29th
Addiction to technology
i sat around the other day at home with my laptop on my lap, a blackberry on a table to the side of me, all while watching a flat screen HDTV in my apartment. it just so happened there was a television program on covering how far our generation has advanced in technological discoveries.
then it really made me think.
is our society (and am i) so completely reliant on all these gadgets and gizmos to the point of where we honestly wouldn’t know how to survive if they were ever either taken away from us, or if we were no longer able to use them?
think about it, on an typical weekday, an average person might:
- wake up to an alarm clock screaming in their ear drums,
- turn on a radio or tv while getting ready in the morning,
- make a quick pot of coffee using their super intelligent coffee maker,
- zap a quick breakfast in the microwave,
- jump in their car and blast the radio on the way to their respective jobs,
- fire up their laptop or desktop and stare at an electronic display all day until their eyeballs water and their backs ache,
- drive to the gym, and jump on an elleptical machine, treadmill, etc.
- drive home and fire up the laptop or desktop again, while sitting in front of a tv,
- wake up the next morning, and rinse and repeat.
i’m not saying that we should give up all of our lovely gadgets that make our life so much more convenient and start churning our own butter or carrying around candles like the amish, but perhaps we should take a step back once in a while and roll our proverbial sleeves up and not be a slave to devices powered by alternating current or operated by batteries.
the most interesting thing to me is that the people who are most addicted to these things are the ones who are most oblivious to their additiction. next time you go to a coffee shop or sit on a train- take a look around and chances are at least 1 out of every 3 people are well on their way to carpal tunnel syndrome by blasting away at their “crackberries.”
that’s why i’m beginning to become more of a proponent of “getting away” from the hustle and bustle of these modern luxuries and enjoying the beauty of mother nature, whether it be backpacking, kayaking, hiking, etc. there’s something to be said about awaking to the sound of birds singing in the morning opposed to a loud ear-ringing alarm clock, or noise pollution coming from a nearby highway.
yeah, that includes this guy.
every once in a while, we should take a short break from our technological addictions and remind ourselves that as humans, we use technology to enhance our life, not consume it.
