Has technology gone too far?

[PepperHead]

So it seems like a recurring theme in my school is to discuss how technology is going to destroy humanity. Often, one of the first examples that come up is about texting. The instructors often go on about how everyone is always glued to their phones or constantly on Facebook, and I get kind of tired of it. Note: I would love to go more in-depth but I feel like I might lose more readers and then the discussion will just get too broad and scattered x'D

I'd like to think that Americans aren't always fat and on their phones 24/7 like the stereotypes go. I only text my girlfriend, I don't go on facebook, I'm not super skinny but I'm not obese... and none of my friends are really fall into those stereotypes either. I think that people are overreacting... but then I drive and over 80% of the people are on their phones, texting or calling, a lot of students are on their phones during class, and yeah it's pretty crazy.

SO QUESTIONS FINALLY
Do you get too wrapped up in texting, computers, etc? Do you think that the rest of the world is getting in too deep with technology, to the point where it's mostly negative?
Also for those who don't live in the US, what's your opinion on Americans and technology?


Sorry if this thread came out all wrong .-. I'm not really good at posting debates or anything of the sort.

[Tiger]

Oh man, I definitely feel like technology has gone too far. In different ways.

One thing that I find interesting is people on their phones in class, not just during class but also during break (glued to their phone is a very accurate statement). The fact that they feel the need to be on their phone at every break/opportunity they can get is what I find interesting. I might just feel this way, though, because I use my cell phone quite little and instead just draw in my sketchbook. This doesn't really apply to me anymore since I no longer have 3 hour classes and have essentially no break time. This is just me speaking from the past three years I was in a community college. I just wonder what people are up to that has them on their cell phone so often. With students on computers during class, my philosophy teacher has what I feel is a great "rule" that students with computers sit in the very back so they're not distracting to other students. And I have no problems with people on their laptop. But also from my community college years, I was in the computer graphics track and maaan it was hard to sit on a computer for 3 hours not going to my normal sites I check every day.

As for my view on other ways technology is taking over our lives, I need look no farther than myself. I have an issue where whenever some aweosme new technology comes out I'm desperate to buy it (thankfully I rarely act on that). And I spend almost all of my day on either my computer or my 3DS. Then there's MMOs like WoW, which I have over 1200 hours on that I will never get back. I greatly regret playing it, but I know way too many people that are completely obsessed with it. But yeah, I admit to being a technology addict.

And here's something that I'm not sure fits into the intention in the OP you've written, buuut here's an article that makes me a little uncomfortable. http://www.unexplained-mysteries.com...ment-a-success . Enjoy!

[Ibuuyk]

Where I come from, technology isn't so popular. People don't use cellphones because these don't reach in the woods. For the same reason, we don't have wifi Internet; we have microwave Internet which is some kinda mutant beast between dial-up and wifi in terms of speed, though it's pretty reliable. In the schools they only have a few computers (mostly because the schools are locally funded thanks to the government not having any influence so far away) but students don't use 'em much 'cause they're so slow; instead they yanno, talk to each other during the breaks and stuff. Plus not having lots of technology makes it so the library is pretty popular, even though it's pretty small and relies mostly on local donations. There's also no college nearby since most people usually finish high school and take up an apprenticeship in some physical job like car mechanic, miner, lumberjack or something useful and widely accessible in the woods.

This. This is the kind of technological culture I like. Or rather, the lack thereof. Where the influence of technology is just present enough to be useful in daily life, but not present enough to make people addicted to it and control their lives to the point where they couldn't live without it. Present enough to make it so people can afford to be lazy every once in a while, but not present enough to make it so people get fat and devolve into formless jellos living on their couches. Humans become too easily dependent on technology so finding the perfect balance is quite tricky but my good ol' woods found it. We're friendly and talk to each other even though we don't know who we're talking to sometimes. We've never had a single crime because we don't have security cameras nor security guards anywhere (even in the bank). The government very barely reaches us so we use common sense to manage the town instead.

Everyone's healthy, everyone's friendly, everyone's social, everyone's happy, everyone's sane... everyone's relatively uneducated, everyone's uncultured, everyone's detached from the rest of the world, everyone's white and everyone's the same. The advantages balance out the downsides so I'd say it's a pretty good deal. Ignorance is bliss eh?

[RX-149Dragonite]

Technology hasn't gone too far.

Human over-reliance and laziness based on it has.

/myopinion

[Damian]

Technology hasn't gone too far.

Human over-reliance and laziness based on it has.

/myopinion

This
Man, here I was thinking this was something about technology being used to control someone else's body. Not something as silly as texting.

[Tiger]

Man, here I was thinking this was something about technology being used to control someone else's body. Not something as silly as texting.

Same, 'tis why I threw in my article at the end of my post. I had many more articles to link in mind, ended up just using that one because I feel it's pretty safe to say that human mind control is more apt to be called "too far".

[Onnes]

As a largely computational physicist let me state that technology has gone nowhere near far enough until such a point as I can download my brain into the cloud and remotely command a proper army of cyborg zombies.

That out of the way, I think people worrying about smartphones and texting in class are missing the real issues with students and attention. The fact that they can't get 30 seconds without checking their phones already shows a lack of self discipline and time management. Without the phone, that deficit would, in all likelihood, still be there with all the same fundamental problems.

[Neon Poi]

Technology is awesome. I'm excited to see where it goes in my life time. I don't think that reliance on technology is bad, just different from how it was before. What is inherently better about doing things "naturally?" In our society, we don't need amazing physical strength to thrive, it's silly to apply old world values to a new and changing world. I mean, that is kind of our most amazing talent - the ability to manipulate the environment to suit our needs. Evolving technology is our form of evolution, in a way.

That's just how I see it.

[Wolf-Bone]

Has technology gone to far? Excuse me, but there's still no IRL Nuka Cola Quantum, Victory or Quartz. Until we have cola that glows in the dark, I say technology hasn't gone far enough.

[Rakuen Growlithe]

Has technology gone to far? Excuse me, but there's still no IRL Nuka Cola Quantum, Victory or Quartz. Until we have cola that glows in the dark, I say technology hasn't gone far enough.

Well radium glows in the dark and they used to make medicinal drinks laced with radium. I don't know if it was enough to make them glow but that's probably what Nuka Cola Quantum was based on. The downside, of course, was that you would radiation poisoning and die.

I think technology is great. What we do have is a problem with it being misused, both by ordinary people, criminals and governments. The scary part is that as technology increases the worse the effects of its misuse become. I guess the best thing to hope for is that as technology increases the protection we can put into it increases as well.