A few weeks ago I read a Twitter by social media guru Chris Brogan. His twitter was a link to the blog of Terry Starbucker. The post was titled Danger Will Robinson! The Downside of our Digital World.
And…it scared me to be honest.
Am I a slave to my technology is what I kept asking myself?
That’s a question we should all be asking ourselves. If Terry’s article was not enough, then read the article that spurred his post….you will have a lot to think about.
Connected, Yes, but Hermetically Sealed by Ben Stein
“MAN is born free, and everywhere he is in chains,” said Jean-Jacques Rousseau.
What would Rousseau have made of the modern-day balls and chains with which we shackle ourselves? They are not made of steel or iron, but of silicon and plastic and digits and electrons and waves zooming through the air. These are the chains of all kinds of devices, like the BlackBerry, the iPhone and the Voyager. These are the chains with which we have bound ourselves, losing much of our solitude and our ability to see the world around and inside us.
and
But try a day without that invasion of your privacy. Or a week. You will be shocked at what you discover. It’s called life. It’s called nature. It’s called getting to know yourself. I have a close friend who is in prison. He used to be imprisoned by his P.D.A. He has many stories, but the most haunting one is about how, without his phone, without his P.D.A., he has come to know, for the first time, who he is.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
This summer, UCLA Magazine published an interview I did with Blake Krikorian, who created the SlingBox, which allows you to watch cable on your laptop. He said something at the end of the interview that just blew me away — not because I didn’t agree, but because I didn’t expect a tech guy to share the sentiments.
I’m the Q, he’s the A:
Q: Before starting Sling, you spent 15 years working in Silicon Valley. What have you learned about our relationships and habits regarding technology?
A: First off, if I could see technology just completely go away, I would probably root for that.
Q: Why would you root to get rid of technology?
A: At the end of the day, a lot of technology is abused. People start to lose sight of what is really important and spend more time in virtual worlds. Everyone always has said, ‘Oh, computers or e-mail or whatever are going to make your life easier. It’s going to give you more time to spend in leisure.’ Who are we kidding? There is nothing farther from the truth. It just means you can work harder, harder and faster, faster.
Whoops. Left out the link. Here’s the interview.
{ 1 trackback }