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The Pursuit of Knowledge
Curiouser and Curiouser
Gadgets have taken over our lives — particularly among the young, who have no defenses against them.
Changes in the technology of communication are occurring so rapidly that we human beings now move through a cloud of messages as dense as a locust-storm. Every new device increases the speed and the outreach of the last, and young people are now governed by the gadgets in their hands, which don’t merely contain their lives but also to a great extent dictate them.
Of course, the print media still exist. There are old-fashioned people like myself who make a living by writing things, and old-fashioned people like you, who support us by reading, or at any rate buying, what we write. But maybe it’s only people like us (if I can presume to include you) who are able really to regret the changes that are sweeping away so much that we depended upon. The rest of the world is caught up in the torrent of gadgets, each new model designed to relieve its owner of one more source of mental exercise or one more obstacle to fun. Memory now exists behind a screen. Very little is stored in our heads, and our recollections drift in cyberspace like asteroids, unconnected to the orbit in which we move.
A university teacher can no longer assume that a student has any use for books or even knows how to open one. Written letters are a thing of the past, and essays are downloaded from the sites devoted to them. Research means surfing the web, and as for social life—this is a matter of tweeting and twittering as one drifts through cyberspace. Facebook friendships bubble up in a moment, and consist in a mutual agreement between strangers to put themselves on display. More and more does it seem that putting yourself on display is what it is all about, that there is nothing more to love and friendship than being mutually visible. Intimacy and privacy are dreams of the oldies, who live down there with their feet in the mud, and don’t know how to launch themselves into the ether.
The distinction between the private and the public is therefore no longer clear. If your private life consists largely of displays in cyberspace, and if friendship means access to those displays, then it is hardly an offense to look. The stuff that is sent around the ether by way of self-advertisement is there for all to read and see, and the one who complains that his privacy has been invaded, when personal correspondence or embarrassing photographs are suddenly public possessions, has only himself to blame—not for posting the material, but for being embarrassed by it. There is no real dividing line now, between intimacy and exposure, and people are rapidly losing the sense that hacking into another’s correspondence is a form of theft, or displaying intimate images is a form of assault. If your target is a government you can even become a hero, like Julian Assange, simply by displaying what others have wanted to hide.
One result of this is that the old laws of libel and defamation are falling into disuse. People can no longer protect themselves by suing the source of malicious gossip, and in any case the distinction between the true and the false is less and less relevant to the messages posted on the web. Anybody who has the slightest ability to attract the attention of the twittering classes will find lies, fabrications, fantasies, and lunatic accusations attached to his name in the cyber-sphere as well as true revelations that he would rather have kept to himself. In such circumstances to protest at all is to protest too much. For abuse is less and less perceived as such: the twitterers dismiss everything with a flap of the wings and blow another tweet.
Of course it is, officially, a crime to hack into other people’s correspondence, and those journalists who explored the messages of celebrities on behalf of Rupert Murdoch’s newspapers have had to pay a severe price, with several of them now in jail. But they acted in the same spirit as the intrusive journalists of former times who kept vigil from the house across the road, or who followed celebrities on motorbikes. Only the technology had changed. The left-wing Guardian newspaper mounted its high horse in condemnation of Rupert Murdoch’s empire, implying that journalists of leftist convictions would never stoop so low. As someone whose e-mails have been stolen and published by the Guardian, I found this less than convincing. But it reminded me that journalists have always breached the bounds of privacy when they thought they could get away with it. What has changed is the technology of communication, which has implied that there are no longer any bounds to breach. People carry round their lives in a gadget, which they might leave behind on a train for anyone to pick up or throw away.
COMMUNICATION IS NOT like other human actions, something that we might feel free not to engage in. It is the essence of human life. We are social creatures, whose personalities emerge from our interactions; all that we value and all that we fear has its source in communication. Hence these gadgets, which change the form and the scope of our communications, are less our servants than our masters. The adventures to which they tempt us are easy to embark on and seem to be entirely without danger. We travel round the world with the click of a mouse; we visit friends and strangers on the screen, twitter into the void and post on our Facebook walls all the things we want the world to know. We sit at our desks and enjoy every kind of thrill at no cost in danger. So we think. In fact we are caught in the worldwide web like flies, wriggling in the suffocating bonds of communication. And we don’t know the way back; we are sitting at our desks, but far, far indeed from home.
As we now know, it is not only messages but also images that can get stolen and shown to the world. What an adventure, to take a picture of yourself all naked, and send it to your boyfriend of the moment. The cell phone is there, asking you to do it. And what’s the problem, when nobody sees? Unfortunately what one person sees everyone can see. Women discover their nude image in the cell phones of friends and enemies, in the fantasies of strangers, in the lustful plans of predatory men and displayed all over cyberspace. How to get back home from this one? We should not be surprised that one girl, unable to live with her prostituted image, has committed suicide, and that celebrities like Scarlett Johansson are now vainly trying to rub their naked bottoms off a million computer screens.
The problem is not the use to which the gadget has been put, but the gadget itself. These gadgets full of messages stand at the door of your life, asking to take over. And young people, who have no defenses against them, very quickly invite them in. Parents like to think that, by providing their child with such a gadget, they are providing him or her with a mere instrument, something that can be used for legitimate purposes that already exist—like letting your parents know where you are and when to collect you. In fact they are providing their child with a new master, one designed to take over the person who holds it.
