The little screen. Are we obsessed?

[danthepoetman]

Has communication technologies brought us human closer to each others, or is it having, actually, the opposite effect?
Is the tiny screen we constantly put ourselves in front of, some new form of a mirror, to satisfy the needs of our ego, or a real device connecting us to the world?
When we use the net, are we trying to really connect with each other, or is it rather simply a new way to divert ourselves, after the nickel odeons, the radio and the tv eras, by allowing us to choose among an infinite diversity what correspond to who we are?
Here is a funny page I fell on.
http://www.viralnova.com/society-crumbling/

This May Look Innocent, But It’s Very Wrong. In Fact, It’s Probably Much Worse Than You Think.
December 4, 2013Entertainment

Not to sound like a disgruntled extra on the set of Grumpy Old Men, but young people nowadays are focused on one thing and one thing only: technology. More specifically? The tiny screen that they carry and center their lives around. Sure, it’s necessary to check your email and answer calls from your mother (please talk to your mother), but doing any of this is totally unnecessary:

1. These women enjoying a girls night out
http://cdn.viralnova.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/society.jpg

2. Two young lovers, going on their very first date
http://cdn.viralnova.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/society2.jpg

3. This group of high school seniors, enjoying their last day of school before graduation.
http://cdn.viralnova.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/society3.jpg

4. These boys, enjoying watching their favorite team
http://cdn.viralnova.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/society4.jpg

6. This heartwarming Thanksgiving dinner
http://cdn.viralnova.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/society6.jpg

9. This close-knit group celebrating a friend’s engagement
http://cdn.viralnova.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/society9.jpg

18. These siblings reuniting for the first time in years
http://cdn.viralnova.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/society18.jpg

19. A group of girls spending quality time together
http://cdn.viralnova.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/society19.jpg

[Ben in LA]

I sure as hell isn't.

(Sent from my iPhone)

[danthepoetman]

Lol!

[ILuvGurls]

That 1st pic reminded me a few years back was having lunch and looked over at another table and there were 4 people waiting on their orders and all 4 were on the phone...I ask my friend if he reckoned they were talking to each other.....

it is absolutely out of control....

[danthepoetman]

....

[Ananke]

Can't agree with you more, Dan.
I surely find it soooooooo rude when you are having a social gathering or having a meal or so and some people are on their phone. I usually ask if I am boring them (I probably am..LOL)
I have also been labelled as a grumpy old man!

[trish]

WE ARE THE BORG. RESISTANCE IS FUTILE.
Indeed, from current trends it would seem the human race is voluntarily evolving into the Borg. We crave constant communication. We text each other in classrooms, theaters, bus shelters and coffee shops, in groups, pods, flocks and singly...always singly. It seems that...
... young people nowadays are focused on one thing and one thing only: technology.Yet, this isn't quite the case. It's not the technology that fascinates them so. (In fact, if recent evaluations are true, U.S. children abhor engineering and science related endeavors.) It seems the little electronic box holds them in trance-like pose as they zombie-walk down the street, but it's actually the messages they're reading and the thoughts they're composing that hold their attention; i.e. exchanges between human beings. Okay they're exchanges about where to meet, or what a bitch your apartment mate is, or who's the hottest contestant on The Voice. But it's less about technology and more about filling a void in the breast of postmodern humanity. The Borg lie snugly in each others thoughts. There is no privacy. Only loneliness.

[Abartig]

Another thing that bugs me is every time I see crowd at a concert all holding up their cell phones to record, shoot a few minutes to prove you were there and then rock out. It especially bugs me when I see it on the Jimmy Kimmel Show performances when people know that Kimmel is already recording the show in HD for your future benefit.

Lady GaGa - Yoü and I (Jimmy Kimmel) - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVAuM4F8k7w)

[giovanni_hotel]

It used to be concert fans would hold up lighters at shows as a kind of unified solidarity for the group on stage to see.

Can you see all those smart phones from the stage???

[Merkurie]

After the first round of messages (U text me I respond) I'm like stop fucking texting me. If you have something worth telling me, call me. Otherwise stop blowing up my phone with one fucking text after another and another...

[Jamie French]

I'll never own one of those things. My phone is a phone, I get like 3 to 5 calls a month. Why would I need anything more in a phone?

[kukm4]

Vatican Square

http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/51420b6869beddc93900000d-589-599/screen%20shot%202013-03-14%20at%201.39.17%20pm.png

[youngblood61]

Vatican Square

http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/51420b6869beddc93900000d-589-599/screen%20shot%202013-03-14%20at%201.39.17%20pm.pngYep.

[Bopper007]

I'll never own one of those things. My phone is a phone, I get like 3 to 5 calls a month. Why would I need anything more in a phone?


Exactly!

