We have always been taught to move forward, upward, better ourselves, our minds and our lives. So why, when we are doing all of that in this fabulous Age of Technology do some people diss it?
ad·vance·ment
noun \əd-ˈvan(t)-smənt\
Oft-heard rants:
~ I feel sorry for the children who don't get to be "outside" like we did.
~ I feel sorry for the people constantly stuck emailing, messaging, myopically viewing their world through their phones instead of enjoying the great wide outdoors.
~ Tcha tcha tcha! How QUALITY OF LIFE has deteriorated? Conversation through a gadget as opposed to face to face? TCHA!
Okay, here's my answer to all of the above:
Get with the program, Jurassic Park Advocates!
Yes, its a different world. A brave new tech-heavy world. Yes, our ways of communication and interaction have changed but, good grief, so did the ways of our grandparents differ from the ways of their grandparents...and so on and so forth all the way back to the Cave Man.
If you think that we are "wasting" time communicating via technology and not stopping to "smell" the roses that bloom in our gardens just like our ancestors did then think again. Our ancestors did not have time to smell any roses in any gardens, genetically modified, meticulously manicured or not. They worked bloody hard (unless they were toddlers or wastrels) from dawn to dusk in filth and tremendously trying circumstances to accomplish maybe 10% of the things we manage to cram into a day. True they did that roaming the great big "outdoors" but believe me, if given a choice, they'd want what we have and order in their dinner and cash their checks without leaving their couch-potato seats at all.
About this weird lament of communicating face-to-face...WTH? I'd think the point was communication, period. Who cares if its via gadgets, word of mouth or telepathy? If you are articulate and considerate and "communicative" you will get your point across regardless of its means of delivery. On the flip side, an ass is an ass is an ass be it on FaceTime or face to face.
And I won't even bring up medical advancements.
Advancement has always been Man's greatest ambition. From the time Man learned to walk upright he's taught himself to hunt, gather, farm, build, dream, and create. Man has leapt from darkness to fire, from walking to the wheel, from dwelling in caves to the Freedom Tower, from hieroglyphs to ebooks.
We cannot stop advancement. All we can do is embrace it. Learn how to use it ethically, wield it morally and we will be fine. And have you ever stopped to consider that what we call advancement and technology today might quite possibly be obsolete tomorrow?
Really people, stop and smell the iPhones our generation has managed to grow. Don't compare our "roses" to what was because we are past that and that time is gone for good. Look to the future in a positive way.
To all those who still want to diss technology...Go on! Disconnect yourselves from this world, if you dare. Please. Stop working, banking, phoning, texting, bantering or bettering yourselves. Go live in a cave, look into the fire you've built with toil and sweat and meditate on it. Go fight off a bear, catch a fish and eat it raw. I don't know how you'll smell "roses" in all that, but apparently, you think you will. So, yeah, go do that and leave us Tech-runts to our HVAC's and solar illuminations and our kind of peace.
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