Would You Kindly?

[Nessy]

And I am saying, concern about techonology is not a new concern by any stretch of the imagination. I understand your point, I just don't agree with it. They said the same thing when the calculator was invented, our brains would turn to mush, the ability to do math would be lost... when spreadsheets shifted from paper to computer screens, when telephones largely replaced letter writing, when cars replaced horses. The fear of loosing the familiar to something new... not new at all. How far back do you really want me to go? The fact that other people around you are more consumed by technology more than you think they should be is just a matter of opinion. All these useful things we have now, had similar nay-sayers.

Now you are see-sawing a little bit on what concerns you the most, whether its peole getting too attached to objects you don't find that useful, whether or not its a popularity thing and people are copying their friends and picking like items, or whether or not people are wasting their time when they could be doing more useful things. Some of that's just immaturity you're just going ot have to deal with. Some of them will grow out of it quickly, some take longer, some never do. Some of that is just you having a different value system then they do, and that's fine. No one says your value system is more or less important than someone else's. It's not really your place to try and rank them in order and most people can deal with others who value a blackberry alongside those who don't.

I personally, don't even own a cellphone. I have in the past, it's just not my thing. I really don't care that other people use them as often as I drink water. It's their choice and life is too short for me to sit here and agonize why people would value something that is, admitedly convenient but not nearly as important to me as it is to others. It's not my place to judge them.

If I have a friend that racks of 700 dollar phone bill and agonizes over it, I am not going to lecture him on the evil of technologies and how awful it is he let himself be consumed in such a way. That's now how you deal with real addiction at all, but I am not convinced you are talking about addiction, just a different choice than you would have made and young people being, well young people.

[Serephino]

Well of course people are the commonality, but the tech of today makes it much easier to over stimulate than the years of yore. That's my point. More people are letting the machines use them than the other way around.

I understand your point and do agree.  Technology has made people so lazy.  We have become a world of instant gratification, and that has turned people into temperamental children.  They want what they want when they want it, and how dare you not give it to them instantly.  If technology were to fail and disappear, no one would know how to survive.

There are people like my boyfriend's mother who was addicted to video games and let him and his siblings starve and freeze to death because she had to keep her game on and keep upgrading her computer.  They lost 3 houses because of her addiction.  She paid the internet, electricity, and her subscription fee. Everything else got shut off a lot.   

[Inkidu]

I understand your point and do agree.  Technology has made people so lazy.  We have become a world of instant gratification, and that has turned people into temperamental children.  They want what they want when they want it, and how dare you not give it to them instantly.  If technology were to fail and disappear, no one would know how to survive.

There are people like my boyfriend's mother who was addicted to video games and let him and his siblings starve and freeze to death because she had to keep her game on and keep upgrading her computer.  They lost 3 houses because of her addiction.  She paid the internet, electricity, and her subscription fee. Everything else got shut off a lot.   

You know. I like video games. I like video games a lot. However, I do love heat, and power, running water, and food a lot more. I'll play for long periods of time but I get up and use the freaking toilet.

[Nessy]

Well he is referring to a situation that is clearly a case of addiction, the same thing can happen to a gambler or any other kind of addiction, not technology specific.

[Inkidu]

Well he is referring to a situation that is clearly a case of addiction, the same thing can happen to a gambler or any other kind of addiction, not technology specific.

I have acknowledged this.

[Nessy]

I have acknowledged this.

Okay, I never said you didn't.