[danthepoetman]

I'll never own one of those things. My phone is a phone, I get like 3 to 5 calls a month. Why would I need anything more in a phone?

Exactly!
I don't either. I might sound a bit strange, but I've never seen as an advantage to be at anyone's reach all the time. Often, I just want peace! Moreover, I don't want to have to call people back. There are some people whom, if they leave you a message, it's difficult not to call them back. So I don't even have an answering machine; I value my peace too much. When I don't want to be bothered, I don't answer the phone, and when I go out, I'm free of any attachment. As to the possibility of something bad happening to a love one, well, what will it change if I'm immidiately informed of it or later on?

On the other hand, you raise a good point, Trish. I suppose it's once again a matter of usage of a potentially great piece of technology. I've seen my daughter, who could use a computer much before me, keep in touch with her many, many friends from home at any time. She's an extreme extrovert, and her social life is very important for her. Today, she lives far away in the North, as her boyfriend works in mining. She still keep contact with her two hundred and eighty something friends at all time, always talking to 4, 5, 6 of them at the same time, and whenever she visits home, we're sure to also get the visit of a dozen of them! The Net is really allowing her to keep her social relations despite space! And often with people she has known since childhood! I find that quite remarquable.

[Quiet Reflections]

It think all the texting,tweeting, etc stops young people from learning how to talk to and treat people when they are face to face with them. The text short hand is silly to me and what really gets me is hearing kids talk to each other face to face in a similar fashion. I have no idea how they understand each other

[bluesoul]

the phone camera thing really pisses me off. i don't even care if everyone is on their phone, but people stopping to take pictures on their phone then posting it on instagram just drives me insane. in fact, i work with a girl who has a special phone that comes with a program especially for doing "selfies"

anyhoo- if you guys are getting pissed at people being on the phone all the time, wait until google glass (http://www.google.com/glass/start/) becomes all the rage

[bluesoul]

I don't either. I might sound a bit strange, but I've never seen as an advantage to be at anyone's reach all the time. Often, I just want peace! Moreover, I don't want to have to call people back. There are some people whom, if they leave you a message, it's difficult not to call them back. So I don't even have an answering machine; I value my peace too much. When I don't want to be bothered, I don't answer the phone, and when I go out, I'm free of any attachment. As to the possibility of something bad happening to a love one, well, what will it change if I'm immidiately informed of it or later on?


you know, having a cell phone doesn't mean you have to answer it all the time. you can even get apps that will ignore calls after a certain time- or set your phone to silent.

having access to technology requires one to be responsible with it. most people aren't. that's the problem. not the technology.

[bluesoul]

It think all the texting,tweeting, etc stops young people from learning how to talk to and treat people when they are face to face with them. The text short hand is silly to me and what really gets me is hearing kids talk to each other face to face in a similar fashion. I have no idea how they understand each other

i think young people learning how to talk to and treat people should be the parents responsibility. technology should be used responsibly. if kids aren't using it properly then it's their parents responsibility to put that in check. if not then fuck them

[broncofan]

I keep my ringer off, and don't text that often. I do like to be able to check email, but I don't write emails on my phone because I make too many typos.

Some people just don't have manners. Texting and talking when you're around other people is just annoying and disrespectful.

[danthepoetman]

you know, having a cell phone doesn't mean you have to answer it all the time. you can even get apps that will ignore calls after a certain time- or set your phone to silent.

having access to technology requires one to be responsible with it. most people aren't. that's the problem. not the technology.
You see, I didn't even know that. Of course you can always shut it, but to me, rightfully or not, it just feels like a burden, something that exercise a form of coertion on me. I just might be a bit neurotic... or an inveterate dinosaur.


i think young people learning how to talk to and treat people should be the parents responsibility. technology should be used responsibly. if kids aren't using it properly then it's their parents responsibility to put that in check. if not then fuck them
Yes. But kids will always get elements of socialization from the outside, from their friends, tv or whatever influence they will encounter. We can only do so much as parents. Besides, at teenage, they often tend to direct themselves in the direction exactly opposite to what their parents are, or wish for, simply as a way to affirm a personality of their own.
Not always easy with kids. The important is to let the communication as open as possible, which helps if only in the precise matter we're discussing.
I might be more sensitive as I'm getting older, but I do find kids, in commerces, fast-food restaurant, etc., to be quite rude, nowaday, as Quiet Reflections is alluding to. They often seem like they have no manners. But... perceptions, perceptions... I don't have any rudometer.

[Stavros]

Say cheese!

Nokia Lumia 1020 41 MPX Best - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slf3GgxqusI)

[danthepoetman]

Say cheese!

Nokia Lumia 1020 41 MPX Best - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slf3GgxqusI)

OMG! yes. Been through that! :D