Techno-junkie or techno-flunkie?

Every morning, the Record and Northsider teams have a quick meeting to discuss the day’s events, plan the stories for our website and (on Mondays) discuss the past weekend’s appointments.

This Monday, I asked trusted journalist Riaan van Zyl to write an article about the good and bad effects technology has on young children, especially those who are addicted to computers, TV and cellphone games.

Riaan referred to a book called Deep Thinking, Where Artificial Intelligence Ends and Human Creativity Begins, written by Garry Kasparov, in which Kasparov said we haven’t lost free will, we have gained time that we don’t yet know what to do with, and referred to the fact that we so often turn to technology to find our way or kill time. Humans, apparently, no longer say, “I know”; instead they say, “I know where to find it”.

I remember long ago, while travelling to an interview with a national author and motivational speaker in Rivonia with a friend (who was driving), being asked to check the street guide to see where we were supposed to go, probably because electronic road-map devices weren’t on the market yet. Anyway, we were driving down Rivonia Road and I was trying to figure out where we were. After studying the book for a while, I asked her which way we were going. She said (while pointing to the road in front of us), “This way”. Needless to say, I cannot, for the life of me, read a road map – I get lost with a Garmin!

Riaan then told us that his wife, who is a journalist at the Record’s sister paper, the Randfontein Herald, got horribly lost one day, but, instead of using Google Maps (which is now freely available) to determine her location, she called her husband, because that is what husbands are for, isn’t it?

Being his helpful self, he asked her where she was. He wanted to determine the closest intersection and asked her in which direction her car was pointing (meaning north, south etc). She replied, “To the front.”

I guess I’m not the only one who gets lost in the North or South – but wait – it’s West actually (I think?).

What I’m getting at is that we rely so much on technology to make our way through life, that some people have lost the ability to think for themselves. Although I take my hat off to anybody who knows their way around a computer. But on the plus side, technology can also be very helpful, especially with staying in touch with people who are not close by. Technology shouldn’t take over your life, though.

How much do you rely on technology in your everyday life?

Until next week, take care of one another.

Ciao