I struggling with technology. It is more and more difficult to sit in front of a computer for most of every day, writing, writing, writing, writing, writing. I long for the empty moments of silence when unexpected words will enter my consciousness, when new thoughts and ideas and notions – about life, friendship, love, creativity, or a project I’m working on – will take me with them down some unexpected path, will so thoroughly inhabit me with fresh insight that I’m filled with new energy, instead of being controlled by a guilty obligation to answer one more email, read one more notification. I love technology, but it is here to serve me, not the other way around and it can easily control one’s life. And those moments…for me…cannot happen in the insistent and demanding presence of technology.
We are letting technology take us places that we don’t want to go. Our little devices… are so psychologically powerful that they not only change what we do, they change who we are. People text or email during corporate board meetings…during all meetings. People talk to me about the important new skill of making eye contact while you’re texting. Parents text and do email at breakfast and at dinner, while their children complain about not having their parents’ full attention, but then these same children deny each other their full attention. We even text at funerals. We remove ourselves from our grief or our reverie and we go into our phones. We are setting ourselves up for trouble. Certainly in how we relate to each other, but also trouble in how we relate to ourselves. We are getting used to a new way of being “alone together.” – Sherry Turkle, TEDTalk, Connected, but alone?
Does anyone else place limits on the use of technology? I do. For instance, I don’t want to have dinner at a restaurant with someone whose cell phone lies next to their fork, and answers it whenever it rings or buzzes with a notification. I cook for friends often and cell phones are not allowed at my dinner table. Face-to face conversation with real live human beings is the reason I invite people to dinner. When I drive interstate, my phone is connected to my car and I’m available to talk, but I do not allow myself to be controlled by it. I decide whether to answer or not.
We have a television in our bedroom, but I have long agreed with reports about how difficult it can be to sleep if watched within an hour or so before bedtime. I prefer to read. In the early morning when I first wake up, I like to sit with my coffee and tune into the sound of the wind, the sounds within my own soul and heart, before diving into the vast sea of technology that comprises my day.
I crave silence and the opposite of silence…for me…is not technology. It is music and dance and writing out of choice rather than guilt or obligation. And it is the sound of the wind and birds singing. It is the sound of friendship and conversation and deep meaningful relationships.
So…I offer you technology in all its glory, as it presents a TEDTalk about this subject via the interesting Sherry Turkle, a psychologist whose life is deeply entwined with that of technology and who has some wise things to say about its effect on our relationships with ourselves and those we love.
April 5, 2012 at 1:00 pm
I’m owned by my tech 😛
April 5, 2012 at 1:04 pm
I’ll admit to being consumed by technology; the constant urge to remain connected is a continuous low frequency buzz in the back of my mind. I’ll say this, the description of being “alone together” addresses my personal gravitation toward technology perfectly.
April 5, 2012 at 1:05 pm
Very nice video, thanks.
April 5, 2012 at 1:06 pm
I don’t own a lot of technology – just a PC and a netbook … but I am connected to it much too much. My kids are connected too much, as well. I really could not be one of those people with a cell phone who is available 24/7 to others. I don;t even pick up my regular telephone half the time when it rings. I only check my email every couple of days. People who are hyper-connected seem stricken to me.
The interesting thing to think about is that all tools were once somehow an extension of our physical bodies. The most obvious is the computer being extended from the brain and the vehicle an extension of our feet. But we have entered a new realm where technology is no longer this bodily extension so is, in itself, a disconnect.
April 5, 2012 at 1:13 pm
“I Have Been Meditating Over Thirty Years, And. Online About The Same Period of Time. It Is Possible To Have Both. For Example, First of All, Mute You Devices. Silence …
April 5, 2012 at 1:14 pm
Hi, miriam dunn. I love that description of tools being an extension of our bodies. There is a vast difference between an axe being an extension of the arm and using it to chop wood, and needing to be uber aware so as not to hurt oneself, or using a chef’s knife to cook dinner, and needing to be uber aware so as not to chop off a finger, and constantly paying attention to a cell phone, in which there is no awareness of anything at all… Stricken. Stricken. Stricken. Yes.
April 5, 2012 at 1:32 pm
Stricken ~ word of the
timesdayApril 5, 2012 at 1:34 pm
Sherry spoke here at the University of California at Irvine – it was a very interesting talk and her book is outstanding. What she is seeing over years of analyzing young people is that our younger generation (and likely ours as well) is losing the ability to connect in real life to other people. Technology has so many good things, but there is a dark side as well. “Alone Together” indeed…
April 5, 2012 at 1:36 pm
These social networks, phone texting etc gives the illusion of connectedness … and superficially fills a gap that is a real need. But the need remains.
April 5, 2012 at 1:39 pm
Good morning Giselle. You and I discussed this managing our connected lives last week. The need for balance, the push and pull of when and how much is challenging. Following the the schedule I announced in my post has helped put my digital life in manageable boxes. Grace O’Malley and I followed your suggestion to write an article for Media Tapper, which I plan on getting to her by the weekend. And I thank you for that my friend.
Business relationships have been deeply impacted by full-time connection to multiple venues and channels. Before the digital age, accepting a call during a meeting or any loss of attention would likely lose an account. Today, it’s not uncommon for people to check mail and send email, engage social networks, or handle a phone call during a business meeting.
This behavior may have become tolerated, but there is collateral damage. Shifting attention to something else sends a message that the person your meeting with is unimportant. Ginormous fail!
I’m going to share your post with a link to a How-To article I wrote about solving this dilemma.
April 5, 2012 at 1:52 pm
So much of my day, my life, is focused on the visual. When downshifting for sleep, I’ve moved from reading to turning off the light and listening to the sound of ocean surf. Even though it is derived electronically, the sound is natural, regular, and unpredictable at the same time.
I drift back and forth between paying attention to it and floating in and out of thoughts of the day past and to come. The shutdown of the visual and the soothing of the aural unwinds the stress.
I am smitten with the unwind.
April 5, 2012 at 1:58 pm
I haven’t watched the video yet, but the description makes me think of this article: http://www.cracked.com/article_15231_7-reasons-21st-century-making-you-miserable.html
April 5, 2012 at 2:04 pm
Extension of the body is supposed to enable us to achieve whatever action we intend through conscious deliberation and thought.
The problem with the connectedness, if there is such a word, with gadgets as a means to end, is that this only feeds the “lizard” primordial brain. That’s why we feel stricken or out of control because this is reflexive, not deliberate behaviour.
I know I would never deliberately take intoxicating substances because my brain would scream “Nooooooooooo”. But for gadgets, brain reaction is “Gimme more”, “Go on, get a dopamine high from checking and seeing unread messages or G+ notifications” etc.
Learning to read music using same said gadget, not the same.
April 5, 2012 at 2:10 pm
Just looked up the definition of stricken – affected by something overwhelming. Are we trying to fill the “overwhelming” need for connectedness with people with psuedo-connections via gadgets? We still need real interaction but it is much easier to get “on demand” through a gadget than it is with real interaction.
