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Is technology our downfall?

Posted in General, Media, Digital, Mel Varley, Latest reporters' blogs August 10th, 2007 by Melinda Varley

Email, text and social networks. Who can live without them? Roll all these technologies into one however and we have the hotly anticipated iPhone, which has promised to change the way we communicate for ever.

I think the iPhone will probably just integrate all the functions we already use onto one handheld device. Soon we’ll never have to actually see to each other ever again.

We have come to rely on our ‘social media’ to the point where we almost can’t function without them. This spells disaster when the technology fails on us.

Many of my friends have complained lately that they have been left out of the loop after bosses have banned them from using Facebook at work. It’s ruining their social lives they tell me. So how did we manage before?

The back-up plan is the ever reliable mobile phone – however, it too can fail in times of need. The other night I almost stood up a date after his mobile phone carked it and I needed to change the meeting place at the last minute.

But perhaps worst of all is when Yahoo! Answers failed to answer my question the other day. I am desperately trying to buy a new laptop battery and after trawling the internet (another device that’s failed me!) I was forced to ask the Answers community where I could turn to. However, they failed to provide me with the information and I resorted to old fashioned methods…I asked my dad.

The point is, we don’t know where to turn when technology fails on us. Most ‘young people’ wouldn’t know where to find a phone book, let-alone use one and even then, we’ve become so accustomed to emailing and IM’s that we probably wouldn’t have the guts to pick up the phone and speak to a live person.

Do we deliberately avoid actual human contact because we are too lazy or are we too shy?