Wired, Wireless and Alienated?
All human affairs proceed in a dialectical fashion with progression and
regression in constant play. Good and bad results emerge from every innovation.
As the media world becomes more complex and more demanding, a high tech citizen
runs the risk of becoming unhappy and confused. We know that better access to
procedures and information is a decisive advantage for people who can use the
information. In the early days of the www, there was discussion of the
"emergence of a global brain paradigm for modeling the world." However, humans
have a limited ability to embrace other humans and are quickly over-loaded by
information that is not immediately relevant. Smart phones replace the really
real with a virtual artifact that distracts and deceives. Some smart people are
happy to leave the cell phones in a drawer and leave the hectic lives for a
nature retreat. They value the natural world and celebrate opportunities to
reconnect with their “inner self” and nature. Carl Jung suggested: “Too much man
makes a sick animal. Too much animal makes a sick man.”
Humans have long lived in small groups and travelled to join assemblies of
other groups. These gatherings have become highly organized affairs with formal
presentations and social interactions. Real meetings have important features
that virtual interactions such as email, text messages, chat rooms and social
networks lack. Humans rely on seeing facial expressions, body language and
observing the coordination of speech with gestures. Without access to a real
person, the information is always incomplete. The frequency of rude and angry
emails and comments posted on bulletins boards are problems with virtual
communications. Internet etiquette has emerged to reduce angry responses. A
smart communicator will delay a response to an irritating message and will
consider how to reply in a diplomatic manner. Internet users worry about loss of
privacy, but the real danger is that a sicker animal may emerge who is
comfortable in virtual reality but disoriented and destructive in the real
world.
The cell phone evolved into a handheld personal
computer that is changing the nature of communications and data networks
worldwide. The cell phone offers undeniable advantages in the developing world,
providing communication links that never existed before. In Africa, for example,
cell phones are often the only way for people to communicate. Copper wire or
fiber optic links may never be installed in the poorer regions of the world.
In affluent countries smart phones have some benefits but increasingly possess
their users, distracting them from the real world and the value of live, face to
face human interactions.
An economist report on telecoms in emerging markets suggested:" being able to
make and receive phone calls is so important to people that even the very poor
are prepared to pay for it. In places with bad roads, unreliable postal
services, few trains and few landlines, mobile phones can substitute for travel,
allow quicker and easier access to information on prices, enable traders to
reach wider markets, boost entrepreneurship and generally make it easier to do
business. A study by the World Resources Institute found that as
developing-world incomes rise, household spending on mobile phones grows faster
than spending on energy, water or anything else. In 2000 the developing
countries accounted for around one-quarter of the world’s 700 million mobile
phones. By the beginning of 2009 their share had grown to three-quarters of a
total which by then had risen to over 4 billion… In rich countries most (mobile
phone) services have revolved around trivial things like sharing gossip, music
downloads and mobile gaming. In poor countries data services such as
mobile-phone-based agricultural advice, health care and money transfer could
provide economic and developmental benefits. Beyond that, mobile networks and
low-cost computing devices are poised to offer the benefits of full internet
access to people in the developing world in the coming years
The business leaders of the information age are highly competitive and
believe that they are in a race. The race has only to do with business
competition and profits not the well-being of their obedient customers. The
world would be a better place if everyone slowed down and made more gradual
transitions from one state to another. There is no race. There is nowhere to go.
We are already here. Who is fooling whom?
There are potential benefits. There are some hazards. Most internet users
will have limited ability to understand how to find the best information and
will default to slogans and seek free entertainment. Social networking sites are
popular because they are free and entertaining. The Face Book idea is that you
can advertise yourself, acquire friends and become a friend of many others. The
real effect is that the meaning of friend is deflated. Real friends are rare and
need to be cherished. Virtual friend are not friends at all. There is a
possibility that meaningful relationships can develop after online contact, but
this is not probable. There is a risk that your personal information may be used
against you.
People need to worry about the loss of privacy, manipulation and control of
their minds. A hidden danger is that a sick human may emerge who is comfortable
in virtual reality but disoriented and destructive in the real world. Nice
people watching TV in their living room are already more comfortable in the
virtual world of television programming and are often confused about what is
really going on out there. Humans with smart phones are living in a strange
virtual reality that captures them like prisoners who are no longer free. I
would suggest that “Smartphone” is a misnomer. These devices should be called
“dumb phones” since they preoccupy the user’s time and attention and replace the
real world and real intelligence with a compressed somewhat chaotic virtual
reality.