About the Author
Roger Scruton is a visiting scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. His latest book, How to Think Seriously About the Planet: The Case for an Environmental Conservatism, has just been published by Oxford University Press.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (88) | Leave a comment
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Brian Mc| 11.18.11 @ 6:37AM
The BBC series, "Survivors" came to mind while reading this. The only thing that would have made the show more compelling is if they had considered what the same world they created would be like if electricity had ceased flowing.
The pic for this piece speaks for itself. God forbid we should interract, looking each other in the eye as we speak! The direction this revolution of technology/communication is taking is not such a grand thing in my opinion. As more, and more parents hand a game box to their kids in the shopping cart, the question begs asking...is this a good thing?
KyMouse| 11.18.11 @ 8:11AM
The young folks in my family are so unconcerned about privacy issues, at least for right now. My choosing not to tweet, or to bare my soul on Facebook, baffles them.
And they do not talk on the phone any more -- they insist on texting. They never phone their 86-year-old grandmother any more, because she doesn't know how to read and answer their texts.
Privacy means nothing to them, and they no longer value the sound and nuances of the human voice.
I'm so glad that I grew up in the era of written letters, telephones and reticence.
Moe Blotz| 11.18.11 @ 8:43AM
The hand written letter was supplanted by the greeting card and the telephone, then E-mail. Text messaging is sometimes a useful tool, I use it whilst working. My 87 year old mother is technologically challenged, unable to master E-mail or text messaging. One of my mates lives in the northeast woods of an eastern state where your cellular telephone is useless:no signal can reach his valley. He has always referred to the cellular telephone as the "electronic tether".
THKrupp| 11.18.11 @ 5:15PM
This is the hierarchy of how I view communications.
1. Voice Call..Most important..use sparelying as people are busy and do not have time to talk. This is the most intimate way of communicating. Do this only when you have something important to say, urgent or you need to express emotions.
2 Text Message..somewhat important..you want the person to read it soon. The reply can take a while, its not urgent but you need them to know the information and get a reply today.
3. Email is good for day to day communications..large sized pieces of information..its important...mostly for work..good for when you have a lot to say. urgency of reply is lower unless specified. Equal to sending a letter or memo.
4. Facebook or other social media. Put what you want on its your life. Lowest form of communication. No one has to respond or even look at it if they want. You can decide who you share information with and how much. Its fun, helps me keep track of pictures. Use it mostly for friends and family.
This is just how I think about electronic communication. I view face to face as being the most important. If someone comes to see me obviously that is more important than someone who just calls me. Unless of course its a call from work and an emergency has happened. I dont like it when people call me and expect me to drop everything that Im doing to tend to their needs unless their needs happen to be very important. I would rather get a text or an email from bosses or work so that I can read and re-read their instructions and or comments several times. Also its nice to have a record of conversations for legal purposes.
Todd Powers| 11.21.11 @ 10:09AM
Standard operating procedure at my humble little business is to let the phone ring off the hook if there is someone to be tended to in front of you. They took the time and effort to come in here, the least we can do is wait on them as quick as possible.
ZeitgeistSurfer | 11.19.11 @ 1:35PM
Without privacy, adulthood is impossible. That is why we are churning out a generation of puer aeternus faux adults. That is one reason why the Occupiers seem so retarded. Without solitary time to oneself in quiet reflection and the exposure to the wisdom of the past, a person's spiritual and intellectual growth is so stunted that they seem to be empty vessels.
THKrupp| 11.19.11 @ 2:30PM
Im not sure how privacy has anything to do with adulthood. You can have moments of quiet reflection on a crowded train. That doesnt have anything to do with what type of technology you choose to communicate with.
Occam's Tool| 11.19.11 @ 5:44PM
Mr. Krupp: you are not on call to others a great deal sir; otherwise, you would have recognized Zbig's wisdom. I most enjoy my time in the shower in the 2 days I have off every 2 weeks (I am on call for 8 days, work 8-10 hours a day 4 days after that (and, incidentally, when I am on call---my hours on/call or at work per two week pay period is 224 out of 376 hours) and then have 2 blissful days off. That allows me to have pager turned off, phone non-answerable, hot water coming down, and I can think---about world events, my profession, or step back and think about my patients creatively.
When you are always connected (as I am for the vast majority of the 12 days a 2 week payperiod I work in a row), and always need to return calls quickly (as I do), you have no solitude. Life becomes a series of periods of frantic work interrupted by unpredictable urgencies, and there is no real privacy.
THKrupp| 11.19.11 @ 9:51PM
Unfortunately I am on call 24 hours a day 7 days a week. Most vacations I take, I am on call and end up dialing in on conference calls and answering emails. I understand very well that these devices are electronic leashes but at the same time they allow me a certain amount of freedom. Often I end up working every day of the week because of problems or issues at the plant. I find that because of these technologies I have more privacy and solitude. I can stay connected to business but at the same time I dont have to be there. This allows me to go places on the weekends. True I might have to cut the trip short and go back to the plant but at least sometimes it works out. I understand what you are talking about better than what you think.
querious| 11.19.11 @ 11:42PM
Krupp and OT, how are you two always doing all this heavy duty 24/7 on call big responsibility work yet posting here on a very, very frequent basis? Share with us your secrets? Are you two the supremo multi-tasker men? (honestly asking)
After all you post after a, reading the article, b reading the reader comments. Chews up a lot of your work time, right?
