People, technology, and the quality of life...

The quality of life isn’t what it used to be. People aren’t what they used to be. People aren’t as well rounded as they used to be… or should I say as they used to HAVE to be. I love technology, and while I feel like there are many obvious benefits in the advancement in technology, there are also many not so obvious drawbacks. Technology has made people lazy. Some of the ways technology is used has kind of taken away from the "authenticity" of life. If a lot of technologies just suddenly disappeared, a lot of people wouldn’t know how to survive. They wouldn’t know what to do. Try to understand what I am trying to say...

When there was no TV, man had to do be creative in what they did to occupy there time. More time was spent reading, in conversation, and participating in activities. This time made people’s relationships better, got people more educated, kept people in better shape, and created an overall more thorough human being. Now people spend hours on end sitting in front of this tube, watching this fantasy world to entertain themselves. Think of all of the things we lose out on by doing this. I am not even going to go into how we are manipulated by news networks. That is an entire different topic for a different time. Think about how many people you know who sit there toddlers in front of the TV all day, instead of reading to them, drawing with them, or just talking to them??? How many kids do you know who would rather sit in there room and play video games on a bright sunny day, instead of going outside to play a sport, or just play with other kids??? When did this become acceptable??

People don't even have to know how to cook anymore. There is a fast food restaurant five minutes away from wherever you are reading this from. With the advancement of the internet, you might even be reading this in a restaurant. With this fast paced world being what it is, who has time to cook? Now with every other piece of advancing technology, this can be good in moderation. Leave it to the people of our generation to take advantage of this convenience and just stop cooking all together. And no... TV dinners and pre-made oven pizza doesn't count as cooking.

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Dating has even changed. On social networking sites such as Facebook and Myspace, you don't even need to leave home to meet people. You create your own profile which consists of putting up personal pictures, adding your likes and dislikes, and pretty much giving a full description of yourself. Now this can be good, because it may give people the opportunity to meet who may have not have met otherwise, but there is just something about seeing someone in person, knowing absolutely nothing about them, and having the courage to introduce yourself and start a conversation. With this new way of "meeting" people, you can actually mold yourself into being compatible with someone by viewing and adjusting your personality to coincide with that persons self described profile. I don't totally knock it, but the whole idea does seem kind of weird to me.

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Remember those ice-breaking phone conversations after meeting someone of the opposite sex? Nah... we don't need those anymore. We have text messaging for that! Remember the feeling of dialing every digit except the last one of a girls phone number, then hanging up the phone because you were nervous knowing you were actually going to be speaking to her? Now with text messaging, you can have a whole conversation, ask all of those tough questions, all without actually having to speak to the person! Again, I think there is something wrong with that.

Now I will be the first to admit, in some way, shape, or form I am guilty of some of these things. I have become conscious of my actions, and I am trying to better myself. I want to be a well rounded human being. The easy way isn't always the best way. I think we all need to raise the status quo up. I am going to start with myself.

Ok that's all for now... thank you for visiting and stay tuned...