Prisoners of Our Own Device

 

Email. Text Messages. Twitter. Instagram. Facebook. Snapchat. TikTok. Chat GPT. Technology engineers keep finding faster, more creative, and easier ways for people to connect with each other and their world. The amount of information coming at us and/or available to us continues to increase exponentially and the means to access it continues to evolve.

 

Without question, technology has allowed us to do things easier and faster. It has helped us do our jobs, complete personal day to day tasks, get from place to place, access goods and services, and entertain ourselves in ways our parents (for some of us), our grandparents (for most of us), and our great grandparents could never have imagined.

 

And as with any major advancement, with convenience comes challenge.  Sometimes it can feel like the info is coming at us so fast, we can hardly keep  up. The advances happen in waves and every day we have a new “platform” to navigate.  Bound. rSchool. Arbiter. Dragonfly. Hudl. HomeTown. Infinite Campus.  Sometimes I wonder at what point does the technology requires so much of us that in fact, it isn’t as convenient as it was intended to be.

 

More importantly, I wonder if the technology meant to connect us (I’ve reconnected with childhood friends, high school classmates, and college teammates through Facebook), is actually driving us further apart.  It takes me back to a cheesy #1 hit from 1969 by Zager and Evans, “In the Year 2525.” I’m not exactly sure how it got to #1 because it wasn’t a musical masterpiece.  I guess it got a lot of play because it got folks thinking a little about what the future would hold.  The gist of the song was that society could and indeed was drifting farther and farther away from personal contact.  The message was that technology and machinery would eventually replace human interaction.  At the time, it was a bit of an absurd concept.  Looking back, I can’t help but wonder if Zager and Evans were on to something. 

 

Exchanging cash is a rarity.  We pay at pump, use self-check-out, bank at an ATM or on our phones, and pay each other using Venmo.  We shop online.  We even use the self-serve check-out at those few stores we enter.  Education (particularly high school and college) can be accessed online.  Work from home, a necessity during COVID, has become a preference for some employees.  Zooms replace in-person meetings.  Office buildings are nowhere near filled to capacity, begging the question, “Where has all the teamwork gone?”  The “working lunch,” and the, “after work beverage” are becoming more rare than common.

 

Social media has created its own set of challenges. Some feel the pressure to keep up – to post as much as possible so others might be impressed and also to check social media frequently so as to not be, “out of the loop.”  The average American adult spends over 4 hours per day on non-voice related phone activity, checking their phones an average of 58 times per day.  Teens, by the way, average 7.5 hours and check their phones 344 times per day (once every 4 minutes). Click bait takes us in directions we never intended to go and before you know it, we’re watching cat videos.  Add some of the misinformation, the rants, the bullying and harassment, and other activity intended to rile up or hurt others, and it’s easy to occasionally long for simpler times.  The reality is, the Jeannie is not going back in the bottle.  Social media in our worlds (education and activities) has become in the eyes of some, a necessary evil. Parents, students, and community members want information, results, etc. immediately.  It has given administrators one more thing to manage. Schools and their activities departments are doing a phenomenal job of making it all available but the pressure to keep up can be overwhelming. 

 

What concerns me the most in all this, is how our day-to-day interaction with colleagues, friends and family has transitioned.  Instead of stopping by to visit, we e-mail, Snap, or text message – all short cuts to meaningful communication. We’re even less and less likely to “pick up the phone” for a conversation. Sure, messaging is fast, it’s convenient but is it personal?  We can’t hear tone of voice.  We can’t see facial expressions.  It makes me wonder if we are truly understanding the messages we’re receiving and if we’re truly conveying the message we are trying to send. Not to mention, with AI, we may not even know if what we are receiving is authentic.  And I have to admit, when it comes to electronic communication vs. face to face, I have to say, “Mea culpa.”  I am most definitely guilty. 

 

What it comes down to for me is this.  It is up to us to be intentional about how we use technology. We must control it and not let it control us. Let’s develop strategies and plans about how and when we will use it.  Most of all, let’s commit to as much face to face (or at least voice to voice) communication as possible.  That is where relationships are built and that is where they grow. Let’s listen to understand and let’s speak with respect.

 

Sometimes, it’s important to remember to close our laptops and put down our phones. Otherwise, we may become, as the Eagles sang in, “Hotel California,” prisoners of our own device.

 

Make it a great week!