Getting away from technology?

The last two posts are spot on.

You can use it and control it or you can let in use you. You are the common denominator.

I look at it like this. Kids today are a pale shadow of kids not to long ago. 17 and 18 year old with no common sense or ability to care for themselves. Nor a need to really as technology does many things for them. Where as an 18 year old use to be independent and generally well on their way to a family. It has made people lazy. And it WILL come to a sudden stop. And your going to have a bunch of crazies running around. We have created a society of zombies and nosey bodies. Which is what most of Fb is. Keeping up with the Jones. Technology has made things easier and people dumber in general. With everything on a database that will crash vs a book that can be forever. Yes it is nice to talk to family on Skype or whatever. But my belief is that families should stay close together. Much like bible times. We are building a family farm and business. One where my children can build a home and raise a family. Works much better than spreading out around the world. Then it's all face to face time. I'm not saying all technology is bad. But much of it is for convenience not necessity..

I am sorry you only know those kind of kids. I know lots that prove you wrong. I know lots of families ( mine for one) that are spread all over the world and are still as close as any that reside in the same town or on the same street. Lots of parents raise children with great values and a sense of home that don't want the same life as their parents.

While I really no longer see a microwave as a piece of "technology" in the same vein as being discussed here, I do have one and use it daily (warming only...I do not "cook" with it).

As for tech, I have a computer (and it's a nice one), DH has a flip phone, and we have assorted cameras and such, but that's about it. No tablets, no "smart" stuff, no secret agent stuff like wrist watches you can talk into or anything of that sort .

To me, technology is a tool, not the be all/end all of modern existence...I use what I want and basically ignore the rest.

On a side note, Maddy mentioned something about having a tablet shoved into the face at a doctor's office and I did want to have a say about that...

Having/using technology simply for the sake of doing it is, IMO, part of the problem some folks have with it. For example, when I got my glasses a couple of years ago, what did they present me with to fill out the forms for the visit? A tiny little tablet with a crappy display that even someone with GOOD vision would have a tough time reading! I took it, went back to my seat to fill out the forms, and promptly returned it to the receptionist and said "REALLY? Most folks in here "do" have bad eyesight, right?". She reluctantly handed me a clipboard with a paper form to fill out, giving me the stink eye as I took it from her.

Seriously...in a place where the ONLY reason someone walks in is to get something to help them see BETTER and they're handed something to fill out they can't SEE well enough to fill out?

Its not just kids I know. It's the ones you see on the news each day and the ones who do horrific acts. These kids were not all raised by parents. Most by technology their parents pawned them off on. Look nation wide. Lower test scores, lower iq's and lower job participation rates than ever. Now what is different between the youth of yester year and the youth of today? Technology and the advancements of such things that require less thought and less involvement.

I broke your post into paragraphs to make it readable. The concept of a paragraph is that it focuses statements within it around a concept, generally with a single sentence being the core of it and the other sentences supporting that core. Run-on thought is most often not cogent, and the domain of mania. As such, it generally gets ignored.

After dissection, your first and last paragraphs expose a common troubling issue and show evidence that you examine your life. Well done. I'll get back to that in a bit.

Paragraph #2 about the various forms of electromagnetic radiation simply repeats the complete nonsense and fear-mongering that is endemic to the internet. I doubt that a tenth of the authors of such tripe know the difference between amplitude modulation and frequency modulation, the wavelength range considered as "microwave," sympathetic vibrational frequencies, the difference between electomagnetic fields, beams, and gamma and other hard radiation, etc. Microwave emissions have been around since the 1940s in the form of radar and telephonic links and have been used in therapy, where people were exposed to large doses with no negative effects (and only a few positive ones).

The third paragraphs cites an amorphous "they" and then goes on to imply a link between mental over-stimulation and Alzheimers. Rubbish. If anything, Alzheimers is DELAYED by increased neural connections built by a stimulated brain.

Your fourth paragraph again implies an unsupported link between technology and medication use, while ignoring other factors such as dietary changes.

While those argument-supporting center paragraphs simply do not pass a sniff test, your concern over the excesses of technology has insight and value.

