The Value of Modern Technology

I have mixed feelings about some of our comparatively recent developments technology.

I love that I can digitize manuscripts for work and listen to them on headphones while I do housework or sewing. Still, I hate that the coffee shop I was in yesterday was completely filled with college students but that every one of them was alone, silent, and was listening to an iPod or texting. I hate that I can hardly have a conversation with some people without them not-so-subtly looking down and reading—and sometimes responding to—a text they received. I hate hearing a cell phone go off during church, a movie, or a funeral (yes, it happens). I hate that personal technology has made a large portion our populace completely self-absorbed and incredibly rude.

I love that if I know I've seen that guy somewhere when I'm watching a movie at home I can quick look him up on IMDB and figure out what else I've seen him in. I love that if I'm curious about a reference to an event or person or phenomenon I can Google it and find lots of information on it. But I hate that I can also find lots of ill-informed opinions on it, as well as completely unrelated and repetitive blinking and moving advertisements on the web pages.

I love hilarious little things on YouTube and FailBlog and WhenParentsText and NickHolmes. But I hate that so much of it encourages me to laugh at the misfortune of others and that I always end up thinking more about how dumb some people are rather than setting my mind on noble things.

When it comes down to it, do the Internet and smart phones and iPods really enrich life? I have serious doubts about this.

My friend Ted blogged this week about the illusion of shared consciousness and experience that you get from Facebook and the blogosphere when it comes to reading about big news like Osama bin Laden's death. I highly recommend reading it.

Reading his blog post got me thinking again on this question of whether the Internet serves me or I serve the Internet or whether there is a healthy balance one can strike. Two years ago I gave up Facebook for Lent. I didn't really miss it a whole lot. So why did I pick it back up again? It's an easy way to share pictures. For some people it's how they follow this blog. There's no harm in it, really.

Were those my real reasons? Well, partly. As uncomfortable as it makes me to admit it, I think a bigger reason was that I wanted people to read my ramblings and think I was clever. I wanted people to be interested in me. I wanted them to tell me what great photos I took and how cute my son was.

And the more I recognize this, the more uncomfortable it makes me.