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.