In particular, cell phone use has become a force that reduces the individuation of children. Constant environmental feedback and the elimination of conundrums that have to be resolved without outside help can cripple the development of independent critical thinking. Getting information in short snippets that can fit on a cell phone screen is bound to reduce the depth of thought and promote simplistic stereotypes.

We keep a cell phone for emergency use. I think that is has been used a total of about ten minutes in the past six months. This is even though I was one of the earliest car-phone adopters in the last century. That phone had a specific purpose and was never used for casual chat.

I do sit at a computer much of the time, but it is used as a tool like a lathe or chainsaw. "Precious time with family" is subjective. When kids are growing up, it can be important if it exists. Often it doesn't, and technology acts as a buffer limited strained and antagonistic interactions. I remember the days before computers and cell phones when I would head out the door and into the forests to get the personal space I needed and avoid the arguments I had no interest in.

Technology may seem like the big problematic object to you, but I challenge you that a lot of families have problems with interpersonal skills that exist with or without technology, and only work on those skills will put technology in a more balanced position in their lives.

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George Washington did not run and hide.

You seem to be looking at the past with rose colored glasses. Lots of horrific acts perpetrated by the youth of yesterday. Lots of parents not involved in their children lives. technology may be the tool they use now but it has existed throughout history. That is human nature.

Lower test scores, lower job participation rates can all be attributed to bad teachers, bad parents, bad economy.

There is at least part of your answer...it's not the tech, but those who are responsible for the upbringing of the children.

You could use a similar analogy as some who are pro-gun (myself included)...guns don't kill, people do. A gun is a tool, plain and simple and the same could be said of tech...it is a tool and how it's used is up to the user.

I'll focus on just this statement due to time restraints. Interpersonal skills in a family are developed by the environment from which they are subject to. I use technology on a daily basis. Such as phone, Internet microwaves and the such. My op is about how it would be nice to not have to rely so much on this things. And while you may want to dismiss the effects of such things, much like people did with Monsanto and gmo products in the beginning, it does not mean they are not taking place. A study done in Switzerland last year studied the effects of cellphone, microwave and wireless emf empulses on patients with alzhiemers. They studied brain waves before and after and the severity of symptoms for 30 days. Then they did the same for 30 days with zero subjection to any of these things. The results were astounding. They had 80% less symptoms associated with the disease. 80‰ more cognitive response than when subject to them. This means something to me as I have family who suffer from this disease. So I've read a good bit on it. Again. I have no problem with technology abs user it daily. But where would we truely be of wwe used much less of it and used much more personsl means of communication and contact. As well as good old fashioned hard work and sweat.

We made technology available to our kids to give them a good start in todays work world. It helped them a lot to get the jobs they have. We just didn't let them sit around all day in front of it. Both don't like it but it is a necessary evil in their jobs. I used it in my job, until I retired. All we have now is a cell phone and a battery clock, we do have 12v solar elec. and 24v micro hydro. Otherwise all off grid, here. Last winter we took advantage of on grid elec. at our beach cottage because I had had surgery on my ankle. We like our peace and quiet. I feel as a society we are losing some interpersonal relationships because of it but would never begrudge anyone. modern technology or judge them because of their choices....James

All things in our lives have a cost benefit ratio. I've had microwaves in past. Lets see I warmed coffee, popped corn, and occasionally tried to bake a potato which never turned out very well. Then they started making them cheaper and cheaper quality so you are now lucky to get one that lasts 3 years.

Just not worth it to me. Started using an old thermos made in 1970s to keep my coffee warm. Found a $2 air popper at Salvation Army. And do lot of my cooking in a 1940s Minitmaid pressure cooker. Its faster and does better job preparing meals than microwave ever did.

As to electronics I mostly use a $20 desktop pc somebody else gave up on. Have couple or three old $10 laptops that I really dont use much since I just dont leave my place very often and dont tend to need computer when I do. Backups if my desktop fails I guess. The smart phones and tablets dont attract me at all, they have too small of a screen for my old eyes and are tied to Apple or Google in an extreme way. You have to deal with Apple or Google to get any third party software. Dont like that.

Had smartphone at one point, mostly to tether computer. More annoying thing, cant imagine. Now have a $10 a month flip phone. It works pretty well so will be deleting my $25 a month landline that doesnt offer anything more, the landline phone company doesnt even offer me DSL. And dialup internet is now pretty well pointless.

