As I was reading this week’s assigned readings about the predicted improvements of technology, it suddenly came to me how technologically dependent most of us are. For example during the summer I was without a cellular phone for a couple of weeks. It is rather sad how handicapped I felt.
I might as well have had my right arm amputated. Some of you might be saying to yourselves “Wow, Sasha. I think you are overreacting a little about this cell phone thing.” Well it wasn’t just a cell phone. My whole life was on that little device. The amazing gadget that I am referring to is called a “sidekick.” With this sidekick, not only can you make and receive calls, but the internet is readily available for your many needs. I was able to do spur-of-the-moment things such as: look up directions while on the road, make reservations to my favorite restaurants, find out when my favorite movies are beginning, and most of all text or instant message all my friends.
When my sidekick broke I was unable to do any of that and it was horrible. Then as time went on I realized what many of you may be thinking. Cellular phones are a luxury and, surprise, people got along fine thirty years ago when they didn’t exist. Another revelation that I had was that this little device was in no way enhancing my intellectual abilities. I wasn’t researching the cure for cancer, and talking to people face to face might actually help my communication skills.
My point of this blog is to show that, even though the advancement of technology helped the human race in many important ways, it is also making our lives more impersonal. Whether it is cell phones, e-mails or instant messages, we have become ever so dependent on technology to make our lives easier. Just think. What would your life be like without modern technology?
My life would be awful. That is what I am most dependent on is my cellular phone. I use it to contact people and to e-mail. How can such a little device be so addicting?
Yes! I’m the same way! Although when you think about it a lot of things we do from day to day require technology of some sort. If there was no more technology our whole economic structure would cease to exist. It’s rather scary.
That is so true. No one really realizes it until they don’t have technology anymore. For example, a cellular phone breaking.
im not sure how much cellphones would be considered lux anymore? i mean you can get them free now most providers have great coverage and people i know do not have landline phones anymore.. where i am tying to go with this is that even tho 30yrs they did not have cellphones and they did what they needed to do without them that is because technology and the demand for “instant satisfaction” was not there as it is today and was not needed. now with technology running almost every aspect of live cellphones are integrated right in with everyday tasks.
AGREED. I feel naked without my cell phone. Put me somewhere without internet access and I freak too.
@ thereal.chino: Luxury- a material object, service, etc., conducive to sumptuous living, usually a delicacy, elegance, or refinement of living rather than a necessity. Although we would have to rearrange the way we interact with the world, if cell phones no longer existed we would still be able to live fairly normal and fulfilling lives. “Instant satisfaction” is not something we need, it is something we have grown accustomed to.
How did you set up the RSS feeds on the side of your blog? Please let me know.
Sincerely,
Jessica Fine
I lost my phone right before I was heading out with friends on Saturday night. I was trying to keep my cool about it…but the other friends knew the importance of their own & were genuinely concerned about mine & helped search. We never did and I think we all drank just as a way of dealing with the lost technological device! haha.
One friend had just bought an iphone that day, carries a blackberry for work, & a razr…1 person, 3 phones…and no, hes definitely not a pimp or a drug dealer! He was 3 hours late in meeting our group and was on his iphone most of the night. I understand it was a new toy and boys and their toys…but technology has really interfered with life as we know it. Frankly, if I had a new iphone, I don’t think I’d come out of my house for a few days until I figured everything out!
Has anyone gotten through a date without the other person’s phone or your own going off? Though…I can’t hate on that…my girlfriends and I have milked the cell for all its worth, saving each other from a many bad dates w/ the ‘my cat/grandma just died’ text/voicemails. R.I.P Fluffy & Nona…for the 67th time!
Needless to say, we found it the next morning under her car…but it was dead! Now I will never know if the drunk guy from the bar called!
Reading your post made me think about what form of technology I couldn’t live without. Although my cell phone is top on that list, I would have to go with my navigational system in my car. My ex-boyfriend wishes that I bought the car when we were still together because he dreaded going on trips with me. I’ll admit I don’t have the best sense of direction but hey, I’m still a great co-pilot.
There have been some famous studies of media technology that can only be done when they are missing. During a city-wide newspaper strike in New York, one study looked at how people reacted when the newspaper was “missing,” and solar flares in LA led to the beepers and cell phones going dead for a day, and resulted in another study.
It would be interesting–if you could find people who have their mobiles “amputated”–to see what kinds of changes they had to make. It could be a nice way of figuring out how the tech is really used.
Sometimes I wish I was never “blessed” with the use of a cell phone. When it rings endlessly there is no escape. many times when it goes dead i am not too quick to charge it back up. I think many of us can attest to being damned if you do and damned if you don’t with it. I get in trouble when I dont pick it up, but the other times I do decide to answer, I am pulled away from what ever I was doing in the first place. All this being said, I agree, I will never be able to go without one completely.