Technology.

by Guest Wed Jul 29, 2015 12:17 am

I feel as if I'm always dealing with this constant struggle with technology (internet/television/smart phone). I truly believe (my) life would be so much better if I could finally make decision to downgrade my phone, remove my television and computer from my bedroom.

Don't get me wrong, I see the benefits that these things can offer. However, as disciplined an individual I consider myself to be, it seems technology is my downfall. It just tends to suck me in and hours seems to fly past me as my mind is in a million places (multiple browsers, clash of clans, listening to music). For me these things tend to be a mental overload, although I don't pick up on it until it's too late.

I believe it is incredibly important to give the mind a break. We are constantly thinking all day, and there are oh so many distractions. I've been trying to implement meditation into my life, but I have not managed to keep that consistent.

Any who, I just thought I was share some thoughts since I haven't done so in ages.

I look forward to reading how other people feel about this topic...

by izzy Wed Jul 29, 2015 12:43 am

I know EXACTLY how you feel.

I've had this feeling about Technology overwhelming my life for a while now (I never signed up to Facebook and refuse to sign up to Twitter). I feel like it takes away from the the real social interactions of life like going out with friends, taking road trips or planning holidays.

The hours that I see some of my friends spend on their Tablets, Ipads, Iphones, Macs etc is just ridiculous too me, it's like their whole life is in these objects and instead of just putting it down and taking a break from it once in a while they seem to struggle to actually hold conversations unless they have these things with them. It's crazy to me.

What I have done and some of my friends have done is decided to take it slow. There's no need to have the latest piece of technology just to have it as it consumes our lives so we make an effort to spend the weekends away from this stuff, so we go to watch sports (just this past weekend we spent the weekend in Paris to take a break) etc.

I've just decided to slow my life down and it has worked wonders for me.

by Guest Wed Jul 29, 2015 12:50 am

Side note: I refuse to interact with people who consistently have their phones out while hanging out, or worst yet, when out to dinner. That is the kind of thing that worries me the most.

by RealGunner Wed Jul 29, 2015 1:11 am

Well, I am guilty of constantly being around technology in one way or another. But I chose this life for myself so I can't really blame anyone else

I can understand though. I have had days where I'd genuinely like to live out in the wild camping or something away from everything like a pc/ps4/phone.

I believe it is incredibly important to give the mind a break. We are constantly thinking all day, and there are oh so many distractions. I've been trying to implement meditation into my life, but I have not managed to keep that consistent.

Basically this. For me too. I would like to do things like meditation but I am not strict enough in management.

Regarding the other thing. When I am with friends or at parties etc, I rarely ever take out my phone. And thankfully neither any of my friends. I don't understand that concept either. Saw too many groups out at dinner with everyone on their phone.

If it happens in my circle of friends, one of us just say it out. Like few weeks back I went out for lunch with few friends and 2 of them brought 3DS. Basically told them to keep that shit out of here.

Overall I wouldn't say I struggle with technology, but I think overdo it most of the time. I can choose to go back to my old wild lifestyle but I prefer this tbh.

by LeVersacci Wed Jul 29, 2015 1:39 am

Been using technology since I was kid. It's a part of me and i've loved it ever since.

When i'm with friends I tend to use the phone as little as possible. Hate when my friends get their phones up and start snapping, facebook, tinder etc. There's always one that tells him/them to put the phone down luckily.

Same as RG. I overdo it most of the time but I can always reduce it if I wanted.

by rwo power Wed Jul 29, 2015 1:42 am

Well, my problem is that all the new technology made people feel the need to spread out all their lives for everybody to dive in nowadays. As I'm a very private person, I refuse to take part in all that (a)social media like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and the like. I also don't feel like giving everybody and their dog the opportunity to track me wherever I go and whatever I buy, so I don't use a smartphone or credit cards etc because I really don't like the idea to spread out my life to everybody who might have the opportunity to track my phone or other stuff. And of course I never used any Microsoft software either as I already suspected they'd have backdoors galore ever since I owned a computer. And yes, I am paranoid Razz

I can really only shake my head that people nowadays don't value themselves enough to be not accessible for others all the time and who only define their value by the number of virtual "friends" or "followers" they have. If people want to reach me, they have to get me at the times when I'm at home. When I'm elsewhere, I don't want to be disturbed and I'm just not available.