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"What would you do with a brain if you had one?" -Dorothy

"Well, then ignore what I have to say and go with what works for you." -Eliot Coleman

This isn't about just physical illnesses. It's more about us as people and a society. It's more about personal relationships and contact. It's more about actually education and real life experiences that we can apply to our everyday lives that many technologies deminish. Many many studies show the effects of our fast pace technological society has on relationships and health. I'm just saying I think we could do with a little less of it and a little more personal relationships and a little more physical involvement in life than a virtual one.

Anything can have a bad affect on relationships if you allow it. Relationships are work whether a tool is used or not. Don't blame it on things, blame it on people.

Those who can't balance the use of technology in their lives and relationships should step back but professing that technology is the reason does not cut it. It is nothing more than an excuse.

I drag my feet with technology....but in the end, I embrace it. It's the way of the world and no matter how much we want to avoid the world-technology is how the world relates. If we want to have any influence in what is to come, we need to be able to communicate the way the world communicates - especially for our children. If they want to get jobs, they need to know technology. I can already feel the split between me and much of the young of today by how they talk. We cannot stop it.

How far you go to embrace it is a question you will have to answer for your family. I think every generation has had questions about the abilities of the rising generation. I think over usage of technology is a symptom, not the disease.

That's exactly what I did. I have a no contract cell phone and air card.

You can't lump all kids together like that. My son isn't like that nor are his friends. He's almost Eagle and independent. He does online gaming but also has a job and is active in youth group. See, there's a balance. However, he's nowhere ready to start a family. and while we geographically are close to family now, there was a long period of time where we lived all over the U.S. We loved it and it broadened our minds and made us open to different people, cultures and lifestyles.

A certain amount of tech is OK but everybody's been overdoing it. I like the info and connection the computer gives me, but I don't have a cell ph, didn't like it when I did cuz I'm not a talker. I know certain jobs require constant connection nowdays but It still seems weird to me to see people walking around all over the place talking on a portable phone. Gaming can easily be bad for kids, it's an education in impractical idleness. they need a farm to spend their time on, learning to grow their food and care for animals. It develops a practical common sense that nothing else can produce which will affect them for life. When I get a bit close to modern kids with all their gadgets, I soon realize how disadvantaged they are and impractical they are. They know nothing about surviving in a world where they need to coax food from the earth. It's soon going to backfire on them. Can't eat smart phones and vid games u know. And this world isn't always going to be as easy going as we've had it in the last 70 years. I'm expecting to see serious food shortages not too far off. Weve always spurned the microwaves, since it was proven that eating microwaved food depresses the immune system. get the young people well educated in wilderness survival and old fashioned homesteading and they won't panic when the grocery stores empty out and the gas pumps run dry.

I heard a restaurant manager talking once, he said he hired lots of young people on their first job. 3 out of 4 lasted no longer than 2 weeks, they liked to get paid but didn't want to work for it. The whole agriculture system suffers from lack of good help. I read an article in a garden center news mag I get that was all about the serious lack of workers that were capable of doing anything practical. They focesed on a store in the NE US, they tried to hire local people and can't find anyone who had the practical skills to do the stuff that needs doing around the garden center in a reliable efficient manner. So they turn to foreign labor and find what they need in those who were born where there were no electronic gadgets and they learned practical work early in life. We have developed, in general, a whole generation of computer smart, video gaming fools who can't do a lick of real work, and the foreigners have taken over the practical jobs. Even our local sawmills out here in the country have plenty of mexicans working there.
It's really not so much the fault of the gadgets as it is the lack of a practical education that the gadgets aren't providing, and parents aren't either. And the schools are designed to teach book learning and gaming as well. Not really any practical work education. It's missing. The child growing up on the small farm with a wide mix of things going on was the best place to get it.

The first cell ph I got had a simple video game on it. I started playing it, and quickly realized how addictive it can get. And just how useless as well. Being quite physically adept I soon got so fast at it that I overworked the game and it burned out. I was glad it was gone. Finally quit the phone since I wasn't using it much and the bill was too much.

Didn't have Electric or Phone until I was in my 40's. I enjoy my Gadgets waaaay too much.

big rockpile

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Here is a thought.

Oops this is what i meant to post.