Technology has taken over. The future is here. Every time I turn around someone is getting a smart phone, an iPad or a new HD TV. I know a lot of people who have strong opinions about this stuff, some are very supportive of the wave that has take our country. Others condemn this recent surge, and tend to think that it is not beneficial. For the reader's purposes every time I mention technology it will be the broad definition such as phones, iPods, computers, and social networking.According to the USA Today 93% of Americans use cellphones that are "smartphones" or have wireless access. Though this push for constant communication was developed out of a need by some, it still has its flaws. Though we are more connected to information more now than we have ever been, we are disconnecting from those who are close to us.
As Sharon Jayson of USA Today puts it, "Despite all of the technology that makes communication easier than ever, 2010 was the Year We Stopped Talking to One Another. From texting at dinner to posting on Facebook from work this revolution is creating a lot of divided attention."
I see everything in life as an issue of balance. Whether it comes to drinking, television, or technology, the issue must be controlled by the user. When something gets out of balance we call it an addiction, or a problem, and many times to effectively get rid of the addiction the user cuts it out of their lives completely. In doing that the issue itself, to them, may becomes evil. Or at the very least have a negative connotation.
When it comes to technology, social networking, and new gadgets I think this all comes down to each person's personal guardrails and disciplines that they set in place for themselves. Interestingly enough, my dad is doing a sermon series these next few weeks on guardrails, click the link to listen if you are interested.
Over the summer I was given an iPad as a gift. I can do all kinds of things on there, where I can check my twitter, play games, or read a digital book. But I also know that, sometimes, in being on my iPad I can neglect the people who are close to me, either physically, relationally, or both.The things that I am doing on my iPad are not necessarily evil or bad, but how I determine to handle it can be negative. If I am neglecting my family, my girlfriend, or any of the friends for my iPad, then I feel it has gotten out of hand.
As the year comes to an end, and I reflect on the massive amounts of advances we have seen in the realm of technology I want to caution you, as well as myself, to stay connected, but to not lose the ever important personal connection that matters most.
What we notice is that those who are "connected" elsewhere are actually only half way connected to their present location. I was at a friends house one morning, and both him and I were texting our girlfriends, and his dad was on his laptop, and my friend's mother walked into the dining room and made a comment about how our generation is incredibly rude because we text all the time and don't pay attention to our surroundings. Now the younger generations have no problem with sitting in a room and texting while also paying half attention to surroundings, but the generational gap with that is that we don't see eye to eye, and the younger generation may in fact be upsetting our elders.
I am not arguing in favor of one side or the other (I think both sides have valid reasons and benefits), but I just wanted to point out that while we may feel connected, we are losing personal connection. It is much easier these days to send an email than to make a phone call or a face-to-face connection. I fall victim of this plenty of times, and it is something that I am aware of, but it doesn't make it any easier.
As someone who wants to move ahead, and continually affect the lives of people around me, I will need to make a conscious effort to drop my technology, and talk to an individual in a personal manner, trying to truly get to know them, and not just their most recent tweet or blog post. Facebook pages can only tell us so much about a person. Though these things in and of themselves are not evil, they can get out of balance, and before we get two far ahead of ourselves I think we should take an honest assessment of where we are in the realm of technology.
What do you think?