And as a matter of fact, this improves the quality of contacts greatly - as contacting me isn't so easy, people value it more when they do get to speak with me or meet me and give me their attention. And people who don't think it is worthwhile to put some effort into contacting me obviously didn't have anything important to say anyway, so they are negligible.

So I guess my problem is less with the new technology per se (after all, I love the internet and the information one can find) than how it changes people to become much more superficial and less attentive.

by Tomwin Lannister Wed Jul 29, 2015 5:11 am

The problem I have with social media is that people, that I end up meeting any way, are so introverted and awkward in real life because they don't know how to hold down a conversation in real time without logging out, changing tabs and using emoticons.

And as I've discussed before, people on nights out glued to their phone piss me off. I thought you went on your phone and contacted people to eventually go out, not vice versa. Legit stopped seeing people because of their inability to do anything except scroll through facebook on a night out.

I hate repeating myself as it is, never mind doing it because somebody wants to scroll through stories from people they don't even socialise with instead of listen to the convo.

by Jay29 Wed Jul 29, 2015 11:52 am

Most of my life is spent around technology. If I'm not on the computer I'm probably on the PS3/4/Vita/3DS. Without these things I'd probably be struggling to find things to do. I've grown up surrounded by technology and in a family who like using technology.

These days, though, I know the importance of taking a break. Just simple things like getting up, stretching my legs, talking to someone for a bit, or playing with the cats. And on the rare occasion I'm out with people I take the opportunity to ignore social media and forums for a while.

As for social media itself, I only use Twitter, mostly because it doubles up as a useful news source. I never got into Facebook. Back when I was in school, I used to hate how Facebook dominated the conversation among my friends and I felt completely out the loop. It's not enough to just talk on Facebook, you have to talk about what you talked about the night before on Facebook. It got old very quickly.

As for the people always having their phone out thing:

My brother has a habit of doing this and it's infuriating. Nothing says "I don't care what you're saying" more than a guy always staring at his phone and never looking at you when you say something.

Though it doesn't piss me off as much as people walking while texting or browsing who then come dangerously close to walking into me because they aren't looking where they're bloody going.

rwo power wrote:And as a matter of fact, this improves the quality of contacts greatly - as contacting me isn't so easy, people value it more when they do get to speak with me or meet me and give me their attention. And people who don't think it is worthwhile to put some effort into contacting me obviously didn't have anything important to say anyway, so they are negligible.

I agree with this a lot. The way I saw it was: I've already spent six hours of a school day with people, and most times we met up after school for a kick-about or something, and we met up on weekends, so I simply didn't see the need to have to keep interacting with them on MSN (back in the day) or Facebook.

Nowadays I have friends at uni who I only ever see at uni, so conversations with them are a lot more interesting purely because we haven't already exhausted every topic of conversation.

by rwo power Wed Jul 29, 2015 11:59 am

@Tomwin
If someone wants to meet me and starts using hir phone, I'd tell them with a smile that the next time s/he does this and it is not some emergency call, then I'd leave. And I do right that, too. Fortunately people who know me are aware of that. ^^

@GoonerJay
Yeah. I also wonder why people even need to talk about stuff like status changes on FB or who followed/unfollowed whom and similar irrelevant stuff. Actually I never felt left out when people only talk about such stuff as I don't really feel it is worth while being around such people. I use to ask "Do you have something substantial to talk about, too?", and when the reply is a blank look, I just mind my own business. ^^

by El Gunner Wed Jul 29, 2015 12:13 pm

Oh the old age question.

Well I feel I'm at a stage in my life where I depend/enjoy technology quite a fair bit to get through my day. But in no way do I think I ever overdo it. Okay, I watch a shit load of movies but that's just because I have literally been a free agent since the end of last year. And I love watching films. That will of course change when I go to university, or take on a job if that shit doesn't work out.

