Thoughts on a Technoligically Saturated Life

Tim Challies posts some great thoughts on the unintended consequences of a technologically saturated culture and life.

He has some great thoughts, folks, so I recommend visiting and reading the whole thing.

This comment by Curtis is funny and all too true:

“Hey Tim, interesting post, I think your onto something, I’ve been bouncing around your blog, looking at old posts in the archives, two hours ago I started supper and just thought I’d fire up the computer to play a CD. Where is that CD anyways? Oh well maybe I’ll buy a song from itunes, hmmm. Just a second, brb, I just need to get this call. Alright I’m back, ever notice what great conversationalists those nice people are who have your best interest in mind, and such a great deal to offer too, I’m so glad they called me, out of all the people they could have made their special offer, they chose me. OK, now why did I start up the computer, oh yeah, to check my email. OK dowload complete, oh I really like this song. On the TV the news is starting and they are still talking about that whole India thing, I bet its on the radio too, yep. Ok so anyways Tim, what waas your article about again? Oh yeah, no that was yesterday, hmmm, oh OK, technology being our master, you think so, I don’t see it. Just a sec, I got to go shut off the radio and put a video on for my 1 year old otherwise I just know he’ll need me to entertain him. Ok that should keep him busy for a few minutes, oh, oh, oh my microwave dinner is ready. Ah, I’m way to busy to eat right now, ah, I’ll just eat dinner later, I’ve too many things on the go here right now. Yeah maybe I’ve let this technology get the better of me, but it’s not like I’m a slave to it, I mean who owns whom anyway?”

I’m going to blog on this more extensively next week, but for what it’s worth, here are my two cents for now:

Technology changes the way you think and relate to people. I see this most egregiously in the current generation. I teach at a high school, and typically the students are attached to their texting thingies and PSP’s.

They are here, but elsewhere, if you catch my drift.

So much technology also affects their ability to follow a logical argument in text (they are more image based in their thought process…like us, but more so) and to sit for an extended period of time without extreme stimulation. They become bored and restless quickly. Part of this is due to them being young, but this way of being is exacerbated by technology. Folks of my age (late 20′s) and older are like this too, of course, but these tendencies are very obvious in the younger generation.

Bottom line: with (almost) every technology, there’s an upside and a downside. Even the electric lightbulb had a downside—families spread out to different rooms in the household, rather than congregating together in one room. It fostered individualism.

Despite all the potential it offers for undercutting old media, blogging has its hidden unintended consequences too. More on this later.