I have always known that technology has had a way of taking over my life, I have just never wanted to accept it. The readings and videos that I have researched this week have really opened my eyes to the fact that technology has really taken over everyone’s lives.
In Paul Miller’s TED talk, he talks about how he shut technology completely out of his life for an entire year. The word that he used the most in his discussion was intense. He had intense feelings when he talked to people face to face and actually connected with them more. He had more time to do the things that he actually wanted to do and had a sense of freedom. Sure, he missed out on some things such as online invites but he also created so many close relationships in his life and was more attentive to the things that were going on around him. When he finally let technology back into his life he said it was so overwhelming, but at this point he had learned how he needs to balance his mindful pauses from technology. My favorite part from the video was at the very end, when he used an example of a tweet that he posted about a child’s misconception of light sabers. One of his friends told him that if he would have been engulfed into his technology then he would have missed it, BUT, if he had not posted it then they would have missed seeing it. This is perfect for showing that we just need to find the happy medium and use technology mindfully.
In a reading called Simplify The Internet, it really points out some great points in a very organized way. It talks about how we need to refine our following. This is huge for me, some people make it a competition to have the most followers or follow the most people. This really cuts out on seeing the information that is really relevant to you. I do feel like 100 people on twitter is a lot to follow and consumes a lot of time when there are so many other things to do in this crazy thing we call life. It also points out that we do not need to be active all day, we can check in twice and that is OK. This is huge also, so many people keep their social media sites up all day long and let it distract them from their tasks. We need to learn to close it and just check in every now and then. I encourage everyone to read this article because it really does have a lot of good points, and really opens your eyes to new things that I think we all should try.
I think people in general need to be more attentive to their personal relationships. When you go out to eat with someone, or when you visit someone, do not be on your phone. This is time to build relationships, not stare at social media. This is a time when we need to stop multi tasking and pay attention to our beautiful lives around us. We are not truly present if we are scrolling social media and attempting to have a conversation all at once. We miss out on relationships and exciting events if we are permanently tethered to our devices. At the same time, when we are online we also need to attentive. For example all of my classes are online. Sometimes I struggle with keeping myself on track and taking one task at a time. I look at everything I need to do and I panic and try to do it all in a mess, when really I just need to take one class at a time. Even in my panic I find myself opening a Facebook or a pinterest tab, and I really need to not do this. I need to stay on task and I will get things done more efficiently with a lot less stress. Technology is a beautiful things, and has opened so many doors in life, however, I am a FIRM believer that it has many negative impacts, and we really need to realize how much it consumes us at times.