Technology and the Human Disconnect.

[troymcclure]

In today's world there are hundreds of gadgets we can use to accomplish the same thing, communicating. We have the world at our figure tips, we can communicate anytime, anywhere, pretty much any how right now.

With that said, is human to human contact becoming obsolete?

Most of my communicating is done through text. Lousy characters and integers manipulated to send and convey a message. Typing is so easy: you have anonymity in some cases, you can choose when you want to interact with that person again, and you have time to think and purposefully convey your message.

There is no question that this has raised the dating game, right or....has it sheltered us and conditioned us to a lesser degree of human connection or affection. If not less, at least different. Very different than allll of the time that preceeds us.

So we talk and we talk, we type and we type, we watch and we watch, and we ******g skype and we skype, have you ever stepped beside yourself while being in those modes? Stuck inside a ******g machine all day. The thing meant to emulate our brains is now feasting on it.

And the best part is, it owns us. We pay so much money for this **** and then their services and then extra money for them to cover us on some **** warranty. We keep buying phones and **** for them to break in two years.

We worry about the crap gov't here in the US, our spending of billions on some power tripping military, and don't for one second look at what we do with the money that we have when we do have it. We feed the greed.

For what? For them to have all of our information (Google is about to know how many times everyone's had sex here -for most of everyone here, i'd say 1-5 times), to keep us roped and controlled and to have us in debt.

And yet everyone in the world puts on a front most of the time. Pretends ****'s different, organize the world into the way they want it to be. They can drift off where ever they want to in virtual reality. It seems like emotion has withered away from the world and everyone is just meh about everyone else, just..meeehhhh.

but I guess everything that's was-was, is-is, and will be..whatever will be.

maybe being stuck inside a few machines ain't so bad, we'll keep on creating and grow exponentially, technology does well!

or

we become the game that's being played even more so than now.

I AM STONED


"The television went from being a babysitter to a mistress.
Technology made it easy for us to stay in touch while keeping a distance,
'til we just stayed distant and never touched. Now all we do is text too much."

- Sage Francis

"From a cellular phone to a cell in a phone"

- Cunninlynguists.

 

[mk25tolife]

I feel you dude

 

[God]

i feel the same way, and its a shame... we have this great technology, but we use it in the wrong way.

 

[crod6926]

I know man. I hate to always be on my phone but it is required now days wth. So many times I end up getting yelled at by my family and girlfriend. Efff u phonesss.

 

[tsx24]

that quote was deep!

 

[speakup23]

I hate texting, I hate all phone communication

 

[teamjordan79]

when a bunch of people in a room are all on their phones instead of talking to each other.....

 

[futuremd]

Would I change anything? No.

Would I try to make people aware of their own existence and perspective? Absolutely. 

 

[superblytrife]

I look at kids and think this all the time.  When I was their age, I was out doing something during the summer---playing hoops, at a friend's crib, riding a bike, etc.  But all of it involved a friend.

Kids now?  They just talk to their friends on Facebook and via text.  That whole concept is just completely foreign to me b/c I didn't come up like that.  I mean, I understand why--the tech is there, so why not use it.  But it seems like the balance between actual human interaction and virtual interaction is way out of wack now.  Slowly but surely, face-to-face convos are being phased out of our lives.  And the scary part is that a lot of people don't even see it.    

 

[God]

I look at kids and think this all the time.  When I was their age, I was out doing something during the summer---playing hoops, at a friend's crib, riding a bike, etc.  But all of it involved a friend.

Kids now?  They just talk to their friends on Facebook and via text.  That whole concept is just completely foreign to me b/c I didn't come up like that.  I mean, I understand why--the tech is there, so why not use it.  But it seems like the balance between actual human interaction and virtual interaction is way out of wack now.  Slowly but surely, face-to-face convos are being phased out of our lives.  And the scary part is that a lot of people don't even see it.    

im witnessing the younger generation's disconnect. many of them to shy to talk to people in person. i mean like give their order to someone at a restaurant, say please and thank you etc.. extremely passve aggressive, i guess cause they are used to hiding behind a phone or computer screen.

 

[mangudai954]

i mean like give their order to someone at a restaurant, say please and thank you etc..

Wait what..are you saying that's a bad thing?

 

[Ja's 2¢]

Toyota has this commercial that perfectly portrays the kids of today. Don't mind the car speak, but listen to the message.

 

[ricerocket1]

rather text than talk on the phone, rather email someone for work than calling, i read news/comics/books on my ipad...so yes.

 

[pdino]

If it's something that needs to be talked about in-depth, I'll call a girl. If I see something's going to be hard to explain, I'll call instead of text. But texting can be more comfortable because you got time to prepare responses. I can be witty... if you give me a second.

 

[marvin hagler]

Damn come to think of it...

You're right.

When I was in elementary and middle school, I'd always be out playing street football with all the kids in the neighborhood, riding my bike to different places in Vegas with friends, always chillin at a friends house. Nowadays kids can just text their friends, play COD online with them, and just talk on facebook. No face to face interaction at all.

 

[God]

i mean like give their order to someone at a restaurant, say please and thank you etc..

Wait what..are you saying that's a bad thing?

no, i've seen kids that cant even look at the person they are talking to, or speak up. I've watched this happen when they give their order at restaurants. like why are you afraid to to speak to another person?

