Technology Infatuation

I sit here on my phone typing this morning because our computer is acting weird. We live at times at the mercy of technology and it only seems to be getting worse….or better depending on your point of view. For many people, I feel that technology has become an extension of who they are. Phones constantly glued to their hands, neck crooked from always staring down at them. It actually boggles my mind that people have become more invested in the device in their hands than the world around them. Or rather, they choose to see the world around them through the lens of their device, not with their own eyes. Take for example a scene I witnessed while picking up our car from our mechanic. While waiting for him to finish up some paperwork, I glanced up to the TV he had on, Fox airing the latest news, and what I saw took a minute to process fully. The TV showed a room of sports players watching a TV in a hotel room as their “team” won a game. The surprising part was that as most of the players jumped around in excitement, the majority of them were looking at phones in their own hands recording each others reaction. And in the background, another person with a larger video camera was walking around recording. Whatever happened to just enjoying the moment? Are they really experiencing joy as they watch each other in real life through their phone screens? Will they even remember that moment?

I read a book a month or so ago now that talks about what technology is doing to our brains. It’s not good if you value deep thinking and building wisdom and storing memories. (There is a link to the book on the main page). One small piece without getting deep into it, which I still intend to do at some point, is how when we think we rely on our phones to capture an image so we remember it more, our brain is actually not processing what we see as a deep memory because we are taking a picture of the scene or recoding video of it. We are relegating our memories to our devices and never making those memories for ourselves. All those sports players celebrating with phones in their hands won’t remember that moment. They will need their phones to remember for them. Even worse, they are missing experiencing everything else about that moment that would cement that memory more firmly in their minds, the sounds, smells, the feel of the couches and rug as they jumped around. It will all be shallow.

It’s one thing to look at a scene like that and get a little depressed for our future, it’s a whole other one to witness it when it relates to our children and get even more depressed. I am going to my daughter’s “promotion” ceremony for the end of sixth grade as she gets ready mid middle school. I can almost guarantee that the majority of the parents at that ceremony will have phones in their hands recording their child as they profess and receive their awards and such. I admit, I will probably take a few pictures myself, but will for the most part experience it through my own eyes. At least I know I’ll remember it more fully. But even then, it’s a sixth grade “promotion” or “graduation” and at the end of the day most of the people in attendance with forget it in a couple years as they go to the eight grade graduation. It’s special for the kids, yes, but just put the damn phones down and live it through your own eyes. (On a side note, gone for a few days, so check back in Monday morning!)