Technological slaves
In todays modern society technology is a development that is here to stay. Nearly all of us use a mobile phone, tablet, computer, microwave, car, airplane, moving staircase, elevator, etc. on a more or less regular basis. Machines or automated devices that take away much of the strain from us, and in return make our life more comfortable or let us experience or discover new things.
But when is the moment that we can speak of too much technology? What is the moment when we can't escape technology any longer to function properly? Watch the video and you will see a person who no longer is comfortable anymore in the current digital world:
Copyright: giantmiles
As one comment to the video states it briefly: Seems like we're more interested in capturing, sharing, and comparing experiences than in actually EXPERIENCING them. And as someone else posted: Did you know that some people would actually FILM a person in distress rather than helping them.
Are we becoming technological slaves or are we still in control? Nowadays we have the succesor of the revolving door that you had to push manually, namely the automatic revolving door. With this automatic door, the decision is already made for you how this machine will function. That's okay when you have the time, but it's a little bit irritating when you are in a hurry, because when you want to go faster you can't push it, it will stop.
The mobile phone is of course a 'normal' technological companion in your everyday life. But in some cafe's the usage of Wordfeud on your phone was prohibited, a cafe is a place for social interaction, not for staring at a small screen. Later on, the same attitude was displayed in some cafe's, when Google Glass made it's appearance. For some it was too obstrusive, somehow a -socially accepted- line was crossed.
Copyright: John Blanding, Boston Globe
But do we need all this new technology? Well, it can be very surprising when we take a look back. At the beginning of this century, when the mobile phone was slowly entering the mainstream market, people were in no need of such a device. In an interview of that time with 'the man on the street' the replies were remarkably sober 'Why do I need it? I got a phone at home' or 'Then I will recieve calls all day long, no thank you'. Well, the future turned out a bit different then that. And with the self driving car around the corner and robot restaurants opening their doors it looks like there is no stopping this devolopment. We know for sure that new technology is coming, even if we don't like it. And that we will buy this new technology, even if we don't need it.
What do you think, will we be mere slaves and follow along, or will we be masters of our technology?
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