April 5, 2012 at 2:24 pm
“I Simply Can Not Understand This Insistence That We Can Not Be ‘Connected’ Via Modern Technology. These ‘Tools’ Are No Less Real Than, For Example, The Quill Pen. Connections Are What We Make Of Them.”
April 5, 2012 at 2:24 pm
“?”
April 5, 2012 at 2:24 pm
Thanks for the link Giselle Minoli, I will set aside some time today to watch it. I think an interesting thought experiment is to project out 10 years from now where we think all this could be heading. For example, we have “smartphones” now that are orders of magnitude more powerful and capable then those of 10 years ago. And look at the time-sink they’ve become. Can this continue unabated even just 10 years into the future? Something will have to give, because we are going to run out of attention-span. What will that thing be?
April 5, 2012 at 2:28 pm
You know Brian Titus our perception of time seems to have changed, as well,. or at least our patience for it. A few times at a debit machine the cashier apologized to me because it was SO SLOW. It took about 45 seconds to compute. I pointed out how it was actually less then a minute so was not really so slow. It was the inability to fill the silence and the feeling of awkwardness that it made ti seem that way.
April 5, 2012 at 2:30 pm
Eric Cabot Steed The difference is that the quill pen did not impact our ability to interact personally like modern technology does. Our modern technology seems to feed our desire for connection – but not in a healthy way. Much like the drug addict seeks to feel good, people seek out the Internet or their text messages to feel “connected”. But it is temporary.
I love Google+, but there is no way I would ever equate it to in-person relationships. The difference for our younger generation is that they are REPLACING real human relationships with the tech-based ones.
April 5, 2012 at 2:38 pm
I don’t think it is the younger people replacing their relationships,. They are extending their communication beyond school and hanging-out hours and forever in touch with each other. it is the OLDER ones – our generation – who have little opportunity to make new friends, don’t hang out , are tied to real but unsatisfactory relationships, tied to home, and unfulfilling jobs that are using online as a supplement for live relationships that are just not going to happen.
April 5, 2012 at 3:17 pm
I like the way you think Giselle Minoli. Whenever I would stand in line somewhere, I would start up a conversation with whoever was waiting next to me. Now, most people are texting. I miss random conversations and cracking jokes with people to pass the time while waiting. We both/all would usually walk away with a smile and oftentimes, a funny story. Connecting online is great, but the sound of a person’s laugh gives me an energy boost I don’t get from a computer screen.
Let’s take what we do online and apply it in our day-to-day lives. If you only “circled” your friends and family, there would not be much new information in your stream. Here, we are open to meeting and interacting with people all over the planet. How awesome is that! I just don’t want us, as a society, to do forget to do this when we are “offline.” We are surrounded by interesting people all the time if we put the phone down and take the time to see them.
April 5, 2012 at 4:43 pm
Taking a coffee break. Thank you for all of your +1s and shares and comments. Over and over again I see this and virtually everything else as a life balance issue, and one of repeating what we learn, what we are taught. miriam dunn I met a woman recently alarmed by her daughter’s goal of sending 1,200 texts per month. She said that her daughter’s phone is never out of her hands and she rarely makes eye contact. So, to me, that young woman is not any different than an adult texting during a business meeting. Addictions are addictions are addictions. Technology is wonderfully life and work and creativity enhancing, but it can absolutely replace “real” relationships. I think, from what I see and experience, this is true for young and old, male and female, employed or unemployed. Balance is key.
Debbie Emory…I’m a conversation person, whether it is, as you suggest, spontaneous or intentional. And I can have a conversation in a letter, or an email or on the phone or person-to-person. The intent of the participants are what is key for me…but I totally agree with you that the sound of a person’s laugh and the look in their eye, and their body language…that whole thing that happens in person, cannot come through online in the digital electronic world.
These are all different mediums and I think it’s really dangerous and self-delusional that people are telling themselves that a conversation in person is the same thing as one on the phone is the same thing as one in an email is the same thing as one in a letter is the same thing as one in a text.
They are each different and they each have their place and their purpose and their use. But they are most certainly not the same communication media.
April 5, 2012 at 4:59 pm
From Gary S Hart https://plus.google.com/u/0/104373203278186232612/posts/HJmbKEXTdfM
April 5, 2012 at 5:14 pm
I’m trying to reach out directly to strangers. It’s something I’ve never really done before. For a few minutes of my time, I can take an online discussion to something more (and hopefully in line with all the good advice above). Who said “actions speak louder than …”? All of us have said it once or twice, usually to someone else.
Try it my friends … circle someone you would not normally circle. Then say “hi” to them.
I’ve given out my email: jackccrawford@gmail.comand
my Google Voice number: +1-949-682-5004
This isn’t an attempt to gain something from anyone else. I’m hoping to give something. (Someone asked me if I was building a list to spam people – lol).
This isn’t an ego thing. I’m fine if no one calls or writes. But I hope I’ve made a statement that others might consider. In this new world, as real and vibrant as it is, personal interactions trump. They always will; until Kurzweil’s singularity occurs (a little sci-fi trivia for you … couldn’t help throwing that in).
Have an awesome day everybody.
miriam dunn Giselle Minoli Gary S Hart Debbie Emory Eric Cabot Steed Daniel Bobke Brian Titus Bill Abrams dawn ahukanna Greg Molyneux Ayoub Khote Nicolas A. Ortiz Jon Eric
I hope I haven’t left anyone out!
April 5, 2012 at 5:53 pm
You see? Matthew Graybosch confirms my point. Online is isolating. I applaud two things: 1) Matt’s honesty and clarity of his view, and 2) His ingenuity in using the platform to achieve what he wants to achieve. #freedom
(I know he must be as libertarian as I am, if not more).
April 5, 2012 at 6:05 pm
Jack C Crawford, isn’t online is more a reinforcement of what we like or are trying to achieve/do e.g. You are trying to reach out to people you do not know in your personal life who have some common interest as a starting point i.e. strangers. You can control that easily online but in your daily existance, not so much.
I prefer dialog, even if I do not agree with whoever I’m having the conversation as it is opens up new and enlightening topics I would not have broached myself.
April 5, 2012 at 6:19 pm
dawn ahukanna I think online is as you say. My disappointment with the prior incarnations (Twitter, Facebook) were the access limitations. Engagement across borders was nearly impossible. LinkedIn suffers from the “work” orientation and the propensity for employment evaluation there (i.e. hard to be yourself when your job might be impacted by it). So that’s my praise of G+. Enough of that here, so I can’t add much to that.
But, I see now (thanks Matthew Graybosch and you Dawn), that it can be used many ways. My choice is to radically increase my awareness of peoples both in my country and around the World. I have stories about the sub-culture circles that many of us don’t know exist. My favorite are the MJ circles. Once I circled a few and ended up with 100 MJ leaves in my follower circles. Needless to say, as much as I am in favor of individual freedom, I have personal reasons why I don’t align with those views about MJ. Maybe I will change my views. That’s the power of G+ for me.