THKrupp| 11.21.11 @ 8:49AM
LOL, I dont comment all that much here. Very rarely actually. I read the articles as a break and If I feel strongly about something Ill comment. If you look through the columns you will rarely find me commenting. Throughout the day I might come here several times. It helpsme to relax by switching gears now and then. I work in the office about 70 % of the time. I also dont have a wife and kids. That helps.
THKrupp| 11.21.11 @ 9:04AM
I will add that being on call doesnt mean that you are working when you are on call. I just have to be accessible by phone at all times. There are times when I get 3 or 4 calls during the night. That doesnt mean I go into work, lots of times I can answer the question over the phone. Sometimes they just want to know what direction they should go with a problem or if I have an idea of what might be causing the problem.
John S. | 11.22.11 @ 10:23AM
Manager time is not the same as creator time.
A manager is expected to direct, set policy, negotiate resources. A creator is expected to solve problems, write code, design a bridge or sculpt or paint.
A manager thrives on meetings and interruptions and fast, quick decisions. A creator needs quiet time to think, reflect, introspect.
These electronic tethers can, if allowed, destroy that absolutely essential quiet time. If you give a creator insufficient time to do their work, you get facile, shallow or incomplete results.
Managers who aren't conscious of this crucial difference, who insist on keeping their creators on electronic tethers, may not realize that these technologies may destroy the very value that they wish to have created.
PCC| 11.18.11 @ 6:20PM
I enjoyed reading this article on my iPad.
RT| 11.18.11 @ 7:27AM
Excellent article! Thank you for it.
The irony is, as you noted, that while these gadgets and social networking sites obviously have benefits, they can get in the way of actual human interaction.
RT| 11.18.11 @ 7:27AM
Excellent article! Thank you for it.
The irony is, as you noted, that while these gadgets and social networking sites obviously have benefits, they can get in the way of actual human interaction.
Bob K.| 11.18.11 @ 7:42AM
Mario and Donkey Kong have taken over the world in different disguises!
Mike D.| 11.18.11 @ 8:03AM
I have heard the term "digitally opiated" used in describing the addiction to these devices such as video games, etc. I remember watching four kids playing basketball a week or so ago in their driveway. Two of the four HAD to constantly check their cell phones after every play and that went on for over an hour. That is not normal.
RND| 11.18.11 @ 1:06PM
Mike D. Correct. Thank you for the term, "digitally opiated." I had not heard that before. Hm. I will think on that. As I think of it now, it applies.
I coach. Obviously we have to have strict rules on cell phones and useage. Example is no cell phone on or even present. I have to present these team rules right at the season start otherwise we have "violations" right away.
I cannot tell you how baffling it is to me to see the younger players I 've worked with, players just 9 and 10 years old, dashing to their sport bags during a longer practice break. They are dashing there not so much for a water or Gatorade, they are running to turn on their devices and look for new messages.
That is not boyhood. (I've coached girls, too, and it is even worse)
Legarto Rey| 11.19.11 @ 8:42AM
How 'bout a contraction of "digitally opiated"="dopiated"? I like the sound and inference.
Paul Kotik| 11.18.11 @ 8:29AM
Not long ago I realized that I'd become used to the thought that "Oh, so-and-so has got himself an iPhone. I guess we'll never hear from him again".
daveng| 11.18.11 @ 8:54AM
Same thing was said about radio and TV regarding detrimental affect on youth. As social creatures, desire for social contact will not be reduced by increased instantaneous communications. Privacy has always been an illusion and lies, rumors and innuendos forever been circulated. Only now on a much larger scale. Having said that I agree with author that this form of communication is so ubiquitous as to be disconcerting and that much is lost in human interaction.
Appleby| 11.18.11 @ 9:06AM
Isaac Asimov wrote about this difficulty in 1957. The story is amazingly prescient The below is an extract from Wikipedia.
Like its famous predecessor, The Caves of Steel, it is a whodunit story, in addition to being science fiction. The book was first published in 1957 after being serialized in Astounding Science Fiction between October and December 1956.
The story arises from the murder of Rikaine Delmarre, a prominent "fetologist" (fetal scientist, responsible for the operation of the planetary birthing center reminiscent of those described in Aldous Huxley's Brave New World) of Solaria, a planet politically hostile to Earth. Elijah Baley is called in to investigate, at the request of the Solarian government. He is again partnered with the humaniform robot R. Daneel Olivaw. Before leaving Earth, he is asked by Earth's government to assess the Solarian society for weaknesses.
The book focuses on the unusual traditions and culture of Solarian society. The planet has a rigidly controlled population of twenty thousand, and robots outnumber humans ten thousand to one. People are strictly taught from birth to despise personal contact. They live on huge estates, either alone or with their spouse only. Communication is done via holographic telepresence (called viewing, as opposed to in-person seeing). It is likely that the society is based on that in E. M. Forster's 1909 short story "The Machine Stops".
As shown in its predecessor novel, The Caves of Steel, Earth also appears to have evolved an unusual society, in which people spend their entire lives in confined (or "cosy") underground interlinked cities, never venturing outside. Indeed, they become utterly panicked and terrified when exposed to the open air and the naked sun.
