Is Technology Destroying our Minds?

We have always had technology, so that is not the prroblem... The complexity of our technology is such that it robs us of our independence... In primitive times, though the technology was complex enough, each person in every village was a microcosm of his native technology, able to do everything necessary for his own survival... Today, 80% of the people in America do nothing directly productive, and of those who do, many find they are making an insignificant contribution to a process of which they can see no beginning or end... They are alienated from the value they produce as much as to their part in it... In production they are robbed of the sense of value as much as robbed of the value...

Now; I have hunted and killed dear, and also had hides on several occasions that I have tried to tan... I have not, to date, been successful with one... It is a laborious process with difficult steps and is one easy to lose touch with in the process of modern living... Only dire necessity would ever make one do it on a regular basis, and yet, it was once, universally, a technology everyone knew, like how to start a fire, or build a shelter... I would recommend it for anyone trying to understand primitve people, because we are a product of primitive people as much as their leather was their product... But in doing all things for themselves they were independent is a way we will never equal... And so, they were free as we will never be free...

It is one fact you cannot hide from people, that they do not know enough of their technology, or of older technology to survive without it... And you may ask on occasion: How did I ever survive without this computer... The fact that you work harder to have it than you would without it may not cross your mind... The fact that you relate less to those near and dear to you may never cross your mind, but it is true as well... The great advantage to little technology is that it forced people to a high degree of social organization... They could not affored, as we cannot really afford -the absolute anarchy of our economy, and the dominance of that anarchy over our government...

We can endure it, we think, because the technology produces so much with so little individual effort...The price we pay for that ease is greater dependence, less satisfaction with our lives, greater uncertainty, more insecurity, and more unhappiness...

It cannot be argued that primitives were more unhappy... They knew fear, and want, labor and pain... They also had in each community the means to face and deal with the visicitudes of their lives... They lived and died by the efforts of their own hands, and even if they thanked God, or blamed fate, they knew their part in their own survival as we do not, so unlike them, we must demand injustice and accept injustice as the price of survival...

We know that objectively we deserve our misery, so our misery is complete, and we may live on every day wishing our lives away, for payday, for the weekend, for vacation, for retirement, for death, for anything that will break the cycle of pointless labor and alienation....

I did the same thing, but with paperback novels.

It's not like this is some new phenomenon that technology is causing; it's a phenomenon that technology is facilitating.

It's a frequent argument especially in the internet age, epitomized by the doomsday preaching of Nicholas Carr, who just recently published a book (What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains) and also runs a blog (Rough Type) on the matter. But the argument has been met with counterarguments, such as this review of Carr's book or Steven Pinker's recent op-ed.

It seems to me that technology destroys your mind only if you allow it to, and in my own experience there are at least as many people who don't allow it to as those who do. For every teenager texting in the hallways (assuming that is an accurate measure of minds being destroyed), there are people participating on chat forums to discuss it, as we're doing right now. So I'm not terribly worried about what technology is doing to us in that regard. And I agree that the dilemma is certainly not a new one anyway.

I was listening to a news program that interviewed a a neuroscientist that worked a study about internet addiction and the inhability to concentrate. He drew a strong correlation with habitual multitasking and progressive ADD-like symptoms even among those that did not have them before they were introduced to the internet. He concluded that the brain conforms to the manner of work we apply it to, which common wisdom already assumed.

me too

Ha I should have read the whole string, shapeless linked the guy i was thinking of

Reading novels is quite different. I, too, used to do that in high school. When I switched to text messaging, I found a considerable difference in how much information I was absorbing in class.
As far as other research is concerned, yes there is aplenty. Thank you for the links. I still think this is a topic worth speaking of. After all, it does effect the intelligence of many generations to come.

yeah i know for a fact that technology is destroying my mind, but it's actually want i was hoping for. there should be no excuse not to learn something these days.

Wow, what a good subject. One that's near and dear to my heart.

No, it's not destroying us, but it is changing us. As you conceded, technology brings us great things; from the most important to the most superficial. Unfortunately, it's had many effects - quite a number of which aren't so good.

This is a big subject with tons of mitigating factors. But rather than go into it too much, last year I wrote reviews for the Philosophy Forum on two outstanding books that examine the good and bad which technology has done for us. The first one is called "Devices of the Soul, Battling for Our Selves in the Age of Machines" and is is exceptional but more philosophical. It has some excellent examples of precisely what we're facing in the 21st century. The other one, "Distracted, The Erosion of Attention and the Coming of Dark Age" is more pragmatic, filled with tons of research and some excellent cautionary cases. The book reviews I've linked above give you a flavor of what these are about.

But in any case, I'd boil my whole feeling on this issue down to this: Each time we introduce something that changes the day to day human life, we must recognize that there are losses as well as gains; the extent to which we fail to deal with those downsides will constitute the final talley representing just how far we can fall (intellectually, physically and emotionally)

Thanks

I remember a history class where we read a text with a similar message---only that the "technology" was reading, and the people endangered by it were women. (Eighteenth-century conservatives feared that cheap book technology would make them pro-choice about whom to marry, and whether to marry and have kids at all. In a far-out scenario, they might even demand the vote. Ghastly, I tell you!)

Good question. Perhaps our bodies as well.

Ellen DeGeneris wrote a fun piece on technology. I'll find the title when the cat is not on my lap.

And if it's not destroying our minds and/or bodies - it's definitely destroying our manners.

Yesterday I took my mother to the doctor and before we'd even gotten up out of our chairs, her internist was looking at his cell phone - it hadn't rung- he just picked it up and started looking at it to read a text maybe- but he proceeded to dial and talk as we sat there and he called good-bye to us as we gathered our things and walked out the door.

I was appalled.