Had a Facebook account back in grade 6, 7 but deleted that as I always felt so weird and out of place and never quite saw the fun/good in it and also never had a lot of friends on that platform. Discussed this before somewhere I think.
I have twitter. But I have never ever saw making a tweet as a responsibility. It is basically just go on and check tweets or make a random tweet, get up to date with football news, politics, celebrity news, etc, etc and then also every now and then have a conversation with someone and then it's also always something I'm interested in - sport, tv shows, etc. Don't know anyone personally on twitter, so it never goes like "how are you doing" etc. And I'd like to keep it that way as much as possible because that works for me.

BUT then there's WhatsApp. And that's where the people are who I know on a personal level. I have found that often too much I found myself updating my status, saying shit or what not that other people really couldn't be bothered about Laughing

Again I stress, I just need to get a hold of my life first. Know for sure where I will be in the coming months or next year or so and what I'll be doing. Then I think I will have no problem clamping down on that shit. WhatsApp is good for what it is meant to be at the end of the day. Keeps people in touch, and I think that's crucial.

As for other stuff. TV - basically only watch TV on weekends these days when sport is on. Video games, used to do that, but can't be bothered anymore tbh. My phone, well I've always said how it is my second self, at this moment of time I can't see how I would live my life without my phone or laptop, maybe that will change in the future. But again, on very few occasions do I see these stuff as a responsibility/duty. It's a part of my life. Only when the technology itself has a problem, like a non-resposive laptop, or phone freezing, or slow internet, does it become a problem Laughing

About goverment agencies tracking me. Well, my view on that is a story for another day. But it seems to be that I ultimately don't give a shit. There are millions of people who just say what they want and do what they want on the internet. I would say I am more a private, introverted person than the opposite if I was pressured to give an answer for that, but I think everyone needs to free-up sometime or another. Maybe I'm freeing-up at the moment.

by Kaladin Wed Jul 29, 2015 12:45 pm

GoonerJay29 wrote:
Though it doesn't piss me off as much as people walking while texting or browsing who then come dangerously close to walking into me because they aren't looking where they're bloody going.

I'm guilty of doing that sometimes as i'm too lazy to duck and weave around crowds Laughing

by RealGunner Thu Jul 30, 2015 3:56 am

I don't think I'll ever walk around with a phone out. Even if I have to change music or something, i'll find someplace secure before doing that. Last thing I'd want is to bump into someone while my phone out.

Interesting answers by everyone.

Using facebook during school was quite strange. It's more to do with the fact that facebook was fresh during those times and everyone loved using it as it was the 'in' thing. I can't remember what we actually used it for. I talked about my facebook statuses 7 years ago or so and most were cringe-worthy to say the least. Same with everyone else's around that time.

I wonder if anyone on here (CB/EG etc) who experienced how school life when twitter started to pick up was like?

Back to the topic though. I think we are going through a technological change in society. I know most of us here are quite apt in technology but times are changing. Young people are prone to using these things a lot more, and they don't see much wrong with it. If you see a group sitting with everyone having their phones out. Sometimes I wonder if it's actually a common thing nowadays in that generation? Obviously older people do it too. My dad sometimes gets too engrossed in reading newspapers on his phone that he rarely listens in the conversations. But it seems like people around our age feel these things more than someone generations down. El gunner grew up with us on GL so he doesn't count.

Was talking to RO just now about this. There is a whole generation out there who has never seen life without wifi or internet slower than DSL. It's crazy how fast things develop tbh. We are here discussing our lives around technology and it will only get worse/better from here.

And of course there is this future where when/if you have kids. What will you teach them about technology? Would you let them develop with their own generation which could very well be involved in things we have mentioned now, that we dislike. But this is getting too far ahead lol.

Think we should all try and spend some time without devices like pc/consoles/phones etc. It will be nice to get away. Even if it is an hour in a week or something.

by Tomwin Lannister Thu Jul 30, 2015 4:30 am

I wouldn't be that Dad who tried to bend the will of his kids and stop them from doing what all the other kids do just to get them to live out some other life from a different generation, doesn't work and doesn't help. As long as my kids are productive enough and sorting their health & future out they can spend their free time engrossed in technology if it's the norm and that's what all of their friends are doing.