Appleby| 11.18.11 @ 9:17AM
By the way, my cell phone from 2001 does nothing but make and receive phone calls, and I have a friend from New Zealand with whom I have exchanged handwritten letters for more than 25 years. I also write handwritten notes to Mama and two housebound Aunties every week. I loathe and despise binkie-twiddling; my one consolation is that a lot of them seem to be suicidal--falling into open manholes, under the wheels of trucks, or in front of railroad trains or fire trucks. The really dangerous ones are those behind the wheels of public transit and the hysterical addicts texting as they drive 100 mph on public roads. I have actually seen texting bicycle riders run into the back of stopped cars and start shrieking that the car was to blame!
This morning I heard that *sleep texting* is becoming a habit among the growing army of zombie brats. Visualize endless hospital wards of inert bodies being tube fed and oxygenated, the only moving appendages the endlessly twiddling fingers...
Now imagine an EMP.
Ed| 11.18.11 @ 1:04PM
Do they want the Red pill or the Blue pill?
Margie| 11.18.11 @ 3:04PM
We have no cell phones, and I correspond by mail too, to some friends and family. I've loved writing handwritten letters ever since I could write.
Appleby, i know you think I need to convert to Catholicism, and I think you need to convert to Christ, but I just wanted to say~ do you write for a living? Because if you don't, you should.
You DO have a way with words that is most enjoyable.
John S. | 11.22.11 @ 10:30AM
Maggie, Catholics don't need to convert to Christ.
Catholics are Christians. As a person who has lived on both sides of the fence, who has "swum the Tiber", I speak from experience.
Occam's Tool| 11.19.11 @ 5:47PM
Do you mean that my phone and Blackberry go out? Cool.
I hope all is well with you Appleby. You deserve only good things.
Appleby| 11.21.11 @ 7:47PM
I am recovering from clinical depression, a slow and inchworm slog which has lost me a job that took a razor brain that I no longer had. I am recovered enough to realize how far I had sunk, and enjoying time to find out what goes on in the daylight.
I have written as an avocation all my life, but never for money, alas. Although back in the 1980s I wrote for Doctor Who fanzines and I had a fan club whose president once slipped a note under my hotel room door to invite me to breakfast at which people asked me respectfully about the Planet Trion as if I had been there and not simply made it up to suit myself. I had the good fortune to have a self-educated Daddy who taught me to love words enough to work with them properly. Today I have a nephew who calls me and starts every call by reciting, *There was a Parsee from whose hat the rays of the sun were reflected with more than Oriental splendour.* He is a scientist, but he dreams in Rudyard Kipling colours.
Fredx| 11.18.11 @ 9:23AM
I got off Facebook when I felt it crawling up my leg. I have never tweeted or even texted. But don't forget the White House has a Facebook page as does, presumably, every level and branch of government. I'm sure they also tweet (I hate saying that word) and spew sensitive information out there for all the aspiring Julian Assanges out there to collect and hold for ransom, or to distribute as an act of terror. It's bad enough that kids are showing off their tushies to each other, but far more disturbing that our government is effectively populated by teenagers.
Bureaucrat, esquire| 11.18.11 @ 1:20PM
Just the government waste alone on unnecessary web presences ought to make citizens scream and do a Bastile Day revolution in D.C. This does represent millions of dollars squandered every quarter. Why does the government need to be on Facebook? With twitter links. Haven't tried them. Not sure I comprehend their purpose.
You are correct about our open government websites (in the 10's of thousands at every level)
When I would openly question heavy emphasis on web presence (full color, graphics, focus on a very professional web presence!) by my government agency, well, I was esentially place on the fast track to be removed/fired.
You see the web presence is a tool for the upper level folk and director to advertise himself, proclaim all his grand benevolent deeds -- to the nation and to the world!
Security concerns? Waste of time and money concerns? Staff safety? Information security? All not to be considered where fast-climbing government careers and personal egos are paramount.
(check out how much our military and defense is on the web. Intelligence agencies out there with way too much information)
THKrupp| 11.18.11 @ 4:53PM
From an environmental compliance stand point. I love that I can go to the EPA's website enter all my compliance numbers and download any information about a subject that I have. Now I dont have to go to the Rep and ask a question. I can find it out on my own. How much money is that saving the government?
Bob Grant| 11.18.11 @ 9:24AM
The gadgets and accompanying apps and websites trains the user to share information, private and otherwise. Look at all of the apps intended to make sharing easy, convenient, and cool. It's almost as if that's the sole intent of the gadget.
The main issue I have is not that individuals freely give up private information that in generations past would be considered off limits, but with that frame of mind, not respecting others' right to privacy. That seems to be out the window now and it's very disturbing.
When no one is immune from these devices, even among the non-users, we have a big problem.
These gadgets are no longer tools, but as the article notes. handcuffs.
THKrupp| 11.18.11 @ 5:34PM
If you dont want information out on the web...dont put it there. You actually have to imput it. Younger people seem to care about that less than older people. Maybe they realise that its really not that important. Most of what younger people are putting on the web isnt that important to keep private. My father was completely paranoid about privacy. Most of the stuff he was worried about is stuff that I will freely tell anyone today. He was very concerned about his image in the community. Frankly he was more worried about what people would say at the coffee shop more than anything. Its silly to worry about what other people think as they will think it regardless. If you dont do anything embarrassing then there is nothing bad to get out.
Old Blevins| 11.18.11 @ 9:46AM
Maybe the smart people are the ones who don't own smart phones.