And I was thinking of this the other day - I now say things like 'Happy Graduation, Birthday, Congratulations on your new baby' on facebook instead of my old way of responding to life events by buying a card or present and sending it to the person.

I think Facebook, in terms of keeping in touch with a wider audience, is definitely a facilitator, but it engenders a more shallow communication in general - it's more about breadth of communication than depth of communication.
I think it's a sad step in the wrong direction- much as I like looking at pictures of people and their families that I'd otherwise not get to see.

Ha, yes. Damned if we do, damned if we don't use technology (or read). I am not saying that everyone should not be privied to information, nor am I suggesting that technology is bad. I am simply asking: what if we changed our attitudes toward technology and kept it out of our every waking moment?

I don't know that it's destroying our bodies as technology has brought us the Elliptical, heart rate monitors, and so on and so forth; but yes, our manners it doth destroy. Personally, I like it when a professional at any place of business speaks to me without distraction. I also like it when a guy i'm on a date with opens the door for me and isn't texting any other girls he might be seeing. I hate putting up "relationship status" on Facebook, but to remove oneself from these technologies, one would be removing their social life almost entirely.
Unlike passing notes in class, which takes skill and cunning, a text can be sent without any thought or trying. The utter ease of technology is unhealthy as it does not promote ingenuity or innovativeness. Then again, if I have a good idea, I like pulling out my phone and making a note before I forget. There are plenty of prose and cons, but in my last post I suggested the limitation of the invasion of electronics in our daily lives. This calls for an awareness, but I do think that our minds depend on it.

Well yea, and that's the key - to not over use (or use to a disproportionate detriment) the tools of technology that we do have available.

I fear; however, that innate to the human mind is an instilled attraction to positive "Bang for Buck"-scenarios - that whenever entertainments, comforts or securities come with little-or-no personal effort, that for most people there's an almost irresistible "Yeehaw!"; and that this causes us to spring headlong into use (or overuse) without mitigation. Examples are plentiful

sorry for the butt-in, but as I mentioned; this is a very active ideal for me as of late.

Thanks

"As a student, I see kids walking down the hall texting away. They barely notice when professors walk by. If they were not wrapped up in technology, they might have a worthwhile conversation with that professor and expand their minds. In class, it is the same way. Students do not pay attention or participate."

This did not come into play with technology. It is no unprecedented disaster that younger people do not wish to converse or interact with older people, it could probably be as old as the human race itself. We've only found more interesting ways to tune out. I think the benefits of long (or short) distance technology have far outweighed the cons.

"Teachers leave the teaching to the "smart boards". Tests are graded by scantrons and no one talks about the answers anymore."

This is strictly not true. Smart board presentations MUST be designed by someone, and even if it is downloaded from the internet, that would make the man who created it the teacher, not the man standing in the room. Either way, I feel it is wrong to blame the technology for the teacher's faults, and as a student I have seen technology used expertly to help drive home a point.

I am not blaming technology for anything. I'm sorry if you feel offended. I contended that technology is extremely useful and has many benefits. However, there are many cons as well. I do believe that a classroom is better when the teacher speaks to the students and doesn't rely heavily on power point presentations or the like. Texting has made it too easy for kids to tune out. I think these issues need to be at least examined or else we are doing our intellects a disservice. On a personal note, I have also seen technology used well, but I will admit to being biased by a high school education in which no computer technology was utilized in the classroom.

K. We are all the products of technology, and technoology is all around us, so the question is so general and ill defined as to be pointless to try to answer... If we assume technology as the high technology of communication or entertainment of today, we can come up with an answer, as you have... Consider, that even the poorest of us live as well as kings did only a few centuries back without as much responsibility, and whether we are made better in fact, or are just as worthless... I find cell phone and computer essential, even television at times... If the world moves quickly we must move with it... What we are doing en masse is ignoring the good advice of Aristippus to had daughter: To never set a value on anything you can live without... As we possess technology, we are possessed by it... It must be paid for by some one, and the waste of it is poison to the environment... If the other guy has better so must we...

Nationally, it is safe to assume that technology rather than numbers will win the next war... Internationally, it is reasonable to expect that we can all be controlled, as people are, by access to media, and by what information they can access on their media, and by the fact that no organization is possible that is not at the same time vulnerable to infiltration, and misinformation from Big Brother...

People reveal their directions, and prejudices by the e-books they read and the sites the visit... It is not paranoia to expect that there are arrests list for right and left based upon interrnet activity... If I was one of the government representing the wealthy and influential that is what I would do out of my paranoia... No one has to worry... If you are texting your friends, just talk of trivialities, because communication without thought is not dangerous, nor liberating...

The question is general so as to invite conversation. I grew up without television and attended a school without any computers. I believe this was much healthier than being bogged down by a virtual reality.
When I got to college, no one was interested in immersing themselves in the "real" world. My own boyfriend cannot function without a mac nearby which makes doing any outdoor activities like camping a struggle. So many people do not feel important unless they have a machine attached to their arm telling them "happy birthday" or reminding them of their appointments or telling them the weather. But, the machine does care about anyone. Our connection to technology is unhealthy. There is so much value in spending a day without a cell phone or computer. One can actually see what's around them and breathe easily without worrying about the battery life of their electronics or if someone can find them at all times.
As far as responsibility goes, technology gives us less time to relax, sleep, be alone, or reflect. It stresses us because it breaks. If we are taking notes on a netbook and it breaks, then all the notes are lost. Paper doesn't break. Pencils are easily obtained. Netbooks cost good money. And, I will reiterate, technology still has a place in this world and should be utilized in many ways. Having a cell phone is a great thing as it provides safety (the ability to call in an emergency from anywhere), convenience, and communication at the touch of a button. I'm not arguing against that. I'm arguing against the mass overuse of technology in many harmful ways.