Comments? Please enlighten me … that’s why I am here. “Learning…”
April 5, 2012 at 6:24 pm
Selective isolation or perhaps selective engagement? (pun in that last one …_
And please know that I am not telling I’m sharing my perspective. At times, I don’t phrase that quite right. I only meant that you figured out a way to use online to meet your goals (i.e. not mine or anyone else’s).
April 5, 2012 at 6:33 pm
I think the bigger point here is that if online interactions are all you have or are even the majority, then there is an isolation problem. Online interactions are a great conduit to face-to-face interactions and that is what I love about them. But if we lose touch with the meaning of real-life, reach-out-and-touch interactions, we are losing something as human beings.
I have teenagers, and I see a distinct difference in the methods they choose as primary interactions. You don’t follow up a job interview with a text message! You send a hand-written note or you make a personal phone call. You don’t send an e-mail to clarify a point – you go see the person down the hall or give them a call.
April 5, 2012 at 6:41 pm
For the others here, my first HIRL was with Daniel Bobke who took the initiative to reach out to me. We had lunch and really got to know each other better. When was that Daniel? About 6 months ago I think.
April 5, 2012 at 7:30 pm
Do we place limits on the use of technology?
Yes. We do not have a cell phone in our family. We do not subscribe to television programming. When I need to write something while reading a book or brainstorming or walking around our property I use a notepad full of paper and a pencil.
We use computers to assemble documents, read information and communicate. Our use of technology in our daily pursuits during the spring, summer and fall are very different that our use during the winter. During the winter we use the computers a lot. The rest of the year, not so much as we spend more time focused on growing things and caring for our animals and improving our property.
We tend to forget that there is such a thing as appropriateness in which technologies we choose to employ in subduing the problems we face. A rainwater catchment system is appropriate, a deep drilled well with a 220v pump is not. Both achieve the same goal.
When we want to do something, it is a worthwhile exercise to think of what is the most appropriate way to accomplish the task. When given an iPhone, the first response to any problem seems to require a trip to the Apple store to grab the “app for that”. What if a more appropriate response includes a pencil and a piece of paper? What if a large part of the technological base of solutions simply address things that are really created problems in the first place?
April 5, 2012 at 8:03 pm
Jack makes an important point. What’s your goal for social media? Monika Ljubičić posted a great question yesterday. Why do you post? The variety of answers was enormous.
I understand Matthew Graybosch’s preference and purpose and respect his choice. It’s his right and if this is the only way to hang out with him and wrestle ideas, which he loves to do and he does so well, then I’m happy to meet him on his terms.
David Brock is a top sales consultant whom I have tremendous admiration for. He believes in communicating with clients through their channel of choice. I’ve pushed back on that mentality, but have come to agree more than I disagree,
Mid 1980s, complex inside sales was just emerging. “Sacrilege!” they shouted. Carrying a phone in the 80s was showing off and a waste of money. Now it’s old hat. When Kurzweil’s Singularity is attained, we may be digitally telepathic. Who knows?
Health problems isolated me for a few years. Social media was a true blessing for me during my recovery. I was unable to get on my planes and chase around the world anymore. My goals to start my new career began sooner and were more easily attainable because of social networks.
Over the last four years, I met many people in the sales and marketing community. 15 – 20 of us are meeting in Chicago the first weekend of May 5th for a powwow on how to further help each other. We all met through Twitter and have been supporting each other’s marketing efforts.
My primary goal was achieved. But I found and met incredible people, many taking part in this conversation, who have enriched and made an enormous impact on my life. I only hope I have given back more than I have received.
Many people are isolated for numerous reasons. Imagine how social media has enriched their lives. Is their only one right channel for socializing?
April 5, 2012 at 8:05 pm
Matthew Graybosch I had a “pen and paper” moment like this today. Sitting in the garden having lunch and I got an idea, i could have:
a. Used the pencil and note pad in the kitchen draw about 10 meters away. My recall is improved the more active I am – physically touching paper, pencil, seeing the words form and i can doodle, etc.
b. Gone upstairs and get iPad/laptop, log in, open app, create entry and then record idea. Wait, what was I going to do again?
“Pen and paper” preferred.
April 5, 2012 at 8:19 pm
dawn ahukanna I get ideas all the time (of varying quality). The thing is they usually happen while I’m driving or am dripping wet. I was thinking of getting a water friendly writing tablet for the shower. Sometimes, I stick my head out from behind the curtain and irritate my wife by asking her to write down my idea. I’ve also pulled over to the side of the road to find something to record the idea with. Texting while driving is a sin I have committed way too many times.
April 5, 2012 at 8:22 pm
Tsk Tsk Jack! use your voice recorder. We need you!
April 5, 2012 at 8:24 pm
Matthew Graybosch Pencil and paper doesn’t require the mining of rare earths, doesn’t require the burning of fossil fuels to generate the electricity to run it, doesn’t require the plastics that we have never properly explored rational ways of disposing of, doesn’t require the electromagnetic waves that we seem perfectly happy to swim in even though science cannot yet assure us of the harmlessness of them.
In other words, to me at least, an appropriate technology is commensurate with the lowest level to the task. If I need to write a letter or an essay, a computer is more appropriate. If I need to jot down a note or a thought, paper and pencil is more appropriate than a computer. If I needed to access google while standing in a field, a cellphone might very well be the appropriate technology for the achievement of that goal.
If I need to move 100 yards of earth, a wheelbarrow and a shovel, although effective, would not be as appropriate as a front end loader or a backhoe and dump truck. If I need to move one yard of earth, a wheelbarrow and a shovel are the appropriate tools for the task.
So a technology becomes more appropriate to me in how it is applied to not just the type of task, but also to the scale of the task.
My point is that when presented with the swiss army knife solution of mobile computational technology we begin to look at all tasks in terms of how they can be performed with a piece of technology that may not be at all appropriate in scale or in kind to the task at hand. The use of cell phone vs pencil and paper is very personal to us as we can all relate. But we extend this outlook on the problems we face to the community, organization, national and international levels of using technology where it tends to get us into trouble.
Some times when we are faced with big problems we tend to use the highest level of technology available in the solution of the problem. Ask a few of the third world countries where loans written to build hydroelectric power plants and transmission infrastructure meet cities that have no way of distributing the electricity how appropriate the solution was. Other then signing them up for massive loans that cannot be paid and providing contracts and profits to the Western companies involved in planning and building the projects, there is little long term benefit to projects like this. How much more appropriate and cost effective in the long run to provide neighbourhood solar charging stations and rechargeable batteries for the people who need them.
When all we have are hammers, all problems begin to look like nails. Sometimes, the benefit of thinking things through and implementing what is appropriate, although difficult, as thinking tends to be, pays off in the end by providing better solutions to the problems we face.