LMajito| 11.18.11 @ 9:59AM
young folks? that's all ages seem to be hooked up to these devices...how many a meeting i have to sit and watch the participants with their crackberries by their side jumping to any movement and at times leaving the room because 'i got to answer this'...and last i saw, nobody was in charge of world peace...
is society at large...we have become an insociable bunch that loves to be around folks but wants nobody to enter private space...
some folks reach out for the crack pipe, others for the joint and the rest the gadget...the electronic leashes...we're all slaves but our chains are invisible...
THKrupp| 11.18.11 @ 4:49PM
You can buy a device that pretty much blocks all cell communications for a fairly small area. It can be turned on or off rather easily. You can buy them for about $100 from spy gadget stores. They work great for meetings.
Jacob R| 11.18.11 @ 10:09AM
You're really so smart that you believe there were no stupid people when you were younger?
You find your own generation to be the virtuous example we're not living up to?
The biggest problem with these kids today: they were raised by hypocrites!
Bob Grant| 11.18.11 @ 10:31AM
A little defensive?
Bob S| 11.18.11 @ 11:23AM
Right...guess I'm not so smart after all because I missed the part about stupid people.
Vern Crisler| 11.18.11 @ 12:15PM
This essay is ridiculous. I'm surprised Scruton wasted his valuable philosophical time with the subject. Modern technologies and forms of communication are of enormous benefit -- witness the difficulty of hiding totalitarian brutality in the face of cell phone cameras.
It may be true that many do not communicate with others on a personal level, but that's always been the case. The Internet, Blogs, iPads, iPhones, Facebook, and Twitter-- and who knows what the next one will be--allow alternative means of interaction. Autistic children especially find the iPad useful because it's something they can interact with.
Like TV, such technology will have an impact, but let's not blame the technology for our own shortcomings. If we have met the enemy, it's only because it is us.
Johnny H| 11.18.11 @ 1:24PM
Well said, Vern. As usual, a pithy and insightful comment from you and one of the reasons I continue to read TAS and the comments section of EVERY article that I take the time to read. Sometimes the comments are of more value to me than the original text... but this is still a good article with positions worthy of consideration.
ruminations| 11.18.11 @ 1:45PM
Mr. Crisler, yes, I think most here would agree to how tech could help in Iran, certainly in China, Egypyt, deter what could be a bad turn to the Muslim Brotherhood in Tunesia....maybe someday help penetrate North Korea.
All good. Potentially.
But I would say:
TV destroyed human interaction. Period.
It has made us far more frail, small, cowardly, mind-numb, shut-in people. It aided mightily the stunting of human growth, human potential. TV has done this. These newer Smartphones (which will soon be right there on your hand or wrist) will further drive people apart. And make people less fantastically, creatively versatile.
Now that it is nearly winter and it is dark early, it is ever so much more evident when standing outside large apartment buildings.
Here is my story: I realized already how destructive TV is, but I had the point hammered home when standing outside a huge aparment complex in the Netherlands. It was a tall and wide building. Clearly middle class. As it was completely dark in November or early December already at 5 p.m. I observed out my hotel window for 6 hours what I consider the death of a society.
The Dutch have a tendency to just keep their curtains or blinds open. Wide open. Even when dark outside. It is a very unusual, different cultural habit. And as they like to clean their windows, it is almost as if they are inviting you to look in.
Peeking in is easier. It's hard not to. Well, at nighttime the glow of the TV set is much more pronounced. One cannot hide it. It is like a neon sign.
So it is 5 p.m. and I'm staring at easily 150 units. Most have the strong, distinctive TV glow coming through their apartment large balcony windows. Almost all.
No one in the street below or nice courtyard. No human interaction. All to themselves. It is a ver pleasant evening outside. Dry. Warmer than usual. Ideal for a stroll.
Nobody is out. The streets surrounding are empty. All TVs are on.
When we traverse the final one or two decades of our lives essentially alone, removed, more sickly and sad, is there any wonder?
THKrupp| 11.18.11 @ 6:51PM
You are completely right about TV. I view that as being much worse than other technology. At least now we are interacting with something. Our minds have to work. TV just shuts your mind down and turns you into a mindless spectator. The internet, smart phones etc etc require interaction. I havent owned a tv in 10 years. I dont even miss it. Actually the only entertainment devices I have are a smart phone and a laptop. Very convenient and unobtrusive. A tv requires a special room, seating and mindless attention. My laptop I can take anywhere as well as my phone. I do most of my reading of books from my computer and carry a library on my phone that I can read when Im waiting somewhere for something. If I have a question I can look the answer up on my phone. If I need to know how to get somewhere..same thing. Sure I realize that if there is no electricity I cant use it. I understand that if there is no connection I cant use it either. I do remember that when I didnt have all this stuff at my finger tips I got along fine too. So its not really going to matter.
Margie| 11.18.11 @ 3:08PM
"If we have met the enemy, it's only because it is us."
That's it in a nutshell, Vern.
Technology doesn't kill minds, people do. It's all a matter of what we choose to do, or not do!
"To text or not to text, that is the question!"
THKrupp| 11.18.11 @ 4:46PM
I remember my life before cell phones, smart phones and the internet. I was farming at the time and I pretty much worked 16 hours a day 7 days a week. I didnt talk to anyone ever. I could never find dad as he was always off on another part of the farm. I spent most of my time in isolation except when a feed salesman or hog buyer would stop by to shoot the bull. Now I have all those gadgets and I have daily conversations with friends I went to college with. I text or talk with my family daily even though I live in another state. I can keep track of all the things that are going on in my extended network of friends and family that is spread out over the globe. I communicate with them much more now than ever. I think this technology enables relationships rather than hinders them.
