January 05, 2013
“Information Clearing
House” – – Everywhere I
look outside my home I see people busy on their high tech devices,
while driving, while walking, while shopping, while in groups of
friends, while in restaurants, while waiting in doctor offices and
hospitals, while sitting in toilets – everywhere. While connected
electronically, they are inattentive to and disconnected in
physical reality. People have been steadily manipulated to become
technology addicted. Technology is the opiate of the masses. This
results in technology servitude. I am referring to a loss of
personal freedom and independence because of uncontrolled
consumption of many kinds of devices that eat up time and money.
Most people do not use independent, critical thinking to question
whether their quality of life is actually improved by the incessant
use of technology products that are marketed more aggressively than
just about anything else. I for one have worked successfully to
greatly limit my use of technological innovations, to keep myself
as unconnected as possible and to maximize my privacy and
independence. I do not have a smart phone; I do not participate in
social networking; I do not have any Apple product, nothing like an
IPod, IPad and similar devices. I have never used Twitter or
anything similar, or sent a text message. I do use the Internet
judiciously on an old laptop. Email is good and more than enough
for me. I very rarely use an old cell phone. So what have I gained?
Time, privacy and no obsession to constantly be in touch,
connected, available, informed about others. Call me old fashioned,
but I feel a lot more in control of my life than most people that I
see conspicuously using their many modern devices. They have lost
freedom and do not seem to care about that. When I take my daily
long walks I have no device turned on, no desire to communicate,
nor to listen to music; I want to be in the moment, only sensing
the world around me, unfiltered and uninterrupted by any
technology. I am not hooked by advancing technology, not tethered
to constantly improved devices, not curious about the next
generation of highly priced but really unnecessary products, not
logged on and online all the time. I have no apps or games. Those
who think interactions with people through technology devices are
the real thing have lost their sanity. Technology limits and
distorts human, social interactions. Worse yet, people have lost
ability and talent for actually conversing to people face to face,
responding to nonverbal nuances, or through intimate writing with
more than just a few words. Consider these findings: “Researchers
from the University of Glasgow found that half of the study
participants reported checking their email once an hour, while some
individuals check up to 30 to 40 times an hour. An AOL study
revealed that 59 percent of PDA users check every single time an
email arrives and 83 percent check email every day on vacation.” A
2010 survey found that 61 percent of Americans (even higher among
young people) say they are addicted to the Internet. Another survey
reported that “addicted” was the word most commonly used by people
to describe their relationship to technology. One study found that
people had a harder time resisting the allure of social media than
they did for sex, sleep, cigarettes, and alcohol. A recent study by
the Pew Research Center’s Internet and American Life Project found
that 44 percent of cellphone owners had slept with their phone next
to their bed. Worse, 67 percent had experienced “phantom rings,”
checking their phone even when it was not ringing or vibrating. A
little good news: the proportion of cellphone owners who said they
“could live without it” increased to 37 percent from 29 percent in
2006. The main goal of technology companies is to get you to spend
more money and time on their products, not to actually improve your
quality of life. They have successfully created a cultural disease
that has gone viral. Consumers willingly surrender their freedom,
money and time in pursuit of what exactly? To keep pace with their
peers? To appear modern and sophisticated? To not miss out on the
latest information? To stay plugged in? I do not get it. I see
people as trapped in a pathological relationship with time-sucking
technology, where they serve technology more than technology serves
them. I call this technology servitude. Richard Fernandez, an
executive coach at Google acknowledged that “we can be swept away
by our technologies.” Welcome to virtual living. To break the grand
digital delusion people must consider how lives long ago could be
terrific without all the technology regalia pushed today. What is a
healthy use of technology devices? That is the crucial question.
Who is really in charge of my life? That is what people need to ask
themselves if they are to have any chance of breaking up delusions
about their use of technology. When they can live happily without
using so much technology for a day or a week, then they can regain
control and personal freedom and become the master of technology.
Discover what there is to enjoy in life that is free of technology.
Mae West is famous for proclaiming the wisdom that “too much of a
good thing is wonderful.” Time to discover that it does not work
for technology. As to globalization of technology servitude: Is
this worldwide progress what is best for humanity? Is downloaded
global dehumanization being sucked up? Time for global digital
dieting. The views expressed in this
article are the author’s and do not necessarily reflect those of
MuslimVillage.com.
