Something I've been thinking about a lot lately is technology. We're so dependent on it, sometimes I wish it was different. We use it for pretty much everything, and that's getting more and more every year. We use it for work, education, entertainment, communication, time fillers etc. We run our lives using technology (in the western world). I guess what I'm trying to say is that I don't like it. We created technology to help us save time, but in reality we spend more and more time using it, that time is taken rather than saved. I'm not saying that all technology is terrible and should be destroyed, it's just that sometimes I wish we could live without it.
Some of you may be thinking 'well, without technology you wouldn't even be writing this blog and airing your views like this', and that's true. But lately I find that I'm lost without technology and I fill my time with it. When I'm bored, or don't have anything to do for the day, all of that time is spend with technology. Watching TV (either on the TV or the computer), on the internet, on my phone. I try to imagine all the things I could get done if I spent less time with technology, but then when I turn off my computer I can't think of anything to do. It's like I have withdrawl from technology and without it I'm bored.
Filling our time with things is what we tend to do though. We fill our lives/time with technology, work, entertainment etc and we don't really focus on what's important in life. How much time do you spend with family and friends? and I mean quality time. How much time do you spend with God? I think this is the thing that annoys me so much about technology. It creates a barrier and a distraction in our relationships. Our relationships with each other and with God. It's much easier to watch a movie than it is to spend time talking and listening to God. I need to learn to take the time for God. To fill my life with Him, rather than with technology...who's with me?
As someone who's completely dependent on technology, I agree with everything you said.
ReplyDeleteI estimate that it takes about 20% of my waking time just to not fall behind with new emails (received over 10k last year) / blog posts / social network stuff. Even if I tried to have a "tech-free" day, I'd just have to spend 40% of my next day catching up. Add to this that my work requires me to use a computer nearly all day. Then add the fact that most of my hobbies (music, languages, etc) require a computer in some way. Finally, a large number of my friends don't live anywhere near my city and I don't have enough time to write them all letters so I rely on technology to keep in contact with them.
What can we do about it? Let's chat about this in person sometime.