Ron| 11.18.11 @ 12:26PM
Roger,
unfortunately, a really sad example has been the recent upsurge in "audio books." Once meant for the visually impaired (my mother used to get them since she is 100% blind, and it helped her graduate from college with a BA), I actually saw a television ad for audio books, and the actors portraying real people stated how they now have time to enjoy "reading" again...Since when is that reading? Our personal home library, I am proud to say, is at least a 1000 volumes of hard print (limited due to the size of our residence) materials, not including magazines.
Yes, some of we "old guys" (I am 45 btw) still carry a book around when I go to the doctor's office, or eating by myself at a restaurant.
THKrupp| 11.18.11 @ 4:30PM
When you have to drive a lot, audio books are a lot better than listening to the radio. I also find it hard to turn the pages on my volume of war and peace when Im driving 7o mph down the road.
Dave| 11.18.11 @ 1:42PM
The problem started with the Model T Ford. People traveling away from their parents, driving recklessly about at 20 or even 30 miles an hour. Eating and talking and even sleeping in their cars. Some people even moved so far from home they only see their families once a week, accelerating the decay of society!
Or maybe it was the end of feudalism and the rise of democracy. Who could have imagined the apocalyptic results of people not knowing their proper place in the world and trying to rise above it?
Or maybe the problem is that each generation is different from the previous one, and the common lot of the older folks is to be caught saying sentences like, "Back in my day, young folks wrote letters!" and forgetting that back then their own grandparents were making similar impotent protests against change.
What matters?| 11.18.11 @ 2:06PM
Dave, I don't think that anyone is disagreeing with you all that much. Times change. Things change. We adapt. Some must be dealt with. But some new things should not always be embraced.
Or, better said, we use discernment. We recognize what is of more value. Maybe more lasting value.
There will soon be a time where the understanding of a tight-knit family will not be comprehensible. Tight-knit will be incomprehensible.
You've never received a hand written letter? And I don't mean an already decorated, corporately prepared Hallmark card with handwriting inside. I'm talking about a real handwritten letter. Homemade. Maybe where the sender used colorful paper, various color pens, her artwork, and tada! creative, attractive caligraphy! Her presence and personality coming right off the pages in expressions of friendship, love and intimacy with you.
Today if one receives such a card, you don't forget it. It is something to be appreciated, treasured, looked at again, smiled over. It is kept in a very special place. And it is not tossed out when one moves.
It is an expresion of love. Caring. Thoughfulness. It evidences time, forethought.
A card like this usually weighs more and must be mailed personally. The person sending it is "loving" because they have to calculate postal time -- in advance (forethought) -- to make sure the homemade letter arrives just in time for that special birthday, graduation, anniversary or return home after a long hospitalization.
Today we have men who realize it is 5:30 p.m., it is their anniversary, and they've done nothing. Nothing at all. Oh! What to do? Ah....send a fast email from the work computer, a twitter, post "I luv u" on Facebook with a few bouncing emotocons, and shell out big bucks in a web order so FTD Florists can bail him out with a rush delivery to the home address. For $28.99 more a pink baloon and small box of cheap chocolates.
Whew!!!! Man thinks: You da man, dude! Crisis averted.
See the difference?
LMajito| 11.18.11 @ 2:47PM
totally agree on the hand made card remark. I often tell my children to not buy cards, just make them. To me they carry what you described, personality, creativity and i do keep them...initially they'll be on top somewhere where i will see them every day and invariably, memories of their authors flash through my mind...
with my wife is a different ordeal...don't show up later in the day with flowers and such...she'll have nothing to do with them...because she'll figured i totally forgot and screwed up...in all the special days throughout the year, she expects to be awaken with goods in hand and decorations on the wall...
call me crazy but that's how's done...i don't want to be in my dead bed wishing i had spent more time with them than with electric gadgets or even more horrible work...
me trouble communicating with folks? my children will disagree with that statement...they think i speak with all and any stranger and they're right...i value and treasure humans, yes even muslims (when they're not out to kill all christians that is)...
THKrupp| 11.18.11 @ 4:20PM
The nice thing about the electronic gadget is that you can set up a reminder on your calander the day before and/or the week before an important event. The gadget can remind you well in advance. Ive never been as sociable as I am now with a gadget. I remember everyone's birthdays and such now.
personal memory not enuf?| 11.19.11 @ 11:53PM
Except your wife and daugher, brother and mother consider you a putz for needing to put it in a nanny electronic device.
You really are telling them how much they matter to you. (Er, yes, they know that you use 'electronic reminders' because they are so much burden in your life)
THKrupp| 11.21.11 @ 8:52AM
Im completely ok with being a putz. I dont have a wife and kids either. Im not sure why its such a big deal if it helps a person to remember important dates.
THKrupp| 11.18.11 @ 7:04PM
I agree to a certain point. The other side of the coin are all the heartfelt cards and letters I was going to write but then got busy and didnt get them written or sent. I have emails that I have saved over the years that I cherish just as much as the hand written letters that I have saved. The emotions and feelings they express are no less than the ones written on paper. I also think that receiving a provocative photo during the day from your special someone is much better than any letter I have ever received. As you know a picture is worth a thousand words lol.
THKrupp| 11.18.11 @ 6:55PM
I disagree Dave, when the wheel and fire came out...everything went to hell.
