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Why do we blame technology?
techie
India Veteran
It's fashionable among Buddhists to blame technology, that Twitter etc. keeps us engaged with trifles, or that video games/TV keep us over stimulated.
But isn't this a wrong conclusion? Even without technology, our own minds keep us over stimulated, preoccupied with trivial things, always chattering, etc. So are we not conveniently blaming technology when our own minds are the real culprit?
Just something to ponder.
4
Comments
Yes, we are the culprit. The internet, and pretty much everything else, are just tools. But I think most people know this, and when they say "social media is to blame" they are talking about the complexities of all the people using social media. Not the media itself.
Yes....
Yes....
An unskillful tradesperson will always blame their tools
Good call! I often here people (guilty myself! ) saying Facebook is this and Facebook is that.....
Facebook ain't the issue. It's how we relate to it and use it that matters.
Television is the same.....
And as for radio.... Insinuating itself as background noise, infiltrating our subconscious, making us hear things that are neither necessary or kind....
I know I'm British, but I avoided watching all the Inauguration Brouhaha yesterday.
I sadly though, caught snippets of it, including one item on how The new President proudly posted glorious pictures of the crowds at his inauguration, only to be forced to hastily take them down when people noticed they were actually pictures from Obama's. His own inauguration was, shall we say, depleted in numbers....
I thought, "Oh great. You haven't even set foot in the WHite house yet, and you're already trying to pull the wool over peoples' eyes...."
So I turned away, because things like that do me no good.
And went back to my knitting.
I think it's a bit of both. Yes, with wise use you can manage the influence of technology in your life, but I have to add there are not many media sources which are conducive to a mindful, well-lived life.
Most games are high-tempo and full of violence, most tv programmes rapidly switch from topic to topic or bury you in a tense and violent dramatic storyline, much on the internet is vapid clickbait. It would be easier to fit into a high-quality life if it was genuinely better.
I have to say, snobbish as it may sound, I really think the general quality of programmes has taken a definite nose-dive. British television used to be able to boast a veritable plethora of variety, comedy, documentaries, news programmes, educational broadcasts and a diversity in each category. It really did used to be the best in the world.
Now?
Quiz programmes, more often than not featuring celebrities.
Programmes like Strictly come Dancing, celebrity cookery programmes, 'Big Brother' and of course, "I'm a celebrity get me out of here!" All majorly vehicles for those people who may have fallen off the 'famous for 15 minutes' radar, eager to regain their high profile, and doing so in the most sensational and frankly degrading way. Anything for showbiz though!
And those endless bloody talent shows! X factor, the Voice, let it shine, Dance dance dance.... Enough already! I am absolutely 100% certain the majority of them are fixed anyway....!
Then there are the 'fly on the wall' programmes (more often than not 'car-crash tv) which document car chases, bailiffs, benefit fraudsters, Border security dramas and con-men, sheisters and opportunists seeking to trick people into parting with their money in return for shoddy goods and empty promises.
And these, on every channel, all the time.
All of the above are mostly escapist programmes, and many involve watching the humiliation of others. It's tragic, really.
Quality TV now consist of occasional diamonds in the coal-dust, with the likes of Sir David Attenborough and Brian Cox leading the way, and the rare watchable dramas like Downton Abbey.... Which incidentally, I have never watched.
I'm afraid like so much of the above, I avoided it completely.
Buddhists don't blame technology, people do.
Buddhists are people. People blame technology. Ergo, the people who blame technology, are Buddhists. (I think that's a law or principle, but I can't remember which one it is....!)
you're not following. there is no technology, ergo, there are no Buddhists.
-It seems to me there is something amiss when a person can have 537 friends on Facebook yet still feel alone and alienated...
No you're right, I'm not following.
That's so cryptic it's unintelligible.... deep hidden philosophy in the guise of dependent origination, which while it has its place, is oddly out of it, here, and off-topic.,...
that's what I'm saying Will, Facebook doesn't exist. it's a technological assembly of names and pictures. your life is only what is around you, the people you love. it's not on a computer. the computer is where you assemble and organize illusions. nothing on the computer is real. think about it... the 537 friends didn't exist until Facebook did. None of it is real!!!
@federica I would have expected you to understand. My point is that, in these thousands of years since the Buddha walked the earth, nothing really has changed.
@just_so you said: "your life is only what is around you, the people you love..." My question is, if that is the case, what happens if, God forbid, you loose them? I would argue to a great degree it's all illusion...
@Will_Baker you don't lose them. they're not yours. i meant in the context of technology, they are real. technology is not.
The technological revolution has only just begun, the robots and virtual worlds are coming.
In light of what you just said, it helps make more sense of what @just_so said...I wish I could explain it. (maybe later)
"The most essential method which includes all other methods is to behold the Mind-The Mind is the root from which all things grow-If one can understand the Mind-Everything else is included !"
~BodhiDharma~
I DO understand. As I said, It's off-topic.
I don't know what Buddhists you're talking about, OP. I don't know any Buddhists who blame technology for anything, or who even use Twitter or play video games.
Everyone has a choice as to how to spend their precious time in this life. Different people choose differently. How can we blame technology for our choices? That's strange.
@Dakini, that's a good point actually.
@techie, 'Fashionable among Buddhists'.... ? Which Buddhists? And Fashionable in what sense? Can you give any concrete examples?