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Smokey
01-02-2015, 12:02 AM
As holiday and family and friends get together come to a close, I like to throw in some of parting thoughts and observations.

One thing I have noticed when there is a get together is culture and sense of being together is fading away due to technology.

I went to Christmas Eve party with friends and relatives and after the greeting and small chit-chats, looks like everybody goes into their world with them staring into their smart phone in hand and creating bubble for them selves.

As I gazed around the room, I saw two guys sitting on couch staring at their phones, three people sitting at dinner table doing the same, and the rest trying to do small talk or watch TV while with phone in hand.

I thought to myself that we have come so far that technology have taken away our human bonds with artificial bubble we created for ourselves with our gadgets. In the past experts predicted that gadgets and computers will eventually take over our lives, but they didn't predict down side to it.

I saw the down side when I was looking around the room and seeing everybody in their own little world :(

Hyfi
01-02-2015, 04:29 AM
I work in the tech industry but outside of work, I am Anti-Tech. I am still using a 8 y/o Motorola Razr flip phone with ONLY calling ability. I refuse to be connected at all times and hate those that are disrespectful and cannot function without the frickin phone in their hands.

Aside from that all the online banking and personal information hacks will seriously damage many people. I also refuse to do anything online other than place an order from Amazon or similar. No banking, no anything where they want my personal info because they CANNOT keep it safe no matter what they tell you.

As far as all the celebs getting upset that their cloud accounts used to store damaging pictures getting hacked....well shame on them for even saving stuff like that out on the web or clouds, they cannot be kept secure and if there are pictures you don't want people to see, delete them or store them in your home in a safe.

The last wedding I was at, there were cousins at our table who spent the whole reception on their phones and half the time they were talking to each other and giggling about the rest of those at the same table. I really wanted to take and crush their phones.

noddin0ff
01-02-2015, 06:29 AM
I saw the down side when I was looking around the room and seeing everybody in their own little world :(

I'm sure my parents generation thought the same thing as they watched their kids, tying up the phone line at all hours, talking to their friends; and their parents as they watched their kids hopping into cars to leave the house to go hang out with their friends. And at some point I suppose parents watched their kids spend their time writing letters to be delivered to people far away, instead of doing chores and reading out loud by candle light.

I noticed the same thing this year.

I could go all conspiracy theory. Technology lowers barriers and makes communication cheap and easy to the user. Since the cost is low...we simply don't invest much in it. But, there's tons of money to be made in promoting frequent 'sharing' via social media at a rate of micro-cents per click (or tap). Lots of smart people studying our behaviors to make money from them. Our electronic world is specifically engineered to nudge our behavior to make profit. As a society we're all in on turning profits by dumbing down complex communications and calling it 'connectivity'.

Why construct a complete thought when we can get little electronic Pavlovian tokens of reward for 'like'. Why struggle to strike up conversation with that inlaw you see once a year when you can hide behind a device and pretend to keep in touch with your brother across the continent.

On the flip side, families are more distributed, so maybe its logical that communications be that way to. Kind of like distributed computing to solve big problems, maybe distributed communication has more power than we realize.

I'm real curious to see how the next generation turns out.

Still, I think we'd all be better off paying attention to the people in the room. I elected to power down my phone and go invade my inlaws of inlaw's space with banal conversation. They'll do a better job avoiding me next year.

JohnMichael
01-02-2015, 08:37 AM
I think it is a sign that most people are not very interesting so they are looking for mental stimulation elsewhere. Luckily I have a very intelligent nephew that I can speak with at holiday events. Oh just to find someone who has read a book, travelled and has a talent. I take my dog and wine to enjoy myself. The art of spirited conversation is dead in many circles of society.

blackraven
01-02-2015, 09:29 AM
I work in the tech industry but outside of work, I am Anti-Tech. I am still using a 8 y/o Motorola Razr flip phone with ONLY calling ability. I refuse to be connected at all times and hate those that are disrespectful and cannot function without the frickin phone in their hands.
.

I am with you Hyfi. I too use a military grade flip phone. I don't like texting, voice mail or email (but I do understand the utility of email and voice mail). I don't like being that accessible. I was at the airport a few weeks ago and more than 50% of the people were on their cell phones. It drives me crazy when I see people driving and texting or using their cell phones. I have narrowly avoided being in a car accident a few times by people on their cell phones.

noddin0ff
01-05-2015, 06:51 AM
I think it is a sign that most people are not very interesting so they are looking for mental stimulation elsewhere. Luckily I have a very intelligent nephew that I can speak with at holiday events. Oh just to find someone who has read a book, travelled and has a talent. I take my dog and wine to enjoy myself. The art of spirited conversation is dead in many circles of society.

I'm starting to thing that people are actually looking for lack of mental stimulation elsewhere. Conversation is hard work. You have to invest yourself in it. I find most people are interesting if you ask them stuff you want to know about themselves. People do interesting things and hold a lot of wisdom. Why not try to dig it out? You just have to accept a certain failure rate.

