OK, I will grant that the blog reading audience is not exactly a statistically robust group for this, nor a demographically even group what with all of us already being most likely rather heavy tech users, but, what is it with the obsession with technology?
WHY is it so attractive?
We've got video games
internet
crackberries
iphones
cell phones
anything on a computer
etc etc etc etc
and many of us can't leave them alone. In the comments on the last post you used the words addiction and eating my life, to which I can completely relate.
Then there is the personalisation of our cell phones, downloading ring tones and themes and and and
what is that?
Kids and teens are more universally obsessed than adults, but a fair number of adults are pretty obsessed too.
What does it tap into that we find it so very compelling?
It is not something we evolved towards, and it did not exist when we were kids, failing pacman, so why is it so interesting?
Some of it is the movement on the screen that catches and seizes our attention, there are short straight-forward clearly defined tasks....after that I start to run out of steam.
I am not a fan of TV, after hanging out to often with friends who morphed into zombies when the screen came on....
I am not personally interested in video games and honestly don't listen to music much, but writing, reading and connecting to people I find compelling. Though I have to admit, that e-mail is starting to feel more like a to-do list and less like a form of communication which I find fascinating, if a bit of a pain.
(here in lies a post)
I don't know what it is in our makeup that finds all of this so deeply fulfilling. I really don't.
What do you think, what do you do with technology, and why do you think it is so deeply attractive to kids and teens.
Why can't we leave that little screen alone?
8 comments:
Our kids grew up surrounded by technology – and never experienced any fear or hesitancy as to using it. (Sam was playing on a computer at the age of two!) Nor did they really experience the alternative – the world as we knew it.
Computers, cell phones – these are the means by which they stay connected and the speed with which they do it is mind-boggling. The world is at their fingertips.
I like to think I’ve maintained a balance in my life but I do confess to an addiction (??!!) to the computer.
And I’m finding this new cell phone rather fun…
we can't....we just can't.
when I was growing up, I don't even REMEMBER hearing the phone ring! and it was a rotary dial phone!! I HATE talking on the phone...but my kids? oh how they love it. well, not talking, but texting. they are lost without that little phone in their hands.
I wish I felt more compelled to talk on the phone, but I find that every time I do, I end up in these two hour conversations!
If I email or text, I feel connected but it doesn't take as much time.
I try one day a week to NOT turn on the computer. This week it was yesterday and I was successful.
Now if I could just do the same with my cell phone which does all the same things as my computer!!!
I think it's fascinating because it is so instantaneous and allows us so much more control over something than we've ever had before.
The access to random information and the ability to "go places" is what draws me into my computer . . . it has no end like a book does, or a day, or a trip, or a visit with a friend. The internet is always there and always on.
It's captivating, mesmerizing, and a little disturbing.
Beth, that's it, they are fun, but they are also frighteningly compelling...and it is this little edge that I find interesting.
Beth, there is no doubt that for a lot of them it is keeping in touch..and yes, I had a rotary dial phone too. Youngest was playing with one of those fisher price numbers, I had to explain to her how it worked!
She, I don't talk to folks who want me to talk for 2 hours, that's impossible.
Trish, I think that may be some of it...the infinite - or seemingly infinite - possibilities. I think there is also an element of exploration and a desire for orientation tied in as well...what do all these layers and layers of screens and windows do, and the very fact that we cannot see them all in a linear way is like walking on a curvy path, there is that compulsion to see what is around the corner, just the next corner....
I think it is an outlet for kids...and adults...to take themselves out of reality. Reality is actually doing something...like talking to someone, taking a walk, exercising, doing things around the house. It has that cool factor too.
That being said...it sure is neat stuff they got out there now!! :-)
It is compelling for all of us...neat gadgets, cool stuff....and it is escapist as well...it draws us in so tightly neurologically too, that I have to wonder....
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