Anon| 11.18.11 @ 3:18PM
This article was worthless. The author is clueless as to what he's talking about and sounds very much like an early saboteur hurling his shoes into a machine or some book-burning Inquisitor. As with any new technology there are pitfalls - and the pitfalls to the access of basically all human knowledge in your pocket, and nearly all of humanity, are vast - but it's greater education and discipline that are the ultimate results, not less.
Solo| 11.18.11 @ 3:44PM
Pffft! I had a cell phone for 10 years and never programmed a phone number into it.
I had my most recent cell phone for almost a year before I realized that it could take pictures--not that this information was of any interest to me whatsoever.
I want to make calls, receive calls and have access to voice mail. Other than that, I really don't see the need for all the "Bells & Whistles" that they attempt to cram into this technology.
Cell phones have changed our world, though. When was the last time you saw a public pay phone?
THKrupp| 11.18.11 @ 4:23PM
No one is forcing anyone to buy a smart phone. I know that from my expirience Im much closer with my family and friends since I got a smart phone. I dont spend as much time at work because now I dont have to worry about missing an important email that comes late in the day from a boss 3 timezones away.
Just Jake| 11.21.11 @ 10:27PM
Solo: "When was the last time you saw a public pay phone?
Just yesterday at the airplane factory where I work. Yes, they are still around.
Lose the Juice| 11.18.11 @ 3:48PM
All of these modern things presuppose that we will always have electricity.
You say balderdash! We'll always have electricity.
Oh?
Do you see new regional efforts to secure energy production for the future? All these new devices sap even more, more than just the average per person consumption 10 years ago.
And it also presupposes we'll always have so much idle freetime to squander on these electronic things.
Slavery is not dead on the planet. You, too, can and will be enslaved. Think 24/7 isolated work camps. Fenced off from the world. Fenced off from cell phone masts. Then there won't be much time (or maybe even both hands) for twitters.
Kumachan| 11.18.11 @ 4:16PM
I am one of the aforementioned young people, and not only do I have many gadgets, but I use them for things like: reading the AS online while in Japan, taking my entire library everywhere I go with the Kindle, communicating with my mother on my cell phone, and taking pictures for my photo album with my camera. Every generation hates the next one. Cheaters, liars, and generally bad people have always existed; I myself am glad that it is easier to find them out. And why is this author upset that the women who took nude photos of themselves have them suddenly published? They did it to themselves - technology has made it more dangerous to act like a whore, and I'm not sure why that's a bad thing.
VeritasatiqueA| 11.19.11 @ 4:45PM
Well said young chap, but pay Mr. Scruton some respects next time. He is a king.
Tom| 11.18.11 @ 5:14PM
Of course even this "discussion" isn't done in the courtyard of our building or on our front porches. We're all comfy and insulated on our couches and typing away on laptops or Ipads. Technology won't, can't be stopped, but where it leads, well, maybe it's better we don't live forever. We have technology undreamed of just a few years ago, but are we any happier? Doubt it.
THKrupp| 11.18.11 @ 6:29PM
I can easily say that I am much happier. Technology has allowed me to lead a full and fullfilling life. I have friends from all over the world because of technology. I can even visit them because of the technology of manned flight. I have a much different perspective on life because of technology. If it werent for technology I would probably have spent most of my life in a 5 mile square area mostly looking at the south end of a north facing draft animal...of course thats technology too...I guess I would have been spending most of my time eating berries.
Richard Baker| 11.18.11 @ 9:15PM
When I was a math teacher in Florida, I had to ban the use of calculators in a math remediation class I taught because my kids were utterly helpless without it. The textbook had a back page of problems for calculators where the first problem in one set was: 2x3. Really.
Appleby| 11.21.11 @ 8:05PM
I had one of the first pocket 4-banger calculators and with it I passed Chemistry and Algebra 1 in night school. I have a form of disability that makes mental arithmetic impossible, as is spacial orientation (I cannot read a map or copy a picture) and was branded *lazy and careless* all through school -- I was clever enough to seek out a university that required no math to graduate, but I knew I could do math -- it was and is arithmetic I cannot do without my electronic crutch. My night school teachers told the 3 of us who had these costly crutches that calculators were toys for rich kids and we ought to learn to use a slide rule like other people. (A slide rule is a primitive calculator). I got a B in Algebra and a B+ in Chemistry and retired vindicated. The GPS has saved me from perpetual wandering in the wilderness (when I lived in California, no matter where I was headed I always ended up on the freeway headed to San Pedro) but so far there is no crutch for a person who cannot draw.
kissufim| 11.18.11 @ 10:00PM
Digital technology robs humans of critical thinking skills and autonomy. The fact that more and more our memories are located on the cloud is what grieves me most. It looks like M.T. Anderson's teen Sci-Fi novel "Feed" is becoming more of a frightening reality than imaginable.
BE| 11.20.11 @ 12:03AM
Hand a person a big city map and they get lost just trying to orient it properly north, south.
Seriously.
This person screams for his GPS where he can just type in an address and veg his brain while driving to the destination. Doesn't need to estimate distance and time anymore. Doesn't need to memorize key streets on landmarks along the way.