April 5, 2012 at 8:29 pm
Matthew Graybosch As a person who has coughed up the $199 to replace two moistened iPhones, I can’t take that risk anymore. Had to use gloves to fish the second one out of the WC.
April 5, 2012 at 8:39 pm
It was about 6 months ago Jack C Crawford – too long, since we live only minutes from each other. Next week is pretty clear – did we want to get Colin Lucas-Mudd to drive up from SD County and meet us in San Juan Capistrano for lunch?
April 5, 2012 at 8:43 pm
Daniel Bobke and Jack C Crawford. It’s a mere bagatelle. Minutes. But, even were it hours, it would be worthwhile, I’m sure. My treat. Ciao Pasta next to the Mission in San Juan Capistrano. Next week is open at the moment. Just name the day. Naturally, we should try to have Giselle Minoli take a break, as shall I, from the mixed blessing of creativity and drudgery caused by arranging letters in a meaningful form through the medium of a keyboard. That would change my surety to a certainty.
April 5, 2012 at 8:53 pm
But she would have to fly from Kentucky … in her Cessna
April 5, 2012 at 8:57 pm
But Jack C Crawford, Giselle Minoli would get better milage in her Cessna than I were I to use the Prius. Vastly better than if I were to drive the Lexus. Time? Yes, that’s an issue. But then isn’t it always?!
April 5, 2012 at 9:09 pm
Matthew Graybosch You asked me what I thought was appropriate, so I told you and tried to give you my personal criteria for thinking so. YMMV.
All of the alternatives to fossil fuel for electricity require fossil fuels in the creation of the physical objects that harness the light and convert it to electrons.
Fossil fuel dependency is a political issue, I agree. I only point out that this is not rational, will end badly and is therefore on my personal short list of things that are not appropriate. YMMV.
As far as the sun as a source of EM I spend more waking hours bathing in it outside than most. My concern is whether the radiation from the sun, to which our bodies have spent hundreds of thousands of years evolving adaptations to, like melanin production, vitamin d production and consequent suppression of the cancers associated with exposure, are replicated when we are bathed in a small fragment of the overall spectrum but in a concentrated manner. I have seen no effective study on the answer to this so I remain wary.
I am not by any stretch of the imagination a Luddite when it comes to technology. But I am a strong proponent of the principle of sustainability and the examination of the political, social and technological impediments to our eventual move to a sustainable way of life.
April 5, 2012 at 9:16 pm
Matthew Graybosch, conversing online is an excellent practice for keeping our hooves in our sneakers where they belong. It has certainly helped me behave more socially acceptable
April 5, 2012 at 10:54 pm
Such irony in that all this social engagement is actually cultivating legions of solitude and isolationism all in the guise of connections…friendships…circles.
April 5, 2012 at 11:06 pm
Doriano Paisano Carta Is it possible to actually engage with anyone if everyone in your circles… your friendships… your connections, are all alike? What would we have to talk about other than trivialities?
Engagement starts with disagreement. Otherwise we have no reason to engage. I specifically go out of my way to circle and engage with people who have very different viewpoints than I do. If you can manage to keep the conversation civil, many turn out to have valuable contributions to make to my own outlook on the world and on rare occasions I can do the same for them.
Plus I like to think that I cause the algorithms running this place to work a little harder to get things right as my behaviour is totally counter-intuitive to what most people conceive social media to be about.
If we all had the same beliefs, if there was never any controversy, if all was harmony and kittens and lol? That, to me, would be isolating. Worse still, it would be intensely boring. That this appears to be what a lot of people use the platform for?
I see the irony.
April 5, 2012 at 11:08 pm
Debbie Emory You sound like a girl after my own heart: wherever I am with people, I am getting them to engage with me: the bus driver, “How many shifts this week?” at checkout, “So, you watching the clock, or did you just get here?” in the hospital, “Are YOU OK?” (to the nurse who looks unwell). And everyone has a story to tell, or will share a joke, or, sometimes a really sad story. And I love the connection. But I think online is IRL too (there’s a TED Talk about that!) I love words and I hate words: like Eudora Welty, I love having written ! And so many here are such great writers that it is not just entertaining, it is engaging. And not as engaging as having dinner with Giselle Minoli is going to be when I get myself to wherever she is making these dinners (;’)), but when I am stuck in some of the bits of life that entail waiting through something not so fun, or cannot figure out what I’m going to get into next (;’)), this has been a good place to be. And I’m grateful for it.
April 5, 2012 at 11:57 pm
Matthew Graybosch You are generalizing far too much. There are good meetings and bad meetings – people need to be taught how to run good meetings. Meetings are a useful tool when they are designed and managed well.
I do not allow phones or laptops (or tablets) at my meetings for the very reason you stated – because people are distracted away from the purpose of the meeting and engaging with actual people rather than a screen or keyboard. Your phone stays in your pocket, but you can take calls if there is an IT emergency (I run an IT organization) or if a family member calls. Other than that, I expect you to be paying attention.
April 6, 2012 at 12:02 am
Matthew Graybosch are you the secret author of Dilbert? I recognize that theme.
April 6, 2012 at 12:29 am
LOL .. I was kidding of course!
April 6, 2012 at 1:42 am
How entertaining you are all. It seems to me that everyone is doing what Matthew Graybosch does to one degree or another…selectively choosing when and with whom to engage and for one’s own purposes. Can’t see anything wrong with that.
Struggle though I might with the amount of technology in my life, I would not have gotten through the isolation of the last three years of my life and living in three states without it. I’m sort of a combination of many of you…isolating myself and controlling the way in which I do it, reaching out to strangers as Jack C Crawford does (though not as bravely), shutting down technology completely from time to time (though Chris George I do have to have a cell phone for work because I telecommute), needing face-to-face as does Daniel Bobke, liking the idea of dinner, as does Meg Tufano, fancying flying cross-country to meet Jack and Colin Lucas-Mudd for dinner (and yes, flying is more fuel saving than driving a flipping car), needing to completely unwind as does Bill Abrams.
I suffer from the perfectionist syndrome and wanting to respond to everything and everyone, at which I am a complete and utter failure, about which Matthew Graybosch would probably say, it’s irrelevant and I agree. I have many friends, but I have, like Jack, found a greater variety of people here than in my professional life, where necessarily people’s interests are centered around core business.
You all are awesome for carrying on while I was working today and couldn’t get back to this post. Thank you. BTW Bethany Stephenson I completely hear you. Isn’t it weird to be so isolated in the middle of a teeming place like SoCal? People say that of NYC. It’s like the Grand Canyon.
April 6, 2012 at 2:11 am
I would have to modify your statement only slightly Matthew Graybosch – it is fortunate that you do not work FOR me! I am guessing you would not like it. However, I am told that I am a good manager and that I run efficient meetings, so maybe you would like it.
Meetings and work are not mutually exclusive – they certainly can be, but it is not necessarily so. It is important that people communicate face-to-face, and in the size organization that I run, it is a precious commodity because we are all over the globe.
