Featured

Does modern technology make us less sensitive?

Since the dawn of time, we have developed, survived and evolved by making clever contraptions, witty devices and mighty machines. We made and used traps to catch food for the family. Crafted the Abacus to calculate and create numerical systems to shape the future. And let’s not forget the Invention of the wheel that has forever enabled us to get to our chosen destinations. So many dreams turned into reality like Steam trains, Electricity, radio waves, Film, Television, Mobile phones and the Internet. Since the second we were created we have been running faster and faster into the future, gaining stealth, power and a hunger to improve. Of course we celebrate how we are constantly emerging, but in this modern age of technology, are we forgetting the fundamental rules of love, family, friends and basic sympathy and becoming less sensitive and engrossed in technology?

Human interaction, what strange notion is this? Do you mean one human being talking to a complete stranger? You must mean via the Internet? You mean in person, face to face? I think I need to sit down. But why would we need to talk to a complete stranger. If we’re shopping in a supermarket we have self-serve available, with that welcoming, warm robotic female voice, that of course must ask for proof of age even when the customer is over 60 years old. But what about clothes, DVD’s, Books and items you can’t get in a supermarket? We can always shop online. The market online has become so popular and so vast, that in the space of an hour, you could buy all your groceries for the next fortnight, any luxuries or presents, and with the market available you could find the perfect pet food for an elephant and the finest bed for your cat.

Now what about general questions, advice, help and queries? We have to speak to a stranger, or a friend or a member of the family. Not when we have search engines just bursting out of our phones and connected devices. It seems such a ridiculous concept now, that if for example you wanted to know the perfect recipe for a Victoria sponge, you would maybe have to run across the road to a neighbour, or ring a friend. But now we have channels and videos that show us exactly how to ‘do it yourself’. Our phones, televisions and computers may seem like small devices offering a handful of applications but in actual fact, they hold a galaxy of information, a universe filled with worlds of data and activity, it’s not only ‘The Doctor’s Tardis’ that’s bigger on the inside.

We no longer catch up, or chat with the person wrapping our shopping because it’s delivered straight to our doors, and we don’t need to ring our auntie who’s amazing at cooking because all the ingredients and instructions are online. We text instead of calling someone, all of our photos are saved on the computer instead of printed so we can hold them, we even have ‘friends’ on social network sites that we have never even met in person. Are we possibly turning into robots? Maybe Apple or Microsoft will bring out a new type of Heart with USB slot’s so we can download emotions. Or perhaps an extended brain drive so we can get rid of old memories and store movies and music. Or perhaps we will start to obtain a robotic voice so that when we use voice recognition, it will understand the difference between us saying ‘call mum’ and ‘play Life on Mars by David Bowie’.

After a local, regional, national or worldwide shock or disaster, there is always a joke, meme or gif created to make light of the situation. They can range from sweet and simple to somewhat cruel and nasty. There is an atmosphere of bullying and ridicule across the internet. Some laugh at people falling over in videos, share pictures of real life horrors made into spoof mockery and read genuine online bullying represented as a joke.

So is modern technology making us less sensitive? We don’t need to engage in human interaction anymore when it comes to our personal lives but of course we still lead lives with learning, careers and activities that still require contact and conversation. Maybe the advance in technology will allow us to focus on more important things in our lives and we’ll still accomplish a sensitive lifestyle where it is needed. Or perhaps we will become a planet of robots without emotion and sensitivity and one day rule the universe.

Click to comment
To Top