Does technology distract us from thoughts and feelings?
Mingle
Veteran
I have been one of those people for most of my life that could never seem to walk anywhere without my headphones in listening to music. Lately though I have found that it is nice just to listen to nature, I mean why must I constantly be stimulated all the time?
I have sorta adopted the notion that this constant need for stimulation is not allowing us to listen to our bodies. I explained this to a girl the other day and she said I sound very "spiritual" in saying so but that is not spiritual at all. In the same way alcohol can distract us from our feelings can technology? Things like Facebook, TV, and gaming do they kind of just numb us down so we can ignore ourselves?
My friend told me he started going on walks in the morning just for the hell of it and I think that's great. Doing things just for the hell of it with no real intent then just being alone with yourself and not technology must really be a way to let go.
Also do you reckon google can be a cause of thinking too much? I am always using google, having the answers constantly at the end of my arm means I am free to analayse everything. I don't think if can be good for me.
Anyway at least I ditched Facebook a few years ago. That was baaaaaad. Its the most egotistical attention seeking site I've ever seen. It's also possibly making people depressed (don't know if that's been proven but it makes sense) with these constant updates of "friends" perfect lives which makes you compare yourself to them. I found when I deleted mine most of these people don't even notice when you're gone. Those that do are your true friends. Never looked back and it has only been a relief ditching that silly network I would really recommend it.
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@Mingle
This is my google search engine nowadays
On a more serious note...No I don't think it does, because technology is just like any other phenomena that conjurers up the thoughts and feelings that charm the mind (hence why we apply the Dharma to help free the mind from the thoughts & feelings charming nature)... Bearing in mind, we live in a world full of technological wonder ....
I guess everything in moderation is the way to go..... avoiding the two extremes.....
Alan Watts puts it "this" way ....
"Don't desire to give up more desire than you can, and if you find this a problem, then don't desire to be successful at giving up more desire than you can! " (eventually one will reach the "middle way" or one could say "moderation")
Yeah, banish Farcebook from your life! Stick your "I"Phone in a bucket of water! Liberate yourselves from the Matrix! Get back to nature, dig those natural sounds, hug trees! Yeah, baby, yeah!
I think it is difficult to use technology skilfully. You can get swept up in using the Internet as an extension of your brain, and your contacts with other people. The immediacy is very seductive.
It's a question of moderation. If you can limit your usage to once in a while, and uses with an actual purpose, then I think you are doing well. If on the other hand you end up using it for purposeless chit-chat with everyone you know then you are teetering on the edge.
Facebook I treat as just an address book. I have an account, but I never look at my front page or timeline. I just add people once in a while.
Does technology distract us from thoughts and feelings? Yes, if we let it. No if we don't. But it's up to us to control. I think technology is fairly benign and passive in this regard. A different version of the question might be "Do we distract ourselves instead of focusing on our thoughts and feelings?"
It isn't the technology or the alcohol that actually distract us. It's us that distracts us. We just find different tools to do so with. If you find you are distracting yourself with anything, then you are. Other people might be using the same thing and not distracting themselves. One absolutely can use the internet, even Facebook, listen to music, etc mindfully. But if you are worried you are using it as a distraction, then you probably are. That is what our society is set up to do. All our sporting events, concerts, entertainment tv, it is distraction for most of us away from ourselves. We're afraid to look into ourselves, and so we don't. Once you start to realize it, there is no going back. Sorry for the bad news
lol
Being a parent of youngish children the thing that concerns me the most is how much technology is integrated into their daily lives. School especially. I know it is just “progress” but when I look back at what school was like when I was growing up it seems like the “stone age” in comparison. It is so much easier to get caught up in the grasp of electronics, games, social media etc. Feels like kids are maturing much faster than ever before. I wish the schools took more of an active role in teaching responsible use of technology.