April 6, 2012 at 2:31 am
Now this is a great example of the use of tech…
http://youtu.be/sHMCyg-zKjY
The teacher/student relationship is built on a personal and in-person interaction. But, when the teacher couldn’t be there, a Google+ hangout filled the gap! It is not the best situation, but it sure is a great second best.
April 6, 2012 at 2:35 am
Daniel Bobke that is a fabulous video. But what’s fabulous is really Ms. Nunez.
April 6, 2012 at 2:46 am
Of course Giselle Minoli – she appears to be a great and caring teacher and her students obviously love her. Xavier Prep is a fantastic school – I know several families that sent their daughters there when I lived in Phoenix.
April 6, 2012 at 3:06 am
Giselle Minoli I forgot to mention that I received a gift at my Masters graduation back in 1986. It was a book by Sherry Turkle about the impact of computers in society. The Second Self 1986 … imagine.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Second-Self-Computers-ebook/dp/B001DITH4I/ref=sr_1_16?ie=UTF8&qid=1333681767&sr=8-16
“In The Second Self, Sherry Turkle looks at the computer not as a “tool,”
but as part of our social and psychological lives; she looks beyond how we use
computer games and spreadsheets to explore how the computer affects our awareness of
ourselves, of one another, and of our relationship with the world. “Technology,” she
writes, “catalyzes changes not only in what we do but in how we think.” First
published in 1984, The Second Self is still essential reading as a primer in the
psychology of computation. This twentieth anniversary edition allows us to
reconsider two decades of computer culture–to (re)experience what was and is most
novel in our new media culture and to view our own contemporary relationship with
technology with fresh eyes. Turkle frames this classic work with a new introduction,
a new epilogue, and extensive notes added to the original text.Turkle talks to
children, college students, engineers, AI scientists, hackers, and personal computer
owners–people confronting machines that seem to think and at the same time suggest
a new way for us to think–about human thought, emotion, memory, and understanding.
Her interviews reveal that we experience computers as being on the border between
inanimate and animate, as both an extension of the self and part of the external
world. Their special place betwixt and between traditional categories is part of
what makes them compelling and evocative. (In the introduction to this edition,
Turkle quotes a PDA user as saying, “When my Palm crashed, it was like a death. I
thought I had lost my mind.”) Why we think of the workings of a machine inpsychological terms–how this happens, and what it means for all of us”
April 6, 2012 at 3:19 am
The Second Self was really the precursor to Alone Together – she began to see the problems that the technology was causing while also looking at the benefits. The more recent book is a little darker in its assessment of where we have ended up.
April 6, 2012 at 10:37 am
Jack C Crawford I never read The Second Self. Although I consider myself fairly proficient at working with computers, I am not an expert and am sure I know far less than you gentlemen…and many, many women. From the onset, because I am a designer and writer, I’ve used computers to do what I need to do, which is where the focus of my life has been, rather than completely understanding their inner workings. Simply put, you can either design and make a pair of wedding rings, or play with your computers. You can either write an article or play with your computers. It has always been a time issue with me. I function on a need-to-know-basis. That said, I wish I had Matthew Graybosch’s knowledge at this stage. That said, I don’t have the personality that will ever buy every new toy and gadget. Personally I function on Macs, for work it is IBM ThinkPad and that brain split is enough for me. That said, I have a psychological personality. I enjoy Turkle’s road of a looking at behavior and what I liked about her TEDTalk was her awareness, her hyper, uber awareness that what put her on the cover of Wired years ago would not get her there now, because she’s seeing with different eyes.
I do think this is what it really means to be paying attention. You can love something (technology) but also leave room to analyze its “darker” side…and it does have one. I love good red wine, but I don’t drink it all day long. I love bittersweet chocolate, but I don’t eat it all day long. Her point is a balance point…and we forget that anything and everything has an addictive potential. I should get both of these books…
April 6, 2012 at 12:01 pm
I suppose if I had unlimited money Matthew Graybosch I’d buy a lot more than I do. I have a 17″ Mac laptop and as much as I might want one I’d like an iPad but won’t buy it. And I don’t use my iPhone nearly as much as I thought I would. The iPad is being used by more and more pilots and that intrigues me. Turkle is in a tricky place with this issue. I didn’t perceive that she’s all face-to-face all the time or nothing, just that she’s cautioning against that photo of her daughter and her daughter’s friends sitting in a room together but not talking to one another. For some reason, in my own life, I’ve started to feel guilty if I’m working too much on my computer when my husband is in the room with me. Mind you, he never says anything and never would. He could just as easily be watching a tennis match and completely absorbed himself.
It’s just that it has started to feel odd to me. I feel the way you do about technology connecting me whenever I want and on my terms. I just think my perception of things is changing and that multi-tasking is overrated and overhyped. I used to do 12 things at once. I don’t enjoy it as much anymore… I go back and forth…like a pendulum.
April 6, 2012 at 6:28 pm
Jack C Crawford When they invent a waterproof laptop/ipad, I am going to never be offline!!!!!! (I love taking long baths and my husband made we promise never to let my computer anywhere near the tub (don’t tell him he forgot to make me promise about my iPhone ;’)).) (Like Giselle Minoli , I will not buy myself an iPad because my laptop does everything I need (and a whole lot MORE than I need!) And we have the same laptop.)
April 6, 2012 at 6:34 pm
Matthew Graybosch About Daniel Bobke , I had the exact same thought! ( If you are running the meeting, you don’t “get” it: you could have used an asynchronous Google Document and no one would have been inconvenienced. ) Gee, I have not met a misanthrope with so much positive energy in a very long time, Matthew! ;’)
April 6, 2012 at 6:36 pm
Jack C Crawford And I had the same thought as YOU about Matthew Graybosch : that he was the secret author of Dilbert! (And if he is, he isn’t going to tell us if it’s a secret ! ;’))
April 6, 2012 at 6:46 pm
Daniel Bobke I have been teaching philosophy 100% online for over ten years (and have had to teach five other teachers how to teach online, online because the course became so popular) so my experience with responsiveness to individuals online is probably highly unusual. The thing you cannot know is that it happens that many who have tried to study the subject in land-based classrooms did not enjoy it as much as they did online. One of the main reasons was that in land-based classes about five people usually dominate the conversation and shy people, fugghedaboutit. Online, one must participate. And, like Matthew Graybosch , it is nice to be able to think a little before responding (if one is not naturally glib). In fact, according to students who have taken the course, they would rate taking an online course as a better way to study even something as narrative as philosophy than taking it land-based. (Realize there are thousands of interesting things to do and see: graphics, videos, chat rooms, personal time with me, clubs (groups), outside interactive websites, writing tutors, study rooms (lots of questions with a way to get immediate feedback about why what you think might be right or wrong), and on and on and on. It is not like an “efficient” business meeting where they have to listen to condensed lectures, shut up and take notes or they will be fired, uh, I mean lose points. ;’) It is, in fact, the future. (Because it is a hell of a lot cheaper to deliver than a university “building.”)
