Have Cellphone, Will Travel into Borg-dom
June 21, 2009
Not much time to blog just right now. Busy writing, landscaping, and grading (the three activities that seem to rule my days of late). But I came across Voltaire’s great blog post about technology. He makes some excellent points about, alas, the growing laziness in our reliance on technology.
Do tell me what you think. As a writer and teacher, I have a very uneasy relationship with technology–paradoxically a luddite (Wikipedia is stealing out souls! Facebook only creates more isolation! Melt your cellphone!) and enthusiastic supporter (viva la revolucion–via Twitter! Microsoft Word and a USB flash drive saved my drafts, and my life). Sigh.
I love Twitter!
Maybe he’s right. I got facebook and all I do know is play games on it.
I like some technology. Obviously! Since here I am on the internet. And I love how I’ve been able to meet some really great people through blogging; plus all the fascinating historical information that’s available.
But I believe very much in balance. I won’t live my life on a computer.
Did you see the NYTimes article a few days ago about writer Ray Bradbury? He had some interesting things to say about the Internet (he hates it). Check out the Times article on Saturday June 20, titled “At 88, a Writer Fights for Libraries” — see, I’m such a Luddite I don’t even know how to embed the link.
Stacia,
I found the article. Thanks for mentioning it. I have such great respect for Mr. Bradbury.
Thanks for letting us know about the article, Stacia. Here’s the link: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/20/us/20ventura.html?_r=1
I’ll check it out (too busy teaching this week). And Gypsy, I’ll pop on over to your blog today or tomorrow. Need to come say hi :)
I wonder if the opposite is true. We might be allowed to forget phone numbers, but now we have to remember our passwords for all these applications. Also, we have to learn more and more computer expertise because there are learning curves for all these multiple applications on multiple platforms. And what happens when something isn’t working? You need to figure out what’s wrong and how to fix it from the company’s Web site. And each of these software programs (the robots) demands to be updated more and more frequently.
Even though it’s easy, one still has to learn how to use Twitter and all the rest, how to set them up, learn their shortcuts, etc. It takes time for the robots to train us. And as soon as we’re trained, a new version comes out and the learning curve climbs again. Do computers really save us time?
But Voltaire is right. One has to decide if one is a master of the robots. Yet with all the time it takes to learn this stuff and figure out what’s happening when something goes wrong, it feels as though the robots are definitely winning.
Yes, Heliopoli, computers seem gobble time as much as they try to save it (I had a “Paypal moment”–aka issue–today).
With all the new techno-glam, I feel as though I am learning and forgetting; at times, I wonder if my language is being hemmed up even as I attempt to communicate more succinctly and creatively (hello Twitterworld). I might have to go off the Twitter grid for a few days just to really get cranking on my writing again.
Oh, saw your blog page. Interesting city! I have a uncanny dreamscape that’s working itself into a story (but mapped out by locations, like yours). Very fun—will check out the Weird Tales issue you’re in. Met Stephen Segal at Opus Fest this past March.
Thank you. I’m glad you like the blog. I understand about Twitter. I’m still settling in on how I want to use it. I think Twitter’s good for WordPress users, as a kind of substitute for the friends list that LJ users have, a feed for recent notices. I like it, but it sure is time-consuming and distracting. :)