the way we use it.
Distractions
As I have already said on numerous occasions, we allow tech to distract us from the experience of life. We no longer just walk, watch and listen; it seems that we cannot go out of the house without our tech, what are we afraid of missing? Life?
Speeding Along
Admittedly I am using hot running water again, it’s nice to have a bath without running up and down the stairs with boiling water, but doing things the old fashioned way, boiling water in pans, really did give me a greater appreciation of a hot bath.
The majority of tech is designed to make things easier for us, to give us more free time. Yet it does seem to have the reverse effect. I had far more free time without tech than I did before these 10 days and even now on the other side where I am minimising my tech usage. But again I believe it’s our use of tech and not the tech itself.
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