Technology: Uniter or Divider?

A few mornings ago when I went outside to get our paper – yes, we still get a real newspaper – a teenager from down the street was walking by with her eyes buried in her phone. She looked up for a split second, then, without acknowledging that I was 10 feet away, burrowed back down into her phone. As she had earbuds in I didn’t bother to say hello. She clearly didn’t want to interact.

That got me thinking about how as computer and electronic technology has evolved, the promise of greater connectivity was touted by many people. At the same time, a smaller and less vocal group warned of the opposite impact, with technology isolating us from each other. It seems to me that the latter group nailed it. We are more connected than ever - mainly to our own individual devices, but not to each other. It’s not the geek in his/her parents’ basement playing video games and living in a digital fantasy world anymore. Now it’s all those who stay buried in their phones all day – and night – connected to 0s and 1s but not to other people

Next time you go out to eat, look around at the people at the other tables. How many are having a conversation and how many are staring at their phones, fingers busily tapping away while their companions are doing the same thing. It amazes me how many couples, especially couples over 50, dine together separately while glued to their phones. Those people must be a blast at parties!

That technology barrier has transformed the way the younger generations live and communicate, and not in a good way. Our generation had selfies – which I still don’t get – but with Instagram and Tik-Tok, the selfie is an ancient relic. Why take a photo when you can make a video of you or your friends doing something stupid - or worse - post it and wait for the hits to pile up from people who have nothing better to do with their time. It’s all about getting to influencer status by being a content creator. While that may be cool (???) it’s not connecting you to other humans, it’s just breeding more app-addicted zombies trying to out-do each other on social media.

The other disconnect I see constantly is people out walking or riding their bikes with earbuds in or mindlessly staring at their phone, often with a dog’s leash attached to the other hand. OK, you’re getting exercise and are outside, but you are not connecting with nature or those around you – or even your dog. Instead, you’ve locked yourself into your own little media bubble and isolated yourself from the world. To those of you who fall into this category I say UNPLUG! Not only will you get to experience what’s around you, but you will be able to hear cyclists and joggers coming up on you – and vehicles too if you are on a local road. That last part is a safety issue. I for one want to be aware of what’s around me, particularly if I am peddling around town as I don’t want to be connected to an errant vehicle or clueless pedestrian.

To me, it’s not a contested viewpoint. The technology revolution has connected us to the internet and myriad apps that while capable of putting the knowledge of the universe at our fingertips has cut us off from meaningful personal interaction. Worse, it has made it too easy to get all one’s “news” from less than impartial – and often false - sources. That in turn makes it more difficult to determine what is the truth and what is someone’s spin or fairy tale and stifles our ability for intelligent conversation about key issues.  As the spiral continues its way down, we may connect with those who share our narrowed views, but we more and more often purposely disconnect from those outside of our thought bubble because other viewpoints are not to be acknowledged or tolerated according to our “reliable sources”.

Back to the beginning of this post about picking up the newspaper in our driveway. Your local paper is still the most impartial source of actual news. Of course there is spin on the pages of some newspapers and you have to read their articles with an open mind, but as a bonus your paper still likely has at least one page of comics to lighten the mood.

I’m not advocating that computer and technology evolution is bad as it has done much more good for humanity than harm. I am however advocating for putting down the phone, stepping away from the computer screen, and connecting with real live people and the world around you. Short of that, at least get your news and information from multiple and diverse sources. Yeah, you’ll have to think about the different viewpoints and decide for yourself what the truth is, but that just might lead to your own evolution.

www.RetiredandInspiredat55.com  7-22-2024