Today we have more technology than did any of our predecessors. For example, as I am typing this article I am sitting at a computer surrounded by a television, smart phone, radios and many other devices. Many homes are like this.
Americans spend an average of 2.73 hours a day watching television, but only spend 0.70 hours socializing and 0.31 hours exercising, according to the Bureau of Labor statistics. Maybe it would be good for Americans to spend a little bit of time “unplugged.” Let’s face it, we are slaves to our technology.
The CIA World Factbook states in America we have 286 million cell phones and 245 million Internet users. We seem to get so absorbed in our technology ”“ for example, my mother’s computer was running slow recently and she got upset with the machine, which put her in a sour mood for the remainder of the day. There are studies that show that some elementary school children have nervous breakdowns during blackouts. Is technology really so important in our lives that it can rule us?
Y2K, the crisis that wasn’t, when a lot of people thought the world’s computers would crash in the year 2000, is still vivid in a lot of our memories. Now, 11 years later, it seems plausible that chaos that would break out if there was a prolonged blackout or widespread Internet plague.
Think about your day and how many computers you come in contact with, from when you wake up to when you go to bed. How many times a day do you look at your smart phone or spend talking on the phone or checking your email? Personally, I used to check my email between 10 and 20 times a day. That’s ridiculous, given I can do that from my phone but that is still a lot. This is the same story for many Americans. Many teens and others are on Facebook for hours a day, which is largely a waste of time.
Where have our priorities gone? I remember walking through a department store and seeing a couple texting as they were walking. I happened to know them, so I asked them who they were texting and they told me that they were texting each other, even though they were within inches of each other.
It’s a sad state of affairs when we need to put a computer or a phone in between so we can talk to each other. I will give a lot of teens credit for screening their calls, however, they will friend anyone on Facebook. Think about it, are you more likely to talk to a stranger, answer a strange number, respond to an unknown number via text or friend a stranger on Facebook? The latter is becoming the most common, and it’s strange how we can put so much faith in technology.
I think I might have a solution to this technology obsession. Last weekend, I went hiking. The only electronic device I had was my camera. My laptop and smart phone stayed at home, and I did not once look at a screen other than my camera’s view finder. It felt great, and I did not feel the pressure to make sure I had my phone on me. I did not feel the desire to check my smart phone, and I didn’t feel I missed anything on television. I’m not saying we all need to live like people did in the 1950s, but I think that we could all do with a little bit of time unplugged. Even if it is just once a month, we need to rid ourselves of the shackles that technology has placed on us.
— Timothy Morris is a student at Thornton Academy who is active with Thornton Academy television station and will be writing this column for the Journal Tribune through the summer.
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