”I think the main issue of technology to humans is that these devices break up limitations.” – Bing Yao
Humans and their gadgets
People lived in their own social context; they were not affected by how others think and what others do as constantly as we are. In a word, they were constrained in limited time and space, which gave them opportunity to feel themselves and live their own life without being influenced too much by others. Even if they were influenced by others, those OTHERS were only people they knew or met in person, not some strange experts commenting online. Therefore, people in the past were freed from lots of unwanted information that might otherwise disturb their peaceful mind. They lived in ONE world, not parted into TWO worlds as we do, one online and the the other offline. Their feeling and experience are hence going in line. They lived in the real world.
In comparison, we overcome such limitation in time and space, but there is a high risk that we are too freed to be aware of where we are going. With the real-time recording video and online applications, we are able to be at many places when watching online videos, and we can review recorded videos whenever we want. We get to know of other people’s life and opinions in faraway places and we stay in touch with friends online every single second. Less and less limitation, and less and less constraint. Once adapted to such speed and gratification, patience and wait and deep thinking are words of the past.
Technology meets people’s needs, regardless of whether these needs are good or bad.
When people prefer searching on their cellphone devices to talking to people in front of them, they are choosing to make less efforts to know others and to stay within their comfort zone. People are then made to be more addicted to themselves by the help of technology.
As Humans are more difficult to anticipate then programmed technological devices, there is a higher risk in dealing with humans than with those devices. So between the two choices, the easier ones are taken.
Referring to the McDonald’s Robot-cashiers, I see the issue is more with the Capitalism’s cutting labor cost with the machine installed, so no more cashiers are employed. Certainly the loss of human contact is one of the results, but those capitalists would never take THAT into consideration. So you know what is the ultimate boss behind the trend of technology? It is the capitalism.
Today only cashiers are abolished and you became the number 301, tomorrow lots more jobs will be taken by machines and lots more numbers will be allot to you, and lastly, we are only dealing with machines and robots, no human faces any more, because humans are not as efficient as machines and can fall sick, get depressed, etc, costing our dear capitalist too much money.
How to counter the negative effect of #tech
I am not sure what the solution to such trend is. But on the personal level, try creating some kind of limitation to yourself in some degree may help, with such saying I mean, try to do certain things in the old way when there was no internet. Internet is worse than TV in the way it affects a group of people, simply in that people are not NATURAL anymore, with their natural limitation.
The last worry of mine is, with humans inventing so many devices to change the world and meet human needs, that humans can be led to such illusion that we are the GOD to decide everything on this planet and even beyond, that we can do ANYTHING as long as we desire or want. That situation of 0% limitation would give rise to detrimental ends to all of us if we don’t do anything about it.
About the author
Bing Yao