April 6, 2012 at 6:47 pm
Matthew Graybosch I don’t know what +Starbreaker is.
April 6, 2012 at 6:52 pm
Meg Tufano Mr. Misanthropic Matthew Graybosch tries very hard to destroy certain people’s fondness for him. Where I am concerned he has failed utterly I am proud to say. Matthew, you should let Meg Tufano read some of Starbreaker (you know she and I lived on the same dorm floor in college and we didn’t know it? Now, I ask you…what are the odds of encountering that same circumstance in two other women on G+ or anywhere else. Karma.)
April 6, 2012 at 6:54 pm
Meg Tufano that is really fascinating — I never thought about online classes in that way. But, it makes complete sense, especially (now that you mention it) for a subject like philosophy.
Giselle Minoli it’s interesting how this thread has progressed over the last day. And I still haven’t taken a moment to watch the talk! But am about to now.
April 6, 2012 at 7:05 pm
So Meg Tufano, as I try to catch up, if Apple comes out with a waterproof iPad, will you teach from the bathtub? And how about combining synchronized swimming and social networking? We have the makings for a whole new set of sports.
April 6, 2012 at 7:17 pm
Brian Titus If I had only understood thirteen years ago when I started to design the course (I had to create everything from scratch (no best practices, no CONTENT online, nothing, nada)) that it was of financial value (I still have not revealed my sequence, hoping that I might actually be able to earn a living designing courses for companies or other colleges (probably have lost Daniel Bobke as a potential client ;'( )), I would never stop working on it, it is so much fun to design. (BTW, I had no (zero) computer chops to begin but I sure do now (having learned at least 200 programs). I got on this strange and wonderful journey by winning a contest for my design, the plan of which then changed every single day I worked on it. ;’)) And I had free “guinea pigs” that gave me actual metrics I could use to see what worked! (A thousand students a year for ten years!) If I could find a job that paid a living wage where I could keep working on that design, I would do it the rest of my life. It was totally absorbing in every direction. I am now a certifiable geek (and, yes, Google interviewed me (SIX INTERVIEWS!!!!) and no job offer (apparently common at Google, but I did not know that then).) And so, the “McDermott MultiMedia Group” sign that I carry everywhere with me in Google Plus is my hope to get back to designing courses, but this time with professional audio engineers and videographers and all like dat dem dere. ;’) The college I created this money-machine for (makes close to half a million profit per year for the state) paid me less than minimum wage for my work (this is Tennessee, the “Right to Work” Orwellian state). And that was fine while I had to travel with my husband so often, but I feel I should shoulder more of the financial responsibility now. [Sorry, I am threadjacking!]
April 6, 2012 at 7:22 pm
Gary S Hart I have taught my course from hotel rooms in Moscow, Berlin, Vienna, Izmir (Turkey), Paris, London, The Hague, Brussels, Rome, Florence, Venice, Santorini (Greece), San Francisco, New York City, DC, and a whole lot of other places!!!! Adding the bathtub would be one great step for teacher-kind! ;’) When I go into airports, amazingly often (considering the odds) someone will run across the room shouting, “Professor Tufano!!!!!!!” (They can see me in my video lectures, I can’t see them.) If I did ever teach from a bathtub, I definitely would not tell anyone! Wow, can you see that as a scandal headline??????? ;’)
April 6, 2012 at 7:31 pm
Hey Google+ notification box, you’re interrupting my TED talk watching!!!
April 6, 2012 at 7:39 pm
Meg Tufano, your perspective of online education is completely opposite of my brother-in-laws. He’s been an adjunct computer science professor as a hobby for decades. He was the head of IT for the FBI and headed up a validation project for NASA. I would have thought that online teaching was perfect for his persona, but he was shockingly adamant against it. He feels the student misses out on the values of a live classroom and that colleges are over leveraging the virtually free real estate. I’m on your side. Hearing your perception and the student’s responses is what I expected from Lou.
Headline: “College Professor Arrested for Teaching Class from Bath Tub”
April 6, 2012 at 8:25 pm
Gary S Hart Probably the main reason that the design worked so well is there were no meetings, no collaboration (unless I created some), no one telling me I had to fit this into that (as there are now as “experts” try to take over the field). In other words, I was given complete creative license because no one gave a fig about it (also one of the main reasons I did it––students in TN are already underserved and I knew that if it went to someone who did not love philosophy and did not love students, it would turn it into a “history of philosophy” course, no philosophizing allowed). Designing this course was the proverbial labor of love and ended up being a kismet kind of thing because I did not know when I started that I would end up traveling all over the world (how perfect a job if one can do it from anywhere and your husband has suddenly been assigned to collaborate in all these countries and faraway places?)
I think it helps a whole lot that I love to write. In fact, that is the essence of teaching online (and probably the essence of being a super G+er), you have to love the written word. Your brother-in-law may not love writing and if he doesn’t, he’s right: online teaching is not for him!
But if he wants to see how a course in something technical works (NOT at all the kind of course I created), have him take a peek at Lynda.com. This is for people who are already motivated to learn and what is being learned are the way something technical works. This kind of teaching has actually been around since the Forties (for technical things): it was called “programmed instruction.”
I’ve spent a significant portion of my life teaching math. Honestly? I think what I do in the classroom teaching math is probably better than it would be online even though that is not at all obvious. What I do when teaching math is get the student to have the confidence to figure it out. And your brother-in-law is right about that too: motivating students to want to learn is a huge part of teaching . . . anything. (But I figured out how to incorporate that into an online scenario in teaching philosophy; it’s not easy, but I discovered a way to do it! Only took ten years of my life! ;’))
April 6, 2012 at 8:41 pm
You do love to write Meg Tufano and do it very well. I feel like I’m sitting in the living room chatting with you. It sounds like some courses are better suited for online, which makes sense. For many students, and professors, online is necessary. Working successfully with a coach for is better face to face for me. Facial expression and body language are important communication tools for for me. Yet, I sold within a highly complex sales environment from inside via telephone, very successfully. And loved it.
BTW, Lynda.com is incredible.
Now that you have a successful model developed, are you thinking about marketing it?
April 6, 2012 at 8:50 pm
OK, now I definitely want to take one of your courses Meg Tufano!
I wrote a brief post this morning that is semi-related, about writing on the ‘net. I wonder if you wouldn’t mind offering your thoughts on it Meg (and anyone else).
https://plus.google.com/106313443642953370943/posts/5aicF1CvuZn
April 7, 2012 at 1:49 am
Gary S Hart I’ve learned so many domains of knowledge you probably would not believe it, but I do not know how to sell . . . my own stuff. The reason I’ve not been published. I need something that I don’t have. If YOU needed me to write something to help YOU? Or sell something YOU had created? And I believed in you? I could make you a small fortune (and have done so for quite a few people in varying areas). I am currently making approximately a half million dollars profit a year for the state of Tennessee (from which I do not get a dime) and I love that I have achieved something so valuable; and, honestly, I probably could not have done the high quality of work I did do if I were doing it for only myself or only for money. I guess I’m confessing here that I just do not have je ne sais quois !