I try to limit it as much as I can, but it becomes harder and harder the older they get. I try to teach my kids to not fall victim to “everything on the internet is real” and to not blindly believe everything they read without doing their own research. I try really, really hard to emphasis that they should find things out for themselves and make their own conclusions based on that.
Mostly I just stay involved and make sure I know what they are looking at or are into, if nothing more than to be able to talk to them about it.
@Richdawson I was just having a related discussion with friends about that topic yesterday. Our school has ipads, but the kids tell me they are mostly used for games rather than school work. I don't think the school should be allowing that. Most of them spend far enough time in screen games outside of school. Free time is important but they should be more so encouraging activities versus screens for that time, IMO. It is hard. My kids are 20, 14 and 8. But, unfortunately this is the direction our world is going and if they don't exposure to this stuff at home (and some do not) then school is the only thing that'll help prepare them for how college and the working world go right now. My oldest is in his second year of college and it is so vastly different from when I went even 15 years ago (I went back in my mid 20s). Everything is electronic. Classes use digital books, Dropbox, clickers, all sorts of things that I've never even heard of. Business takes it another step further. My husband is the supervisor for a team of people that work 250 miles away. All their work is in video conferencing and so on. That is just how things are right now and preparing for it is important. That said, I think most schools don't do a very good job. Ours is a low income district, and the ipads were from a grant. So they have some technology but aren't able to implement it in a meaningful way due to budget, so, they are just another toy, which is a shame.
One of the reasons things can feel so sad is that the internet with its social media pretends to bring people closer together when in fact it places barriers between them ... that's how the sad gets in.
Everything is electronic. Classes use digital books, Dropbox, clickers, all sorts of things that I've never even heard of. Business takes it another step further. My husband is the supervisor for a team of people that work 250 miles away. All their work is in video conferencing and so on. That is just how things are right now and preparing for it is important.
Yes to all of the above. My son's junior and senior years in high school he was impatient with the teachers who didn't accept homework as an emailed pdf. He's now at an engineering university, and absolute mastery of technology is a mandate.
In my own world, it has been over 10 years since I've lived in the same state as my boss. All backoffice is remote, including HR. IT and AP/AR are overseas. And at our site the front-line workers (mechanics, electricians, etc) have laptops and iPhones. The managers are remarkably fluent with technology and it's second nature to them, like driving a car.
Schools have "I"Pads?! Sheer luxury. We had a blackboard but no chalk, we ate the chalk for our dinner and thought it was a treat.
The problem is here, you all think ^^He^^ is kidding.... Trust me, if you've never stood in a playground at break-time, drinking frozen milk in the winter (no, nothing like ice-cream!) and warm, near-rancid milk in the summer, you haven't enjoyed the pleasure-stores of being a primary-school child in 60's UK...!
You had milk?! We also had homocidal nuns who loved to rap you on the knuckles with a ruler!
Oh, yeah, we had those. We were convinced - until their habits were altered to a new shorter design - that they had no feet, but either castors, or cloven hooves... and hair. They had no hair.
Except, they did. Which again, surprised us when they began to wear less galleon-in-full-sail coifs and veils....
Our Maths teacher, Sister Kathleen, was my nemesis. We couldn't stand each other....
"Federica! How on earth are you ever going to get a job if you can't do algebra?!"
"WHat the hell makes you think I'm even going to look for a job that NEEDS algebra - ?!"
(Detention....!)
And -
"Girls, come on, use your brains! You won't have a calculator with you all the time when you grow up, you know!"...Oh....hang on.....
You had a calculator?!
I vaguely remember something like this, though we ate most of the counters when the chalk ran out:
it's a bacus....
You had an abacus? Sheer luxury. We were lucky if we still had all ten fingers!
Ten! Luxury! I only have eight, but I have two green thumbs....
Opposable thumbs?! Sheer luxury! We could only dream of being primates!
I never mentioned them being opposable, clever-dick.....
Hopefully @SpinyNorman won't say, "Dick? Sheer luxury!"
Who dear, me dear, no dear.