a time for amusement...
Well I'm sitting around reading blogs and generally wasting time when really I should be off in the common room and either desperately reading up on physics (please) or translating more latin.
But instead I'm thinking about the greater things in life... or something...
My sister's just flown off for a week... well I won't see her for a bit longer than that cos I'm going a way before she gets back, but still... she's in her first year of high-school and off she goes to sing with her choir, "cool as a cucumber" as it were. I hate cucumbers.
There are definitely some advantages to mordern technology. I mean, I guess aeroplanes aren't really that modern a technology anymore, but people certainly get to use them a lot more. The first time I went on a plane I think I was about 3 years old. My Dad was about 21. I was flying on probably a boeing 767 or maybe 747; my Dad was in a biplane with a friend. Actually we were both flying in the same direction, but that's not really relevant. There's quite a difference, we've become a lot more dependant on this sort of travel... I mean, when my Dad was young, his father would go off on business trips for months at a time... or at least weeks. My Dad can easily go for one day, two, a week, just because of the changes in technology (and also because there are so many more people flying).
Then there's technology like mobile phones. Come on, we all know about them. About 10 years ago the only person I knew with one was my grandmother, and it was from her work (and it was a brick). A year or two later my Dad got one, and from there it's spread rapidly. In my age group it's amazing if a person doesn't have a phone - 5 or 6 years ago it was probably more surprising if they did.
And so I sit around and ask myself whether this is a good thing or whether it's bad. I think just about everyone will agree it's very convenient, but is that the point? Are we somehow losing something in our adoption of these "wonderful" new technologies?
I see points both ways, and I can't actually decide for myself... Personally I don't think there's much chance of a reversal, so why fight the inexorable process that is our modern society. Come 50 years no-one will think it's modern, so what's the big deal? I'll think I was incredibly naive, and so will my children. I'll deal.
But instead I'm thinking about the greater things in life... or something...
My sister's just flown off for a week... well I won't see her for a bit longer than that cos I'm going a way before she gets back, but still... she's in her first year of high-school and off she goes to sing with her choir, "cool as a cucumber" as it were. I hate cucumbers.
There are definitely some advantages to mordern technology. I mean, I guess aeroplanes aren't really that modern a technology anymore, but people certainly get to use them a lot more. The first time I went on a plane I think I was about 3 years old. My Dad was about 21. I was flying on probably a boeing 767 or maybe 747; my Dad was in a biplane with a friend. Actually we were both flying in the same direction, but that's not really relevant. There's quite a difference, we've become a lot more dependant on this sort of travel... I mean, when my Dad was young, his father would go off on business trips for months at a time... or at least weeks. My Dad can easily go for one day, two, a week, just because of the changes in technology (and also because there are so many more people flying).
Then there's technology like mobile phones. Come on, we all know about them. About 10 years ago the only person I knew with one was my grandmother, and it was from her work (and it was a brick). A year or two later my Dad got one, and from there it's spread rapidly. In my age group it's amazing if a person doesn't have a phone - 5 or 6 years ago it was probably more surprising if they did.
And so I sit around and ask myself whether this is a good thing or whether it's bad. I think just about everyone will agree it's very convenient, but is that the point? Are we somehow losing something in our adoption of these "wonderful" new technologies?
I see points both ways, and I can't actually decide for myself... Personally I don't think there's much chance of a reversal, so why fight the inexorable process that is our modern society. Come 50 years no-one will think it's modern, so what's the big deal? I'll think I was incredibly naive, and so will my children. I'll deal.
Shorty last blogged on Thursday, March 09, 2006.
2 Comments:
your reading of points both ways is confusing me...
...technology makes life easier but more complicated, if u know what i mean!
i've added you to my blogwatch list!
yeah that was my attempted way to avoid a 5000 word essay on the subject =P
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