A person who seems to be traveling everywhere on a one person vigil against National Black Microwave abuse oppression, Moron Microwave technology, Lipstick Fungus offenses and Street fungus abuse made her way through our building the other day and handed out her materials.
After a quick WTF? I googled the terms and quickly found a blog tracking her. I created a link on my blog to see what is new.
Mar 26, 2008
Mar 22, 2008
You Have Meddled With the Laws of Nature
In the 1976 movie Network, Howard Beale, the mad prophet of the airwaves told everyone after preaching the truth in his show ” Get up out of your chairs, go to the window and yell out I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it any longer”.
Now in 2008 I find myself thinking similar thoughts.
“Get up off your computer. Shut off your cell phone. Go out and do something totally unfamiliar to you. Say Hello to a stranger, Make a friend in person. Draw a picture, paint a painting.
Go down to the basement and make a birdhouse out of the scraps of wood sitting around.
Find some way to use your mind instead of letting the computer mindlessly do it all for you.
Don’t worry about checking all your RSS feeds and Emails. Don’t worry if you have more unknown friends added to your MySpace account. Don’t worry if you are 20 points away from the next level in Runescape. Don’t worry about creating a second life. They will always be there to come back to when you are ready to waste your time on them.
Just go out there and do something to enhance or develop your first life.
Sure there are many great uses for all these Web 2.0 tools, but they are only tools and some are just toys. Knowing about them and when and how to use them is great. Knowing when to let go or not use them is the key.
I can see how these can make a person more dependant on the computer wasting valuable time on things that never made any difference to them before they found out about them. Just because you know that you can have every interest piped to you does it really make you more informed or just more a slave to the computer.
Since doing the 23 things I myself have found myself wasting much more time checking up on all my new accounts and other blogs instead of doing anything productive or creative. Learn how to make the computer and technology work as tools to enhance your life, don’t become a slave to it. Your life won’t fall apart without the computer. Learning how to think and create without one could be the most valuable WEB 2.0 tool out there.
Now in 2008 I find myself thinking similar thoughts.
“Get up off your computer. Shut off your cell phone. Go out and do something totally unfamiliar to you. Say Hello to a stranger, Make a friend in person. Draw a picture, paint a painting.
Go down to the basement and make a birdhouse out of the scraps of wood sitting around.
Find some way to use your mind instead of letting the computer mindlessly do it all for you.
Don’t worry about checking all your RSS feeds and Emails. Don’t worry if you have more unknown friends added to your MySpace account. Don’t worry if you are 20 points away from the next level in Runescape. Don’t worry about creating a second life. They will always be there to come back to when you are ready to waste your time on them.
Just go out there and do something to enhance or develop your first life.
Sure there are many great uses for all these Web 2.0 tools, but they are only tools and some are just toys. Knowing about them and when and how to use them is great. Knowing when to let go or not use them is the key.
I can see how these can make a person more dependant on the computer wasting valuable time on things that never made any difference to them before they found out about them. Just because you know that you can have every interest piped to you does it really make you more informed or just more a slave to the computer.
Since doing the 23 things I myself have found myself wasting much more time checking up on all my new accounts and other blogs instead of doing anything productive or creative. Learn how to make the computer and technology work as tools to enhance your life, don’t become a slave to it. Your life won’t fall apart without the computer. Learning how to think and create without one could be the most valuable WEB 2.0 tool out there.
Feb 28, 2008
Another aside thought
I am looking forward to reading this book when it arrives.
The Dumbest Generation: How the Digital Age stupifies Young Americans and Jeopardizes our Future (Or, Don't Trust Anyone Under 30) by Professor Mark Bauerlein.
I have felt for a long time that the dependancy on Technology is changing society in drastic ways, some good, some bad. The home computers and probably cell phones now have more computing power than what was used to send the Apollo to the moon. The dependance on this power envelopes now every part of life from creativity, communication, analytical and computational skills, shopping and recreation. Kids no longer ride their bicycles around, hang out at the local swimming pool and play kick the can. They live at a computer screen playing Runestone or doing My Space. The computers are used to cut and paste or edit an image. No one picks up a paint brush or charcoal pencil to sketch something right from their mind.
The computer gives answers without doing the reasoning or thinking, The answers are taken as fact without researching or validating them.
I think that too much is being lost with the dependency of computers. 10 years ago we were able to work around and think out and solve a problem. I can't tell how many times I have witnessed the hysteria when the computers are down and the stores have to close, you can't do your banking, you can't book an airline ticket or check your bids on EBAY or worse yet you can't get on to MYspace or Email. Everything just shuts down including thinking and creatively thinking or manually working around the problems or even finding something else to do while the technology is down. There is the disparity where those that do not have computers or know how to use them are now forced to do so. Employment applications, Fafsa, Health Insurance claims, Immigration papers, the list goes on and on are all done via the computer now and many of those requireing these resources do not have the means to use them. To top it all they are told to go to the library for the resources and support.
We need to incorporate technology into our lives and education but not blindly depend on it. Print materials need to be retained to compliment electronic mediums not be replaced by electronic mediums. A diverse population needs to be helped not just those that are computer literate. Natural human skills need to be retained and nurtured and not replaced by a computer.
Web 2.0 is great but it is already moving into 3.0 or beyond and many are still in pre web or 1.0 and as we advance on we have to educate and provide resources for everyone not just those that are ahead in the curves. We have to balance technology with traditional resources. How we use technology is just as important as knowing when or how not to use it. The physical world has so many things to learn from, I hope the Cyber World does not replace it with a holodeck.
The Dumbest Generation: How the Digital Age stupifies Young Americans and Jeopardizes our Future (Or, Don't Trust Anyone Under 30) by Professor Mark Bauerlein.
I have felt for a long time that the dependancy on Technology is changing society in drastic ways, some good, some bad. The home computers and probably cell phones now have more computing power than what was used to send the Apollo to the moon. The dependance on this power envelopes now every part of life from creativity, communication, analytical and computational skills, shopping and recreation. Kids no longer ride their bicycles around, hang out at the local swimming pool and play kick the can. They live at a computer screen playing Runestone or doing My Space. The computers are used to cut and paste or edit an image. No one picks up a paint brush or charcoal pencil to sketch something right from their mind.
The computer gives answers without doing the reasoning or thinking, The answers are taken as fact without researching or validating them.
I think that too much is being lost with the dependency of computers. 10 years ago we were able to work around and think out and solve a problem. I can't tell how many times I have witnessed the hysteria when the computers are down and the stores have to close, you can't do your banking, you can't book an airline ticket or check your bids on EBAY or worse yet you can't get on to MYspace or Email. Everything just shuts down including thinking and creatively thinking or manually working around the problems or even finding something else to do while the technology is down. There is the disparity where those that do not have computers or know how to use them are now forced to do so. Employment applications, Fafsa, Health Insurance claims, Immigration papers, the list goes on and on are all done via the computer now and many of those requireing these resources do not have the means to use them. To top it all they are told to go to the library for the resources and support.
We need to incorporate technology into our lives and education but not blindly depend on it. Print materials need to be retained to compliment electronic mediums not be replaced by electronic mediums. A diverse population needs to be helped not just those that are computer literate. Natural human skills need to be retained and nurtured and not replaced by a computer.
Web 2.0 is great but it is already moving into 3.0 or beyond and many are still in pre web or 1.0 and as we advance on we have to educate and provide resources for everyone not just those that are ahead in the curves. We have to balance technology with traditional resources. How we use technology is just as important as knowing when or how not to use it. The physical world has so many things to learn from, I hope the Cyber World does not replace it with a holodeck.
Jan 29, 2008
Jan 27, 2008
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