Thursday 25 August 2011

Technophobia

Since I have been actively blogging for more than 4 years, it is well established that I am closer to technophillic (or techno-addict, as my dad is fond of phrasing it) than technophobe. But I am fearful of our relationship with and apparent dependence on technology in the future. More specifically, I'm worried about our children - well, mostly mine, let's be honest - and how they're going to grow up surrounded by it all. 


I think I've mentioned before on this blog how ridiculously au fait my young cousins are with technology, particularly my cousin H, who from the age of 4 can handle anything from a Nintendo DS to an iPhone to an xBox with incredible ease, as if he were born with it in his hands. I get it - he's generation Z (anyone born after 1995), the kids who grew up with computers, and can't remember a time without it. It frightens me how adept H is at such a young age, when he should be (and is, thankfully) playing with trucks and lego and getting dirty, not killing robots on a video screen. 


Several years ago now - and I mean it, it was 2008, how long ago it feels! Such a different blog it was... - I posted this video. And it's statistics like this that scare me:





I don't doubt that the mobile phone will be the world's primary connection tool in 2020 (isn't it already 80% of the way there?)


Even more disturbing are the trends it is producing and the resulting lifestyle that is being shaped:





Don't get me wrong - I'm incredibly grateful for the technology that allows me to be hundreds of miles away from home and still feel like I'm not missing a thing, thanks to Facebook, my iPhone, wifi, Skype, etc. But I don't want this technology to go into my bloodstream! Although I think - metaphorically - it already has...and this alarms me most, this reliance on technology  for communication on every level...we joke about how "if it's not on Facebook, it's not happening," but to what extent will this be true in the future? H's oldest sister, L, has facebook, and she's only in year 7! My host brother here in Costa Rica, who's still in primary school, has a cell phone! Who needs one, when you see your friends at school every day, and everyone has a land line? I remember well the days when we actually SENT chain letters by snail mail - not of this forwarding emails or posting on Facebook crap! 


I don't want to sound preachy - after all, doesn't every generation feel that their childhood was the most pure and innocent, and all those with the misfortune to be raised after it will never be so lucky - but I sometimes wonder if technology isn't, well, ruining our children. 


I've discussed before the paradoxical nature of technology and communication, in that it is intended to enhance connection and relationships, but in reality doesn't it just isolate us further? Sure, it's fabulous for me when I'm so far away, because thanks to Facebook, skype, email, my iPhone and wifi, it feels like I never left. I still feel included and part of my friends' lives, and I'm so grateful (it was a big fear for me, that I would just miss a huge 5 month chunk of their lives, and our relationship would be all the more ignorant and gaping for it). But when we're all in the same city, how often do you look at a Facebook event and not feel committed to go, instead sending a text or Facebook message by way of apology? How often are you late to meet your friends because you know if you miss the train, you can always text to explain? I know I'm guilty of this.


I don't want my children to be glued to the computer screen. In fact, I don't want them to have electronics before a certain age. And honestly, that kind of parenting seems a little unfeasible - not to mention unreasonable - the way the world is going. I don't want to push my kids around in a stroller while they're playing with some app on my phone, or a game on their device - I want them to get sandy and muddy and dirty in the real world. I want them to have reality, not a virtual life. 


I know I'm 21 and this is all insanely premature, considering I don't plan to start a family until I'm in my 30s (or, ok, whenever the time is right - which I'm predicting right now will be in my 30s!) but I don't think it's unfounded. I just don't want a future where I have to text my children to come to the dinner table.


x
JAG

1 comment:

Sharanya said...

So much agree/vicious nodding at my end. Som e of my biggest fears, laid out.