I fear I might be really sorry about this when I am “old and gray.”
I think (not sure) “back in the day,” it was understood that (good) writers, good ideas, needed a good editor? publisher? mentor? Something. Whatever it is, I don’t have it. But I’m hoping this new future we’re preparing for will help me out: “Do your best and link to the rest!!!!!!” (from Jeff Jarvis “What Would Google Do?”)
I have worked for over a year trying to organize a way to teach what I know to others (http://www.mcdermottmultimediagroup.com) but I admit I do not know how to make it all come together! I am learning along the way and I am entirely built out of . . . pure hope and hard work! And then learning more and doing more work! ;’) It may be a bad model but it’s the only one I know!
April 7, 2012 at 2:20 am
Meg Tufano, I took a quick look at your site. SCORE is an excellent resource of retired business people who help startups by pointing them in the right direction, resources, etc. There should be one in Oak Ridge.
Online training programs that work, material is sticky, is high value to the enterprise in their sales, service, and support departments. Everything from new products to compliance. They have deeper pockets than the education world. If you can adapt your framework, organize the content, and deliver results, high margin revenue potential is strongest there.
April 7, 2012 at 2:24 am
Gary S Hart THANK YOU!
April 7, 2012 at 2:13 pm
Meg Tufano I think that you actually DO HAVE everything you need, you just haven’t thought of it yet. On some other post recently you mentioned that you are a better commentator then poster, yet, this is in conflict with your very clear love of writing. I think you should start to focus your energies on G+, using it as your own writing pages, to start crafting very clear essays about what you do so brilliantly for everyone else, including the state of Tennessee. If you start with the “how can I turn this into money” tact, it won’t work. You need to develop the idea first and let it evolve naturally and see where it takes you. The rest will unfold. I do happen to believe in the If You Build It They Will Come school of thought. Many brilliant things are born of investigation first. I know the SCORE organization and Gary’s right. Why not brain storm with them? But you’ve got the prefect infrastructure right here. Use it as only you can do. Because of what Gary so perfectly describes as your living room chat style there are no limits to what you could do with this platform….
April 7, 2012 at 4:34 pm
Meg Tufano, an excellent, fun, easy to read book for budding entrepreneurs is “The E-Myth Revisited” by Michael Gerber. My wife is an artist, a dancer, teacher, choreographer, and costumer designer. Avoiding the business side was easy for her, because she has me. We did not have a common language or an agreement on business structure that negatively impacted our decision making process and the school.
When she listened to this book (there’s an audio version if prefer that) she gained and feels more in control of her school and views it with a new perspective, from a higher vantage point that has not subtracted from the artistic and people side. You may not agree with his entire philosophy or business methods, but his clear definition of the move from employee to business owner in a practical way, helps one to avoid very common traps.
Giselle is right about using G+ as your crafting grounds. My experience with commenting vs. posting was/is similar to yours. When commenting, we are writing to a specific person or group of people in a conversational way without over-thinking, which I am prone to. When writing a post or chapter for my book. I now imagine a conversation with my core friends is taking place. Something quirky to me is writing in the G+ text box has a different effect than writing in Word, like the environment of a busy office compared to a quiet garden. Giselle is also right about already having everything you need. You’ve done it! Now you’re creating a go to market package. This is where brainstorming with people who have traveled the road you’re going down can help.
I’m very excited for you Meg. You have accomplished something that you are passionate about with proven value.
April 7, 2012 at 4:54 pm
Good morning Meg Tufano!
“If you build it, they will come.” Perfect advice from Giselle Minoli
As Gary S Hart says, you are already doing something brilliant
You have everything you need at this very moment!
April 8, 2012 at 12:39 am
Giselle Minoli Thank you!
April 8, 2012 at 12:53 am
Jack C Crawford Thank you!
April 8, 2012 at 1:08 am
Meg Tufano you are quite extraordinary and have a tremendous amount to offer…as a teacher, as a writer, as a philosopher..as a thought provoker… We are behind you.
April 8, 2012 at 1:25 am
Gary S Hart Thank you again!
April 8, 2012 at 1:30 am
Giselle Minoli Very encouraging. Thank you again!
April 8, 2012 at 7:38 pm
I so agree Giselle, I find there is sometimes so much information coming at me 8 to 5, its hard to catch the good stuff. That’s why I’m so excited about G+ and circles.
April 11, 2012 at 1:36 pm
I enjoy sherry Turkle’s work and my own studies about the changing meaning of what it means to be literate in our hyper mediated age intersects with much of her work. I am a gadget geek, tried and true, but I despise, yes despise (a word I do not use lightly), the use of technology in nonvirtual, true, face-to-face reality space “together times.” When friends or loved ones start having conversations via text or calls when I am with them, I often comment, “Should I head home and contact you digitally so we can spend some meaningful time together in technospace?” They know, if you are with me in person, you need to make an effort to be present with me. Of course there are exceptions to this for quick check-ins with kids, urgent/emergency situations, etc., sharing photos, looking up a quick restaurant recommendation and so forth. But I do not tolerate tv, phones, or other gadgetry at dinner or during meaningful times together. We are becoming recluses within encapsulated bubbles, merely rebounding off one another’s technowalls. When alone in public, I miss the spontaneous conversations we once shared with strangers. Lonely in a crowd is becoming a denser fog to me. In truth, when alone in a crowd, I often text or fidget with my phone out of social anxiety, but do you ever wonder what we miss by not being present in the present surroundings? I’m working harder every day on really trying to make eye contact with others and using my tech as a tool versus a protective barrier or a comfort object like a reluctant toddler and his/her pacifier. But while in company of friends and family, I will forever adhere to “please love each other here and now.” We are so busy documenting and tracking our lives, that we are missing out on living them. Sorry for the long response, Giselle Minoli , but it really strikes a strong response in me. Thanks for sharing 😉
April 11, 2012 at 1:45 pm
Jennifer Tackman I am thrilled with your long response. When I posted this I had no idea it would lead to such a long convo because, you know, you’re supposed to love everything technological in the world, particularly here on G+ and there are supposed to be no boundaries anymore. Rubbish. People without boundaries are psychopaths and sociopaths and I don’t trust that trait at all!
I love this line and I am stealing it: “Should I head home and contact you digitally so we can spend some meaningful time together in technospace?”
I am a big fan of eating at the bar in nice restaurants when I travel alone, which is often. First of all, it’s safe….I don’t get hassled and I meet really interesting people in such circumstances. I have met travelers from all over the world – men and women alike – and notice that at the bar men and women who are eating by themselves tend not to be checking in with their BBerries or iPhones because they feel less alone than they would sitting at a table by themselves.
