Thing #7 : Technology

I am part of the Baby Boom generation, so I have experienced the sweeping changes technology has made in my life since the late 1940's. As a child I watched my favorite program ("Howdy Doody") on a 12 inch television in black and white. Our telephone had a dial and we were on a "party line". We had a special ring : 2 short consecutive rings. We had to listen carefully to those rings, because there were 4 other families on our line, and each one had their own signature ring . Yes, those were the days when we spent most of our free time outdoors. Indoors we played board games, read books and created fun using our imagination. I am so thankful that I grew up during an era when technology was not as intrusive as it is today. Life was quieter. We had time to think . Our eyes were free to look at the natural world. Our eyes and attentions were not focused on a monitor screen or a cell phone display. Our ears heard the sounds of the real world and we were not plugged into an iPod or MP3 player.

Technology has insidiously wormed its way into all of our lives. I am not saying this is a bad thing. There are certainly beneficial aspects to this age of the Internet. I think the 2 best things about the Internet are Email and Search Engines. Email allows me to stay in touch with the important people in my life. It provides me with instant communication. Best of all, I can send photos or documents without the hassle of dealing with the post office. I love this. Search Engines have provided me with an opportunity to to retrieve information ( not always reliable ) on just about any topic I may be curious about. Best of all, I can do my searching in the comfort of my home. Clearly, there are many other benefits I could list : Mapquest, online shopping, online banking, online business conferencing : concepts I could not have imagined as I grew up during the1950's and 1960's.


I also see the dark side of the Internet , and I have concerns about the sociological effects of this technology. Compulsive Internet surfing can become addictive. Chat rooms, role play gaming,online gambling, even eBay can become activities that take enormous amounts of time from our real life. How much time are we spending on the Internet ? Is the Internet becoming an alternate reality that we prefer to live in ? Are we experiencing our social contacts online with no real social presence ? How much of our private information are we revealing as we chat, shop and blog online ? How much of our lives are we living in cyberspace ? These are my concerns.