How Technology Could Make Things Worse

I've been having a lot of conversations with people lately about the role of technology in our lives. I've come up with a lot of negatives where its implementation is concerned.

1 - It isolates people and allows them to cut themselves off. People have IPODS - they can just stick their ear buds in and tune the rest of the world out. On the other hand, would these people really be talking to people around them if they DIDN'T have headphones?

2 - It cheapens interactions. People can get ahold of each other pretty much no matter what nowadays. Cell phones, text messages, email, facebook messages. We are in constant contact with each other. Remember back in the day when if you called someone and they weren't home, you just left a message and waited for them to call you back? This technology, I feel, allows people to take interactions for granted. Not just interactions, even, but everything. Everything, because of technology is so easy and accessible - it spoils us! On the other hand, it is nice to be able to reconnect with people from all walks of your life and stay in touch with them easily.

3 - Flaming. There was an article about the psychology behind this in the New York Times the other day. About the emotional distance people have when sending electronic messages. This causes people to say ridiculous things that they wouldn't otherwise say, things they could regret or things that could get them in serious trouble.

4 - Stalking. The Facebook feed creeps me out. Why do other people need to get automated updates about when I write on someone's wall? If I wanted Person A to know that I was contacting Person B, I would send Person A a message explaining it to them. The other problem is that people (myself included) do NOT understand how easy it is for online predators to find out way too much about people just by tidbits of information and research they do online. No one ever thinks they will be a target, so few people take precautions. This also applies to identity theft that occurs online with greater and great frequency.

5 - Privacy issues (the government chapter) - I have no idea what the government is looking at, and I have nothing to hide. I quite frankly don't care whether or not they know that I googled "power rangers" or "meta fiction" or whatever. It does, however, bring these issues more to the forefront given the accessibility of people's private lives via technology.

6 - Reigning it in. I think that technology is almost growing too quickly. People don't know how to fully use the technology we have before it is updated. It is not being implemented to the fullest extent with the most broad range of applications like it could be. And people don't think that they need to take that into consideration. If they don't know how to do something, technology will just produce a gadget to do it for them.

7 - Laziness. People are raising their children on tv, dvd's in cars, etc. No one has to entertain themselves anymore, there's always a virtual supplement. It's creating a weird world full of people who have add and so ironically, it's lowering the productivity level of our world in general.

I'm not saying that technology isn't wonderful, amazing and awe-inspiring. I use it a lot. My cell phone is my best friend, and I use a computer all the live long day. I do think, however, that before my generation is unique because we are fully integrated into the world of technology, but we are old enough to just barely remember what the days before the internet were like. And so, before technology takes over everyone's minds as the only way of life that has ever existed, I think it's just important to remember that although it may seem wonderful, there are some drawbacks that exist too, that warrant mentioning.

Karel's Addition

Karel brought this to my attention - it's a review of a similar book and people's comments about it :)

http://www.amazon.com/gp/discussionboard/discussion.html/ref=cm_rdp_st_rd/102-3397583-6450510?ie=UTF8&ASIN=1580627560&store=yourstore&cdThread=Tx3OZFM8KKV63YP&reviewID=R1WLJRS5X06ZTS&displayType=ReviewDetail#wasThisHelpful

Also - in the interest of the theme of my life - which is bringing everyone I know together, for world domination... :)

Every time someone new adds something, I'm going to introduce them so everyone knows who to respond to if they so choose, or at least where the person is coming from.

Karel is one of my best friends, lives in NYC, and is probably the best writer I know. She and I worked together at CTY many moons ago, and she is beautiful and amazing and I love her :)

And so it begins.

So I guess this is sort of like the introduction. Having a blog has always seemed to be sort of a strange and ... too self aware (there's a term for this that I can't remember, it's the same as when a book acknowledges the fact that it's a book...Karel was no help either - see? My English major is worthless!)

Anyway, the point is, that I think my purpose in starting this, aside from encouraging dialogue among my vast and varied group of amigos is a kind of forced honesty in a public domain. Even though a journal is traditionally written for purposes only concerning the writer, this is a journal that is written with the intentions of sharing it with other people. Which is still a bit of an odd concept for me.

Ok, well since I really have no transition, I'm just going to start :).

Yesterday, I was in Borders, kind of just wandering around. I happened to pick up a copy of a book that I thought would be funny/interesting to flip through. It was called "Why Men Love Bitches." I'm not even exactly sure where to start. I guess the first thing is that I totally disagreed with the author's definition of a bitch. The dichotomy that was used to define the word was that girls fall into two categories: bitch and doormat. This. Doesn't seem right to me somehow.

Next, the author proceeds to give snippets of potential conversation from both camps of females. And which would be better when trying to attract a mate. The book gives all sorts of dreadful advice: it talks about how to feign having a life outside of having a boyfriend because that will make him want you more (because why else would a woman have a life aside from using it as collateral in a romantic relationship?) It talks about how women should voice an opinion because men automatically assume that feisty women will be good in bed. It then goes on to completely contradict that tactic - there is an entire chapter explaining the "dumb fox" complex and how women should pretend to be stupid around their boyfriends and husbands because that will make the male feel more powerful. AND - EVEN FURTHER - it gives specific examples of what women should do to let "their men" protect them. I.e: pretend to be incapable of killing bugs, never change a tire around him, let him pump your gas.

This book was written in 2006. And worse still, it was written by a woman. I'm not sure if I actually need to explain what is wrong with all of this, but I'm going to at least give it a shot.

First and foremost, there is and cannot be any GUIDE to tell you how to "capture and keep" a man. Relationships are all different, and this game-playing, fake facade that the book designs for women to put on isn't even attractive, in my opinion. It's like a secret playbook. This is why so many girls act like such nitwits. This relationship propaganda encourages obsessive analysis of relationships and each person's role in it. It shouldn't be this hard. If it is, you're with the wrong person.

This is all, of course, completely ignoring the outdated themes concerning a "weaker sex" and needing a man to protect the woman and all that. That part is obvious...I think.

In my view, relationships can't be about a power struggle. In a lot of cases, they are. She plays hard to get, he chases. She decides she loves him and falls all over him and he backs away. It's a mess. But rather than fix these issues, these books only encourage and catalyze the situation. Inherently, men are NOT that different than women. It is ridiculous to pretend that all women can attract any man by following a formula.

I think the worst part of the book for me, however, is that it kind of traps you. The book starts off as very flippant and humorous - there are funny anecdotes, none of the suggestions are too severe. But as you progress, the book gets more and more horrifying to digest. And by the time I got to the end, I couldn't believe that I had even remotely agreed with anything this woman had to say. I felt tricked and betrayed by my own attitudes and ability to fall in line with what I was reading.

Needless to say. I don't recommend it.

in which i make my first entry

This is actually just kind of a test.


Imma post something for real tonight.