Comments on: in a moment of irony, blogger blogs about horrors of technology…

By: susan

susan — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 23:17:58 +0000

“I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately because I feel like the latest jumps in technology have made us obsessive talkers rather than listeners.”

I really worry about this especially, Pam.

Sara, I am already a compulsive person.I don’t think Dowd is overtating the problem. It is a real issue for me to be consciously aware of how sucked in I get.

It’s time for me to be more aggressive about stepping away from the screen and this will be hard.

By: Jules

Jules — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 16:31:52 +0000

I think you nailed it — masters to the technology tools, that is. It’s all about balance. Moderation. I love the connection I get through online tools, but if I don’t stop myself, I can let it be a real time-suck. But I take control. And stop myself.

That “truffle-hunting for that scintillating one” makes me think of call waiting, which I absolutely refuse to own. Rudest modern technology there is. “Hold on just a sec,” people are saying, “a more important caller just beeped in.” No thanks. And I mean, are we THAT busy? That we have to pay the phone company to keep us in line?

By: natalie

natalie — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 03:28:37 +0000

Really enjoyed this post, and really needed to hear it. I’m amazed by how much time I can waste online. Sometimes I think Facebook in particular is the worst for me because it creates this illusion of a relationship. Makes it all so easy or something. I’m not trying to be melodramatic :) but it really is weird the way the concept of community keeps twisting around. In some ways, the internet is an amazing means of connection. In other ways, it makes me a bit more desensitized and uninclined to really get to know people (and not just know about them). Your last line is perfect on this, and something I have to remind myself of in many situations. (Random aside: since I was a little girl, I’ve had so many issues with weight and food and all that. The same principle – being a master and not a slave – applies there too, I’ve learned.)

By: sara z.

sara z. — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 19:40:58 +0000

@Laura, That happens to me more and more, too, the forgetting what I was doing. I've been chalking it up to approaching 40 but maybe I should blame the internet for that, too!

By: sara z.

sara z. — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 19:39:20 +0000

@tanita, I think this is certainly part of it. Very certainly.

By: sara z.

sara z. — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 19:38:37 +0000

@Terry Doherty, Yes! I want to leverage time and work smarter, too, so I don't think I'll ever go luddite. With all the tools, it just takes a lot of discipline and intention.

By: sara z.

sara z. — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 19:37:30 +0000

@MotherReader, Yes, definitely a sense of the third-grade classroom - "oooh oooh oooh me me me!" with our hands in the air

By: sara z.

sara z. — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 19:36:52 +0000

@liz, Yes, it started in 1995 for me, too. IRC, Usenet, etc. When I'm getting impatient with myself to hurry up and change already, I remind myself I've been a hardcore user for over half my adult life. Patience.

By: Laura

Laura — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 19:28:31 +0000

Thank you for posting this and for recommending the Maureen Dowd article.

It’s something I’ve been thinking about, too. Today I realized that every morning I delete about five e-mails without even looking at them – Borders Rewards promotions, a few mailing lists, some boring things from my professional association – and thought, “I should really just unsubscribe to those. … Nah. It’s nice to have e-mail in the morning.” What?? Seriously, I get some kind of validation from those?

I DO feel like I’m more informed now than I used to be – up on new books from the blogs I read, up on current events from reading the news online…but I also have a harder and harder time remembering what task I was on my way to do, or why I even opened that tab in the first place. And that scares the bejeezus out of me. But just one more e-mail check before I log off.

(And I don’t even OWN a cell phone. Never have. I can only imagine. *shudder*)

By: tanita

tanita — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 17:08:34 +0000

I wondered if for me this was high school residue. Imagine it grayish, and sticky, and hard to wash away… the idea that if I don’t keep speaking up, I will disappear and no one will miss me. So, I have to keep checking in, seeing what everyone is up to, making my little comments.

UGH.
That sounds like a very bad prospect. But a potentially true one.