Trying to rip them away from what I can only imagine will be really active social media would probably only piss them off and alienate them from their peers.

Whenever I eventually have a family, holiday time will be limited technology time. But i'm fine with it other than that, even if I don't 'get' it, whatever it is in 20 years time. I.E some super facebook time consuming crap

by RealGunner Thu Jul 30, 2015 4:46 am

It's strange when you try think of time that far ahead.

Life from 10 years ago to now consists of going without any tablet, smart phones, twitter, facebook or online console gaming to everything available in just the space of 10 years.

We all grew up (unless you are Dani or elitedam) with it so we adapted accordingly.

When I think about 10-20 years in the future. I don't know what to expect. Technology in today's world develop extremely fast. So as much as most of us are tech-savvy here and we all hope we continue to go along with times. There will be a point where it will go past us and we'll probably struggle to see things how our future kids will see. Same as how our parents are compared to us.

It really is strange thinking about it.

But, i guess future generations won't like the fact we know how to check internet history and which sites offer the best russian brides :coffee:

by Jay29 Thu Jul 30, 2015 11:19 am

It is weird to think about. My nephew is one year old, and by the time he's 6/7/8 he'll know how to use tablets and smart phones. Hell, his first phone is going to be amazing compared to what my or his dad's first phone was. His first game console will be, what, the PS5? And when's at school talking about what shows he's watched on TV with his mates, it won't be those morning cartoons we all watched, but whatever he found on Netflix or online.

I think that's all fine, too. The world is only going to get more technological as time goes on so they have to learn. Just as long as they're safe using it and have a healthy amount of time away from it (this is where us older people can ensure they don't make the same mistakes we did).

by El Gunner Thu Jul 30, 2015 11:37 am

I wonder if anyone on here (CB/EG etc) who experienced how school life when twitter started to pick up was like?

Aside from me, I only knew two other friends of mine who used twitter and that was only last year for some time just to "try it out". They've been inactive for properly 10 months now though.
I remember Facebook started picking up over here in my year 6, so that was 2008, and until now it is still the most common and popular platform among my peers.

by rwo power Thu Jul 30, 2015 11:53 am

My big gripe is that the instant access to all the information has some severe disadvantages:

- it will be constantly harder to convince people to learn stuff, as I have encounter many who say "why weighten myself down with such ballest when I can just access the information via internet". This does have a detrimental effect on certain cognitive functions like memory (how many people here do actually know phone numbers or email addresses or even passwords by memory and don't have them just saved in some device or app?)

- companies will want to keep tabs on their workers / clients via apps on their phones and thus track down whatever they do and possibly even adjust wages or fees according to the (vital) data these apps send to them. Especially health insurances are very eager to get people to use apps that send them data about fitness levels, how much people move / sleep etc. IMO there is a severe need to set up laws and rulings about data protection and privacy. The current rulings are still in their absolute infancy.

- people are less interested in learning foreign languages when MT services are able to translate basic stuff in more or less intelligible form nowadays, thus bereaving themselves to actually get to know a culture via its language - plus increasing the amount of misunderstandings as MT software still doesn't have enough world-knowledge to add cultural differences and proper context into its translations.

- Increased danger due to the addictive properties of instant communication and possible loss of social competence in real life person-to-person communication. If people express their feelings mainly via emoticons, it is very likely that they will lose the capacities to actually read body languague, voice intonation etc. properly, leading to more awkward moments in real life interaction.

- bigger disparity between people who have access to the technology and those who haven't, possibly leading to more discontent and frustration for the poorer section of society and thus tension in society, as those with less access to technology have even less opportunities to get out of their social corner.

I could list even more things, but I think this is already some food for thought - society is in a very interesting process of change, and the results are not necessarily only positive ^^

by iftikhar Fri Aug 14, 2015 6:21 pm

Now I'm the proud owner of the most primitive mobile among the people I know. Anyone fancy a Nokia 105?

by Thimmy Sun Feb 14, 2016 1:09 pm

I thought this was pretty interesting, although we probably won't see any of these technologies anytime soon.

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