So, kissufim is on target, we done lost our critical thinking skills somewhere in the mid 1980's. Dumb and dumber.
jolizoom| 11.18.11 @ 10:57PM
Technology is my friend. Having said that, at this moment I am especially grateful that certain trolls have not appeared in this discussion. I haven't read AS for months, because every discussion devolved into vulgarisms by a certain few. So, I'm back for the moment, until I find the trolls taking over the discussion again. I don't have time for that nonsense.
Occam's Tool| 11.19.11 @ 5:57PM
I'm here, Joli.
When I'm not being tormented by those guys, I don't bite, nor engage in vulgarisms.
As an MD, I've watched the ways in which my slave chains have matured over the 80s, 90s, zeros, and teens (1988-2011). My BlackBerry is horribly intrusive, and I look VERY forward to turning it off on my off weekends. There are really only fewer than 10 people that I care to communicate on Web or e-mail on a consistent basis.
But my Kindle is great for reading and holding fiction and current event books. Not good for textbooks or reference texts, but great for the other two.
POST American| 11.19.11 @ 12:29AM
"---Technology's reach is as broad
as the universe---and thinner than
a piece of paper."
D H Lawrence
letters
1921
Hence, we've pitched our TV, radio,
and PC from home space.
We no longer watch TV at all --anywhere.
----------------------HEAVENLY!-------------------------
Dan Mathewson| 11.19.11 @ 7:06PM
Good for you! So, how do you post your ravings?
Levantine | 11.19.11 @ 6:13AM
The author talks about written and printed material in the same breath, but they are different things. Rather than becoming a thing of the past, writing has proliferated in the computer age, though much of it is not on paper. I write letters by hand more frequently in the internet age than before it.
I've had more problems with defamation before becoming reclusive, and I could not have become reclusive without modern communication technologies.
London's Guardian isn't a left-wing, but a liberal paper. The distinction between political right and left has suffered more degradation than the distinction between public and intimate.
Scruton's passage on the nature of communication is truly excellent.
TAJ| 11.19.11 @ 10:48AM
When I was in graduate school, I took a course in electroanalytical chemistry. There was no textbook for the course and when we complained about it, the professor merely pointed in the direction of the library and said, "There's your textbook."
It was tough...and I got the second highest grade in the class...but through that experience, I believe I learned so much more than I would have today.
BackToBasics| 11.19.11 @ 12:03PM
I've heard about people who tweet 2,000 - 5,000 times a month. I thik a lot of it is just short messages like "yes", "no" "hi", etc. For many girls it gives them a sense of security.
Nothing wrong with this by itself but the writer above, Roger Scruton, says, "each new model designed to relieve its owner of one more source of mental exercise or one more obstacle to fun." I agree with this sentiment. Most young people especially cannot think or reason deeply anymore and do not even know or understand the enjoyment that comes with acquiring knowledge.
The new gadgets do not help remedy this but that is not the fault of the gadgets or the companies that make them. It is the mostly the fault of our education system and much bad parenting.
BackToBasics| 11.19.11 @ 12:24PM
I'll add that if we had better parenting and a better education system thattaught young peopl ehow to think and reason, there would be less frivolous use of the new gadgets. There possibly would be as many gadgets around to use but the applications and messaging systems would likely be different and more sophisticated in order to accomodate a more educated and thinking society.
THKrupp| 11.19.11 @ 2:37PM
I think that the frivolous use of the automobile has had a far worse effect on our society than twitter.
BackToBasics| 11.19.11 @ 4:54PM
The article was not about automobiles and I never said that "tweeting" was bad.
THKrupp| 11.19.11 @ 10:00PM
I apologize I was being a bit sarcastic. My attempt at humor failed. I think the automobile has done more damage to society than smart phones and social media. If we had better education and parenting back when automobiles became popular we might have saved ourselves many of the problems we face today.
BackToBasics| 11.20.11 @ 10:25AM
Appreciate it. Before I replied I wasn't sure which way you were going with it. I guess I assumed the worst. It's easy to do online. We need better gadgets, TIC.
THKrupp| 11.21.11 @ 8:53AM
lol Indeed
Richard Baker| 11.19.11 @ 6:00PM
Constant zombie-like use of electronics means that this mind candy reduces greatly the use of the mind. The brain is sort of like a muscle. Don't use it and it will atrophy. Go up to most high school kids and ask them any of the multiplication tables, as a test.
bluecollarbytes| 11.20.11 @ 8:06PM
Gadgets pose a threat to youngsters, robbing them of creativity and critical thinking. PopCulture is fine in small doses, but becoming a human vacuum for it isn't any different than eating junk food 3 times a day .
Is this what was predicted when 'computers were going to offer us lives of leisure'? Well the navel-gazing isn't exactly all that fulfilling.
i'm old enough to appreciate the fantastic advancements in PCs and Internet, with no interest in its twitterings or social happenings. It has the potential to be the equalizer against the old-line monopolistic PopMedia, and is a great way to shop. It offers exchange of ideas, revealing just how nuts some of us are.
Aiken_Bob| 11.20.11 @ 10:48PM
The saddest part of the digital age is that we allow ourselves to be 'on call' 24/7 for almost any job. Very few feel ashamed of asking a question at 2am and expecting an answer. We have done this to ourselves independent of the gadgets. As Pogo we have met the enemy and he is us......
POST American| 11.20.11 @ 11:14PM
"At heart, 'in--dust--realism' generates
nthing but 'motorcar masculinty'
--and represents nothing more than
the mystery of neuters."
D H Lawrence
letters
1919
--And NOW we understand!
-----------------------VISION!---------------------------