Thought piece: Too much tech?
Posted on 13. Jul, 2009 by Jake in Unusual
A young fogey of my acquaintance put down his pipe and single malt just long enough to deliver this rant:
Two inventions are responsible for the contemporary inflation of people’s sense of self-importance: the cell phone and 24 hour news.
Everyone now takes for granted that they, at all times, need to be contactable and to know what is happening everywhere in the world the moment it happens. But unless you are a trauma surgeon or the president neither of these is likely to be true.
Seriously, do you need to know the foreign minister of Uzbekistan has moved house? More to the point, do you need to know it now? And because it has to be instant, the networks focus on speed rather than reliability. Because it’s all day, the focus is on impact rather than substance.
And everyone will have at least one experience of planning to meet someone and then running out of batteries/airtime/decent signal and getting completely lost. I say ‘plan’ in the loosest sense. In the pre-mobile era, you’d give clear, precise instructions: ‘meet me at the left side of the fountain at 11.15’ for example. Today it’s more like ‘I’ll be inside in the afternoon sometime, call me when you’re there’, inevitably followed by hours of confusion and frustration.
The world, and our social and intellectual lives, would only be improved if we switched off and tuned out.
My response might surprise you: I agree.
Sort of.
Except instead of less technology, I think we need more.
Yes, the language of texting leaves plenty to be desired. But it’s a symptom of an underlying problem, not the cause.
Look at how rich and sophisticated the more advanced Twitter users have become. Creating nuance out of 140 characters takes tremendous skill; there is, after all, an art to making more out of less.
Blaming texting for the illiteracy of the youth is like blaming the sonnet for junky teenage poetry. (There is, however, no hope for the cell phone novel.)
And social networking, as well as being a medium for posting embarrassing pictures of your friends, opens new ways of speaking, often to people you might not have spoken to before.
What we’ll do with these powerful technologies is another thing altogether, but here again I think freedom of communication triumphs.
Yes, 24 hour network news overloads us with schlock and awe, and every jerk with an opinion has his own website, but the flipside is that every jerk with the opposite opinion also has a blog.
And amongst the tumult, occasionally a fresh thought emerges.
More importantly, there is now oversight – or perhaps we should call it undersight -
with bloggers taking the mainstream media to task. Lazy opinions are scrutinized, partisan columnists are called to account, facts are checked.
FiveThirtyEight was the source some of the most informative, and accurate, polling data during the recent US election, and that’s basically some guy with a head for stats and a laptop.
And shoddy science reporting wouldn’t exist if there were more people doing what Ben Goldacre does.
Yes we might have delegated just a little of our decision making to our electronic devices (don’t tell my friend about SatNav!) but that’s our fault.
Anxiety about the effect of new technologies isn’t new.
It’s what we do with it that counts.
I look forward to hearing why I’m completely wrong.
13 Responses to “Thought piece: Too much tech?”
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harry
14. Jul, 2009
great post, interesting points of view … nice blog jack
Craig
14. Jul, 2009
Awesome post! Great read.
Although ones personality plays a very important role. I for one, avoid “The News”… I despise its wretched filth, and unhappy nonsense, and thus instead search for “My News”. Which is super kewl – having the ability to decide on what you want to hear etc without the pain and suffering.
Cell rocks tho..
jake
14. Jul, 2009
@Craig i agree with you. i also have “my news” and it serves as my filter for all the crap that is out there – nice comment
asaf
14. Jul, 2009
i dont read the news. my news filter is the human filter. if something is newsworthy my friends or family will tell me about it. the human filter is the best screening process
greggo
14. Jul, 2009
good post …
graeme
14. Jul, 2009
Nice post dude…
Thing is tech has been changing how we interact since the first cave folk picked up sticks and started poking stuff with them.
This will probably continue although info tech tools are accelerating and we are really at the bottom of the curve as to where our grandkids will be
Lou
15. Jul, 2009
“Lazy opinions are scrutinized, partisan columnists are called to account, facts are checked”
I think that part is VERY important. I wish you would have elaborated on that, or do a whole new article. JMHO
jake
15. Jul, 2009
@Lou -> thanks for the comment Lou, will definitely start to think about that.
thanks for the feedback, much appreciated
Michael
15. Jul, 2009
this is an awesome article jake.
it really is quite an in depth debate with such strong cases on both sides.
i think there are some issues over and above those mentioned in your article.
i think technology has had an adverse affect on the younger generation. in today’s day and age everything is so fast and so accessible that there is no concept of delayed gratification.
this speed has also contributed greatly to the level of stress experienced by people. to speak for myself as a business man running my own company, the speed with which things on the ground change and the fact that I can be reached anywhere in the world at any time has meant that I am always working and always dealing with some crisis.
either way, the technology revolution is going nowhere so get used to it i guess.
Jake
15. Jul, 2009
@Michael -> thanks for the comment. good insight
Melissa
15. Jul, 2009
Cool post – I think the ‘always on’ syndrome has meant that many have become slightly disconnected from reality and real, human interaction. They call it ‘parasocial’ behaviour – where an average local chick feels connected with Paris Hilton or similar because they watch her tweets….it’s a worry. I do think most people have the ability to balance these interactions with the real stuff however.
Another point you raise is one of speed vs inaccuracy – interesting point, I commented on that for a recent article on citizen journalism and information ‘vetting’. Speed is adding to the frenzied state and at times some stories are being spread incorrectly due to the pressure to get it ‘out’. I guess it’s just Word of Mouth at hyped up warp speed
http://mediaupdate.wordpress.com/2009/07/09/getting-your-story-out-there-%E2%80%93-the-changing-face-of-journalism/
joshua
18. Jul, 2009
awesome post – agree with the author
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