 

[jking0821]

Completley agree with you OP btw Sage Francis and Cunninglyguists you have good taste in music

I have said this about facebook too. The younger generation (hell my generation too, I'm 25) get on the internet and try to portray an image of themselves to society that they want them to think. But it isn't them.

Want people to think your cool - post pics of you getting drunk and going to parties. Post pics of you and all the girls you were around 4 weekends ago. Put up statuses about things you aren't interested in to try to feel cool "Kony 2012"?

People need to be more present. I think it comes with maturity honestly. I worry when this younger generation starts to hit the work force. I don't want to live in a world where my coworker 2 feet away from me send me an email instead of says "hey want to grab lunch". Then we go out to lunch and we don't speak they just text their friends.

Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

And small soap box #2. Being a single man dating women 21-30 range you see it all the time. Out to dinner....girl is on her phone texting or facebooking half the time. If you want to hang out with some one else just leave.....the person you are texting...just go hang with them, leave. If you are facebooking then obviously you care more about what random strangers you call "friends" are doing then being here so leave please. I have also talked to girls that are super cool over text message. Then we hang out in person and she is quiet....reserved....opinion-less....but via text its the complete opposite.

 

[ruxxx]

Real **** OP.

J that spoiler is on point too. Male or female... don't just let that slide as if it's not happening right in front of you. Check that QUICKLY (ESPECIALLY if your *** is paying for the date).

 

[jbpkickz]

Damn come to think of it...

You're right.

When I was in elementary and middle school, I'd always be out playing street football with all the kids in the neighborhood, riding my bike to different places in Vegas with friends, always chillin at a friends house. Nowadays kids can just text their friends, play COD online with them, and just talk on facebook. No face to face interaction at all.

this used to be fun, 15 kids in the street playin football, or paying ninja knocker, goin exploring, i erased my twitter cuz i belive it is evil

 

[mel610]

It's a gift and a curse... Being so connected is great when you have friends all over the world and with things like Twitter it makes it easier to keep in contact.

On the other hand there are times when I am out with my girl and we are both so busy we social media that we don't really take advantage of enjoying each other.

 

[tero]

read this book called the world is flat

 

[DPancakes]

OP is stoned.

 

[troymcclure]

i'm surprised all of these customer service jobs still exist.

soon we will have a little transforming robot on restaurant tables that's a touch screen menu and while you are waiting for your food you can do trivia, watch it dance, etc.

We will have no purpose.

 

[jesusshuttlesworth34]

Less is more....live a more minimalistic life and remove the clutter. NT is the only "social" networking site I use and if you are going to complain about how technology is ruining society, one must set the example.

Nothing last forever....facebook and all that crap will implode and die out eventually.

The only tv I really watch is to catch a game or tune into Sportscenter real quick.

I wouldn't mind having a job that didn't require being on a computer either.


Technology is a tool....use it, don't be used by it.

 

[elcatfisho]

I think your thread title is humorously ironic; it implies that technology is the reason why humans have become less of a people that they were before. But I digress, social technology is another tool humans have designed to increase the one thing we all want: attention. Attention to ourselves is something that we believe is healthy, that it is something we need to have in order to continue to live a meaningful life.

For many years, humans have adapted their environment to be successful in reproduction. That meant acquiring resources such as food and shelter to improve their own success. Anthropologists have studied tools that our people made in order to facilitate achieving these means. It is incredibly interesting to study these earlier peoples, but the point is, we have been inventing things for a long time, and most likely, we will continue to do so for as long as we're in existence.

As such, mobile communications and the Internet are tools that humans have adapted to increase our connections between other people. Niketalk, for example, is a tool that connects cool humans like NT'ers together over the internet. It allows us to share our ideas and thoughts in a way of communications that is not impulsive as face-to-face talking.

Like Mel610 chooses to say, mobile technology is a gift and a curse. A consequence of trying to make communications better. Has it achieved this purpose? I'm pretty sure everyone agrees that it does. Now we can reach out to professional athletes, Congressmen and women, and all of our friends from high school. I think it has achieved the sole intention of bridging relationships together beyond a physical medium.

Now you seem to hold a negative attitude about why the way things are in this world. Why we have invented these things and why certain other things can't be fixed, like the military's massive budget or why certain corporations are getting so much money in the current economy. I don't think you're wrong in thinking this way, but it does seem overly cynical in my opinion. Let me try to restate what the current purpose of mankind is: Is it to conquer or is it to be subjected?

That is the constantly defining question that we have always faced as people, with more variations that you can probably fit into the same kind of question. Law was another invention that we adapted to form our society in a way that ensured that our beliefs would be shared by the other humans we would come in contact with.

Back to other sentiments expressed in this thread, I think everyone seems pretty tired of seeing people following their phones and not their other friends to the basketball court. That's how it was done a decade ago. While I don't think we should just destroy phones and WiFi to get people to see each other face to face, we should focus on improving our relations face-to-face rather than dwelling on the consequences, like FutureMD has said. We need people to realize that you cannot just be trapped in the Internet cloud forever when people can talk to you and bypass that high quality LCD screen in your hands. I don't necessarily agree with your views on Skype however, because Skype is a good invention. My parents can see their own parents and relatives in Japan from Ohio while having a live conversation and that was simply just not a reality a decade ago. Skype is a big invention for people.

Anyway, since you seem to be an eloquent stoner, perhaps you should consider reading Ishmael by Daniel Quinn. It is a book that discusses human nature and its purpose. I think you would like this book.