Lately I’ve read a lot of articles and opinion pieces in which people have been complaining about technology.
They complain that smartphones and tablets make people too reliant on technology, that they can now be tracked wherever they go, and that technology has made face-to-face communications a thing of the past. In fact, several in this paper have said that “technology has gone too far.”Yet, when the same people who do all the complaining about technology are saved by a new robotic surgery or helped by genetic testing, although grateful, they will simply take that technology for granted.
I see this over and over again with cataract surgery. Twenty-five years ago, my father almost died from cataract surgery and was left with worse vision than before the operation. Today, high-tech devices and procedures have greatly improved this type of surgery, allowing it to return sight to millions without complications. Yet the people who are helped seldom go out and sing the praises of how technology helped them.
So let’s stop for a minute and realize that technology has brought, and continues to bring, many advances and improvements in our lives.
Although some people are glued to their smartphones, aggravating onlookers, not too long ago I used my cellphone to call 911 for someone who was having a health emergency. Technology came to the rescue. There was no other telephone available. If I had not had a cellphone, that person could have died.
Today’s technology does even more. It allows grandparents to connect with their grandchildren via free video-calling, even if their grandchildren are halfway around the world. Technology brings us entertainment options that were not even thought about 20 years ago. It also puts a world of information at our fingertips.
You see, the problem is not with technology, it is with how people use that technology and how few restrictions people put on it. When I was growing up, we were only allowed to watch only certain television programs. No one left the television running all day, as is the habit in many homes today.When my kids were growing up, they were not allowed to have a telephone, television or computer in their bedrooms. If they wanted to talk on the phone, watch television or use the computer, they had to be in the main part of the house, where there was always a watchful parent eyeing their activities. At that time, we were considered strict parents.
In today’s world, there are very, very few parents who would even consider doing a “terrible” thing like that to their kids. Parents now want to be “friends” to their children. Restrictions are few. In many houses the television blares constantly, and children spend most of their time in their rooms playing video games and talking on their cellphones.
Certainly portable devices make controlling technology more difficult, but it is not an impossible task. Yet, parents not only let their children succumb to the constant use of technology, they themselves often yield to the temptation of using technology without restrictions.
Like many others, I have also been aggravated to see a young family in a restaurant where each of the children is glued to their gaming devices while the parents are completely preoccupied with using their smartphones. But let’s stop blaming the technology and start blaming the people who use it.
Technology can help us live longer, healthier lives. It can help us communicate with others. It can help us increase our knowledge. It can help us have fun. We can all use technology to our benefit, but we need to control our technology use. We also need to learn all that we can about today’s technologies so that we can use it intelligently. For instance, if you don’t want to be tracked, learn how to turn off the GPS on your smartphone.
Let’s stop blaming technology and start working on using it more prudently and teaching our children and grandchildren to do the same.
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