We’re just wasting our time
EACH new year pre-empts a range of innovative technologies to hit the shelves and 2019 is no different.
From even bigger TV screens to a capsule-beer vending machine, toothbrushes that clean teeth in 10 seconds, novel gaming consoles, more sophisticated voice-activated digital assistants and shoes that detect falls, there’s more than enough gizmos to whet consumer appetites.
But when is enough enough? I mean, do we really need a machine to fold our washing?
Ginormous TVs? Or what about a smaller phone (The Palm Palm) designed to be used when you don’t want to use a phone but need a primary phone to work?
Surely that’s a metaphor for how reliant we’ve become on not just technology, but the myth that it allows us more free time.
If it did, why are more and more people crying that they’re time-poor?
Designed to make life better, it seems to me these entertaining and labour-saving devices are more often making it worse.
How often do we hear how they manage to make us less social, more narcissistic, bound to higher levels of debt as we upgrade or replace redundant technology, and overall more miserable? Talk to a gamer when the internet crashes, a business when their Eftpos machine fails, or the poor bastards who have their credit card details stolen online never mind parents moaning about their kids always being on their phones and vice-aversa — not happy.
Now I’m in no way anti-technology. I love the professional and personal convenience and helpfulness of my phone, laptop, Kindle and PC, the way social media keeps me in contact with geographically distant family and friends.
I have a smart TV (I’m just too dumb to know how to use it properly) and wear a fitness tracker to remind me to get off my butt and so on.
All this is on the upside and that’s before we take into consideration the marvel of washing machines, vacuum cleaners, microwaves etc. You know, the technology we take for granted.
Just like older technology, contemporary kinds are supposed to free us from domestic and professional slavery and allow us time to stop and smell the roses. So, how’s that working for you? Unable to switch off from work, we’re quite literally taking it home with us while our kids are keeping in contact with God knows who.
Using phones, watches, laptops etc, we’re checking emails, tweets, responding to queries, even waking in the middle of the night, when we should be enjoying the downtime, spending it with family and loved ones or sleeping — remember that?
Instead of interacting with each other, we neglect those closest to us and engage with our digital “friends.” One has only to look around in a restaurant, at traffic lights, on the street, even in parks to see the evidence.
As one comedian put it, he might have 5000 friends on Facebook, but only one who would volunteer to help him shift house.
FOMO (fear of missing out) means we’re not just connected to our digital devices, we’re fused to them — but at what cost?
I know people whose first conversation in the morning is with their voice-activated assistants: cancel the alarm, turn on the TV, the lights, fragrance the air, adjust the temperature.
It’s so Jetsons, but reminds me of Homer Simpson who, while waiting for meat loaf to cook in the microwave, jumped up and down squealing, “D’oh! Isn’t there anything faster?”
Relying on our desire for bigger, better, speedier, companies compete to introduce the next “must-have” thing. And we buy it — literally — even when, in every sense, we really can’t afford it.
Home is no longer a castle, it’s a damn fortress. Pull up the drawbridge, lock away the outside world and interact with it “safely” through screens. Fooled into believing we can protect our privacy by shutting the door we’re actually introducing unseen threats through our devices.
Our reliance and, dare I say, addiction to technology runs the risk of younger generations in particular losing basic social skills, but also learning how to switch off, relax, and allow time to simply contemplate and stoke the imagination. To grow bored, dream and entertain themselves.
Fact is, we do have more time — we’re just wasting it. With technology.