Another rant in the key of awesome…
In so many ways and on so many different levels, the human race has defied logic and superceded even the greatest of expectations. Every day there’s a new technology, a new antidote, or a new discovery that propels us toward a brighter new age and brings us one step closer to god. We’ve tested and stretched ourselves beyond even our own comprehension. We’ve even discovered how to think without thinking and how to do without doing. The question is though, will all this knowledge and power kill us or make us stronger? Will Rome fall again?
While I firmly believe that knowledge is power, I also believe that it is poison. We’ve become too smart for our own good (or too big for our britches at least), and because of this, we’ve become lethargic. It’s almost as if we’ve already discovered everything we need, or care to know. Just think for a moment. The entire world is at your disposal. Anything you can dream of is right at your fingertips. You don’t need to know how to read, write, or even formulate a sentence at all because of your trusty Spell Check (which I’ll admit to using while writing this essay). You don’t need to make a trip to the music store to buy an album because you can download it in its entirety instantly. You don’t even need to interact with another person physically because you can chat with them via email and instant messenger. Did you ever sit and think that you never EVER have to leave your house EVER again if you don’t want to because you have everything you will EVER need right there?
This has created some serious social ramifications. We no longer know how to communicate with each other anymore. I see this especially in today’s youth. For example, having discussions with people my age sometimes is like pulling teeth. I’m not talking deep, existential conversations either. I’m talking light conversation and small talk--simple communication. So often I feel like I’m the only one doing the talking and making the effort to get to know the other person. I don’t think that they’re being rude or aloof necessarily. I really do believe that they just don’t know what to say or how to act in social situations because they’re not involved in them often enough and they don’t allow themselves to be. They’re just always plugged in to one thing or another—the iPod, the cell phone, the computer. Hey, I’ll admit that I am to some degree as well. I’ve even experienced cell phone and internet withdrawal once or twice.
I’m definitely not innocent. With everything so readily available to us, we needn’t expend as much physical or mental energy to do anything. It’s so much easier to solve a problem using a calculator; it’s so much easier to shop online as opposed to actually going out to the store, and it’s so much easier to gather an opinion of your own after reading someone else’s superfluous, long-winded and completely biased blog entry :)
Because people no longer have to expend energy or do anything that requires any physical movement, they become lazy. Quite often, it starts to show on the exterior. While this is an entirely different discussion altogether, I’ll briefly touch on the subject…
According to obesityinamerica.org, approximately 127 million adults in the U.S. are overweight, 60 million are obese and 9 million are extremely obese. While low physical activity obviously isn’t the sole cause of obesity in America, it is certainly attributable to the 400,000 deaths that occur each year because of it.
I’m not sure what the answer is to all of this. I’m not sure we should continue on this technological pursuit, but I don’t necessarily think we should slow it down either. Growth is part of life. We’d be selling ourselves short and we wouldn’t be achieving our full potential if we rested on our laurels for even a moment. We have an astounding learning and knowledge capacity that no other creature on Earth possesses; it must have been given to us for a reason. Why not use it, right?
Let me clarify before I’m accused of being provincial or “old school” that I think technology is absolutely wonderful and extremely beneficial in many ways. For the first time ever, we can communicate live with others from across the globe and we can perform the most arduous of tasks with the simple click of a button. However, I think it’s also misused, and it’s become a crutch to some. Without it, they wouldn’t know what to think or how to function.
I believe that in order to progress socially-speaking, we simply need to unplug once in a while. I’m not saying go back or nature and live amongst the natives. All I’m saying is go pick up a book, hang out with your friends, take a walk, or, if you’re just so damn computer-addicted, get in your car, drive to the local Starbuck’s and plug in your laptop there because at least it’s an excuse to get the hell out of the house. All kidding aside though, we must be able to talk to each other. Not online, not on text messaging, not on the cell phone, but face-to-face. Try it sometime. You might find that you’re good at it or, better yet, that you enjoy it.
~Alexx Calise
Sunday, October 7, 2007
Technologically speaking...
Labels:
Alexx Calise,
knowledge,
obesity,
power,
social commentary,
technology
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
hahaha yess, another blogger
www.avalonsawer.blogspot.com
bloggers unite! im gay, but i miss you!
Post a Comment