I am not afraid of being alone, or in silence. I hardly use my iPhone or BBerry to chat and I rarely text. I use G+ and email as much as I can like a real conversation. What can I say, Jennifer Tackman, but I’m a writer through and through. Nothing takes the place of real conversation and a lot of things can seriously get in the way of it. Have a lovely day and thanks for your comment. I appreciate it.
April 11, 2012 at 2:41 pm
Giselle Minoli – thank you for your response as well. And I shall steal your thoughtful and purposeful decision to eat at the bar versus alone at a table when I am by myself in a restaurant. For having the “gift of the gab” and being so outgoing amongst friends, I have a real anxiety of entering a social space alone, especially places where people are often already in couples and groups. Perhaps because of a few run-ins with the sociopath types, I remain too cautious in these settings and must let the pendulum settle to a healthier and more balanced state. But that is an aside.
So I am officially adding you to my “dailies” circle of engaging daily connections. pio dal cin mentions you often to me and now I see why. We share a love and passion over many of the same interests, such as design, dance, and especially, writing. After about a decade of challenging personal times, it has become clear to me recently that I must return to and embrace my love of written expression, and believe it or not, my favorite genre is literary nonfiction. I would love to connect with you more and I will. I am so glad our paths have crossed here. Thank you for allowing me to go off on a bit of a tangent here, but I find messaging on G+ sometimes gets lost in the notifications. I shall do my best not to hijack your posts with off topic discussion (I’m usually one who loves etiquette in a classic sense as well as with technology use 😉 ). Thank you for sharing your artful gift of intelligent topics delivered via your lovely and poetic writing style.
April 11, 2012 at 2:56 pm
You are sweet Jennifer Tackman. As pio dal cin knows I welcome tangents because they are often real and lead to interesting places and conversations. Yes, let’s continue this conversation about dance, conversation, writing (literary nonfiction and otherwise) and all the things that interest us. I would never have guessed that I would have met so many like-minded people (men and women) here on G+ and my world is the better for it. Here’s to new communication, Jennifer Tackman and…never edit on my post!
April 11, 2012 at 3:01 pm
Cheers Giselle Minoli and have a wonderful day!
April 12, 2012 at 6:44 am
Giselle Minoli This is an excellent post and I have to admit I agree. There is too much. I see parents in restaurants let their kids play on phones, PSP’s and Gameboys while they eat, iPad’s everywhere it seems we have become a culture of people that cant afford to not be plugged in.
Having built a ton of these web sites and programmed for over 30 years now, I find that I still like my books on paper despite my technology. I still doodle in journals and notebooks before I do anything on the computer and I REALLY have a thing for phones at dinner…. it it goes off someone better be dying or in need of emergency attention (or my kids).
The very unfortunate thing I have noticed about this is children are losing their social skills and becoming socially inept. They text each other while sitting next to one another and have lost even the most basic of social skills.
In our quest to be more “Connected” we are disconnected from people and true human interaction. There is a direct relation to interpersonal relationships as seen by therapists now as well. Especially in children growing up in this new world of instant access.
Great post… concerning topic. My apologies for being a stranger. I need to get over to your neck of the woods more often. You have some great content and thoughts shared here.
April 13, 2012 at 2:12 pm
David Bowden I have always been slightly in awe of everyone I know who jumps to purchasing whatever new gadget that becomes available and I’m genuinely envious of those who have a depth of knowledge about technology that I do not have. That said, there have always been things that I simply do not understand and haven’t from the beginning – that I think have to do with showing off one’s perceived self-importance – which is why anyone would put their cell phone on the table when they are with company in the first place, why anyone wouldn’t turn it off at a play or in a museum or at the movies. Just because this is a “brave new world” does not mean anything goes and that basic manners go out the window. I recently joked to my husband after I boarded a flight to New York that I noticed the sound of the automated announcement about pre-flight regulations had been ramped up in volume…because in order for anyone to hear it over all the cell phone chatter in the plane it had to turned up to ear-splitting volume!
There is such a think as balance. Ask Philippe Petit, who walked between the World Trade Center buildings! 😉 Thanks, David.
April 13, 2012 at 2:13 pm
Hi, Michaela Rivers. Technology is awesome and I don’t think you should have to “downgrade”. We just all need to be aware of how addicting it is. Doughnuts are yummy…but…they do seem to always be speaking to us…Eat just one more…just one more doughnut…it really won’t hurt you…I promise!
April 13, 2012 at 5:22 pm
Giselle Minoli you make a very valid point here. Unfortunately, gadgets are much like BMW’s. Meaning, in the US they are seen as a status symbol. Do you have the latest..? the greatest..? what data plan did you get…? Its a measure of your financial position more than anything. The people that get the new iPhones and Pads first spend the most for them. Its social economics at its finest.
When the new iPad 3 came out I was bombarded by my family and friends with questions about its quality, how it worked, was it better. I told them I was the wrong guy to ask. I still have my very fist iPad. It works for me, its not slow and does what I need it to do.
I am not married to it.
The difference for me is that technology to me is a tool. I use computers every day (well most of us do) but I dont play games, I dont do a great many of the things most do. I create, build, develop and manage with them. I see them as a tool as opposed to an entertainment device and certainly not a status symbol.
For the last couple of years I said when Apple comes out with an iPad that has a better screen I will get it. Mainly because I use my pad as my portfolio when meeting with clients and I blog and write from it. The new iPad screen is amazing… but I didnt get one. Its not worth $1000 to me. (I would get the 4G 64GB model like my iPad 1). So… I opted out. When it quits doing what I need I will move on.
As for social conventions, I agree. I have always found it interesting to watch people and their phones. For years I have been married to the electronic leash that is a cell phone. I have been in charge of mission critical systems that are generating revenue int he billions for companies like Symantec, Amazon and a few others. Yet, I can make it through dinner without having to check email every 10 seconds. Mind you, I have a special ring for when something terrible happens, one for my kids, and one for my parents. Beyond that… the world can wait. Yet tweens, and new entry level employees are glued to these things and the social convention of human interaction is dissipating the longer they use them. What ones once reserved for Geeks, and people with ADD, ADHD and Asperger’s is now a common and often times universal social ineptitude.
The older I get the less connected I want to be and the more I cling to more formal relationships and interaction……
yet…..
Here I am…
Ironic and intellectually frustrating when you can describe a point and lifestyle choice yet contradict it in the same passage.
April 22, 2012 at 12:21 pm
Giselle Minoli NYTimes published Sherry Turkle yesterday: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/22/opinion/sunday/the-flight-from-conversation.html
The text seems to be mostly the same as the Ted talk, but thought I would make a note of it here in case anyone would like to read or forward it on.
April 22, 2012 at 2:09 pm
Thank you for telling me Brian Titus. The NY Times is a little slow on the uptake? Still love the rag. Love it.
April 22, 2012 at 2:53 pm
I do wish they would hurry up and get a +1 button on the site 🙂