I wonder why there's less spirited conversation. I hypothesize were still suffering from the "everybody's opinion is valid" disease that makes both sides of an argument unassailable (so why discuss them). Nobody challenges ideas politely anymore. And, nobody looks for the middle ground. I mean, it's important to have opinions and all...but we can't all be right. Ergo, most truth is in the middle somewhere. Its an idiot society that is afraid to find common ground through conversation, discussion and spirited debate.

Hyfi
01-05-2015, 07:28 AM
The movie Idiocracy sums up where we are headed.

One problem with conversation is that most younger people have no clue how to formulate and speak a complete and coherent sentence, only smartphone shorthand.

ForeverAutumn
01-05-2015, 07:48 AM
We have rules around smart phones in our family and in our house. No phones at the table at family dinners. My nieces will sometimes sneak away to check their texts and we allow that, they're kids after all and our conversations sometimes bore them. But they don't text while at the table.

When friends come over we ask them to leave their phones in their pockets/jackets/purses. We have invited them over to spend time with us and that's what we expect. If they don't like it, they can feel free to turn down the next invitation (if they are invited back).

I recently restarted a friendship with one of my best friends from high school. We have been out to dinner with them and another couple on several occasions. For the first two dinners my friend's wife spent much of the time texting her kids (all away at university). The third time we got together, the third couple made a few not so subtle hits about her phone. She got the message and put it in her purse and we had a wonderful evening enjoying each other's company. Her phone hasn't come out during dinner again. :)

I enjoy texting. Sometimes it's much faster and easier than a phone call. I also think that there is a time and place for it and that it's important to set boundaries and make those boundaries clear to the people that you are spending time with. I have no problem asking someone to put their phone away.

noddin0ff
01-05-2015, 12:27 PM
The movie Idiocracy sums up where we are headed.

One problem with conversation is that most younger people have no clue how to formulate and speak a complete and coherent sentence, only smartphone shorthand.

Oh. I'm not so jaded as all of that. It's partially true, but it's a truth that has been true for generations. Yet, society hasn't devolved into a mass of slobbering idiots...yet. Not that slobbering idiots don't walk amongst us.

Hyfi
01-05-2015, 06:19 PM
Oh. I'm not so jaded as all of that. It's partially true, but it's a truth that has been true for generations. Yet, society hasn't devolved into a mass of slobbering idiots...yet. Not that slobbering idiots don't walk amongst us.

But it's got Electrolytes!

noddin0ff
01-06-2015, 07:05 AM
LOL. I did really like that movie. :-)

3LB
02-16-2015, 09:32 PM
Jeez, what a bunch of fuddy duddies. I assume you guys are on some sort of computer at the moment you typed these sentiments. Before getting my smartphone, I struggled to feign interest in many family discussions, usually fading in and out then trying to play catchup only to be outed for my inattentiveness. Now, I have an excuse. I do wish I was surrounded by people I found interesting more often than I am. Its the reason why the internet appealed to me in the first place. I could seek out like-minded people rather than try to fit in with people who bore me. So, I'm a tad self-absorbed... sue me. But I am genuinely communicating with other humans, just not ones in the same room with me. Its not like I'm regurgitating everything I see on Facebook or posting pictures of my food on Facebook, or as I like to call it - Frontbook.

I think that many of the people who used to be fascinated with that Sims game now use Frontbook to create fake worlds, except with their own lives instead of imaginary ones.

noddin0ff
02-17-2015, 05:49 AM
Heh. If you hadn't been zoning out on your smart phone, you would have noticed this conversation happening when it did happen several weeks ago.



KIDDING.

3LB
02-17-2015, 01:44 PM
Heh. If you hadn't been zoning out on your smart phone, you would have noticed this conversation happening when it did happen several weeks ago.



KIDDING. on this website? 6 month old threads are still on the front page. A one month old thread is fresh by comparison

TheHills44060
02-19-2015, 01:17 PM
I dread smartphones and want to chuck mine out the window on a daily basis. There are a couple features I like but on the whole I could do without and never miss a beat. Hell half the time I forget to bring it with me anyway when i leave the house.

ForeverAutumn
02-19-2015, 07:48 PM
Jeez, what a bunch of fuddy duddies. I assume you guys are on some sort of computer at the moment you typed these sentiments.

Sure, but I'm not at a holiday get together, or a party, with real people to talk to. It's just me and my hubby...and I've said all that I have to say to him today. :)


But I am genuinely communicating with other humans, just not ones in the same room with me.

That's fine. But before smart phones, I wouldn't grab the landline phone and make a phone call while I'm supposed to be spending time with my family or friends, how is texting any different? Sure it's silent and, therefore, maybe more private, but it's not any less rude.


Its not like I'm regurgitating everything I see on Facebook or posting pictures of my food on Facebook, or as I like to call it - Frontbook.

Hmmmmm. Why do I feel like I've just been insulted and should unfriend you?

TheHills44060
02-20-2015, 05:51 AM
That's fine. But before smart phones, I wouldn't grab the landline phone and make a phone call while I'm supposed to be spending time with my family or friends, how is texting any different? Sure it's silent and, therefore, maybe more private, but it's not any less rude.?
Amen!!!!