Is technology taking over our lives? Or do some people just make choices with regard to choosing technology over interacting with their family and friends?
I don’t believe that “technology” can take over our lives — unless we choose to let it.
So it was with interest that I saw a lengthy article written over at the New York Times, “Hooked on Gadgets, and Paying a Mental Price.” I was going to comment earlier on the article, thinking it was going to be this thoughtful, in-depth look at how technology is impacting people’s lives for both the positive and negative.
Instead, it appeared to be some sort of story revolving around a guy called Kord Campbell and his family. Kord apparently has a hard time prioritizing things in his life — to the point of actively ignoring his family, getting distracted by minutiae of little importance, and missing important emails in his inbox (not just once, mind you, but over and over again). If this sounds more like someone who may have bigger issues than just learning how to integrate technology successfully into their lives, you’d probably be right (but of course, I’m just speculating).
Before posting, please read our blog moderation guidelines. The comments below begin with the oldest comments first. Click on the last comments page to jump to the most recent comments.
Before posting, please read our blog moderation guidelines.
Post a Comment:
Copyright © 1995-2013 Psych Central. All rights reserved.
Site last updated: 22 May 2013
|
I agree with you John, there is a long history of successfully adapting to new technologies. It’s largely a strawman though. So do most of the media critics agree with you. The idea that there are Luddites out there looking to shut down the Internet is a little silly. It avoids the real issues that media analysts raise.
Learning to read a physical book effectively and apply reflective thinking to a book long argument is a long, intense process that you and I went through and at this point in our lives probably take mostly for granted.
People starting life now won’t necessarily go through that process. That may not be a big deal. But it may be a big deal. That’s one of the real questions at the core of modern media criticism.
Not that we shouldn’t use technology. But some of us really should look at the situation like engineers and look for tradeoffs in the effects on different kinds of learning with different media, rather than everyone looking at this like entrepreneurs and just looking for new opportunities to browse more information and develop new technologies.
It’s perfectly reasonable in my opinion for some psychologists and educators to sometimes pause and wonder at *how to best use* all of their tools, including the previous generation if they have unique aspects, rather than just forging forward with the latest technology trends and economic pressures.
I agree with you to a limited extent
being one who has struggled with internet addiction i can admit – we often struggle with other things that cause this to happen.
The issue is that there are minds out there such as ADHD people and those who struggle with depression.
Both those type of people experience lots of trouble with the internet.
the issue is not so much that it might not be a legit diagnosis – its possible but might not be but that there are minds who experience as a symptom – a lot of times chronically.
The big problem is the economy of the internet.
Why – it’s an attention economy measured by engagement – which in other words means “how distracted are we by x y and z web apps”
it’s a problem when you have no way of actively limiting your self as we once did – as we all have limited amounts of self-control, some more some less. What I mean here is I remember growing up for example and being able to take a book into another room and read it. Guess what helps a lot, what I started missing more and more in my life as I found my self struggling with the internet.
Walls…yes walls – the internet doesnt have them at all.
When distractions are literally 1 click away – taking no more than a second to do – and are quite susceptible to embedded behaviors which we don’t even think about – You start finding your self getting distracted online and then 3 hours later don’t know how the hell you let your self do that again.
When it comes down to it – it’s a state that creates a sense of hopelessness within you.
Why …you can’t get away from it and there is no structure to it.
For example – take the porn addict – something there certainly is… he finds himself increasingly addicted to more intense porn over time …progressively getting more and more engrossed into it. Imagine his phone plan coming up and him just going for the free smart phone ( technology pushes forward and the features of today continually become cheaper)
he gets his first smart phone – and lo and behold his problem gets 10 times worse – as he finds his addiction represented by his phone – an object he holds in his pocket 24×7. Suddenly he sees headlines for companies like Clearwire and also articles about how cities will start offering free wi-fi to its citizens.
Suddenly – when you have an addiction – one you acknowledge yourself – to porn or other facets of the internet or both – you see no solution in sight….no help from anybody.
What do you do……the sad thing…in such a state – you also see people doubting the existence of internet addiction.
the issue with the internet, it requires a lot more self-control to accomplish any work than ever was required in the past. Why, now there are no limitations to it.
You cant curl up in another room and hide from it..you cant dig a hole 5 feet down and hide from it…you cant go to a different state and hide from it.
Given this situation – what do you expect people who feel they have issues to do?
This certainly isn’t a matter of – people just adopting to technology. When ever the threshold of self-control is raised, a certain segment of the population will be hurt by that. That is what you are seeing here.
The idea of multi-tasking is humorous, really. In reality, we can only do one thing at a time. This is why we crash into other cars when we are trying to do something while we drive (talk on the phone, text, eat, read); we end up dividing tiny bits of time between on task and the other, by way of focus or attention. When we divert our attention from one task to another, we are not multi-tasking but moving from one task to the other.
I think with internet dependency (I hesitate to call it an addiction), there is a misplaced method of getting some needs met, or immediate gratification of emotional, intellectual or social needs. The internet becomes the path of least resistance, the quick fix. We think, we become curious, we google, we are satiated or our curiosity is further stimulated. Reality takes longer than a click or even a double click and probably seems like eons by comparison.
I agree with that too but it can’t do any thing in our life time
all of this is very true. i would love to hear your opinion on Neil Postman’s “Amusing Ourselves to Death”. it’s quite an interesting read, and while some passionately agree with his words, some vehemently oppose them. how interesting, the human opinion!