The Intent of Technology
Photo by darkywarky
In effort to do a quick poll, I asked my Twitter followers if they had long conversations via text messages on their phones. I got responses back that many did. I found that strange, but I feel that’s because I’m not much of a phone person and am usually tethered to my computer when I’m not sleeping.
Texting, Twitter, Tumblr, and other forms of micro-communication technologies seem to often be used in ways they weren’t intended as many people find their ease of use a low barrier of entry.
How many times do you see someone tweeting a dozen tweets in a row when going on a rampage of some sort?
Or as mentioned earlier, having 20 minute long conversations via text message?
Or even using tumblr as a traditional blog rather than as an image/media board of sorts?
It raises several questions :
Do people know about the various sorts of technology that are available to them?
Are appropriate platforms too complicated for those who are not technically inclined?
Is email becoming as antiquated as Blackberries snail mail in that it serves a specific purpose but otherwise is not a preferred method of communication?
In general, technology does tend to make people lazy as its entire purpose is to automate some manual process to make people’s lives more efficient. Still though, in many cases it seems to be a double edged sword as people are able to hide behind their electronic personas or even exist through “word bytes” while not developing the critical communication skills that face time requires.
It makes one wonder…in this age of technology, seemingly high divorce rates, and general apathy, perhaps the results of the industrial and later electronic ages have had a much deeper impact than we thought.
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