The Dangers of Digitalization

We are living in a digital age. Companies are scrambling to package technology into new devices that will continue to make digital entertainment and communication ever more convenient, and ever more pervasive in people's lives. Indeed, society itself is driving this innovation.

The iPod is an obvious example. All of a sudden, everyone needs one. Companies have even talked people into paying for video capability, as if anyone really wants to watch videos on a little 2" screen. Businessmen depend on their Blackberry's ability to keep them up-to-date and on schedule. Cell phones are as plentiful as those once-important telephone poles, (which will no doubt appear to future civilizations as some remarkable, continent-wide Stonehenge.)

The headquarters for all of this multimedia is, of course, the ubiquitous PC (or Mac, if you prefer). Here, everything is updated, charged, and "synced." And you have email. And blogs. And news. And forums. And chat. And shopping. And school. And music. And games.

You have a whole other world.

Listen to what Eric Lidow, the 94-year-old CEO of International Rectifier, had to say in a recent interview with EETimes:

I'm very impressed by the advances in computers, but there's a tremendous danger to our education because of the availability of computers and the place they take in children's lives. They're spending too much time in front of the screen and not enough time relating to other kids. I think it's very serious, actually. You don't want Internet kids growing up to be antisocial - because that's what's happening. And I really pity those people who try to get married on the Internet.

The subtle snare in technology is that it leads you to believe that you are doing something truly meaningful. It seduces you into buying an alternate reality. It is a fantasy, not in the worst sense, but neither in the most noble.

It flatters us that we can connect so well with other "people." It fascinates us to have access to so much news and information. We feel as if we're really apprehending the world.

The obvious and startling truth is that we're really not apprehending the world at all. Look at you! You're sitting at a desk somewhere, totally absorbed by a sterile, unblinking array of colored pixels. And the more you "apprehend the world," the more you return to this very spot. The whole thing is really quite ludicrous. It's not broadening you and opening you up; it's narrowing you down, gluing you to the screen, systematically stripping you of your autonomous self.

This is not to say that there is no value in technology. There is. However, as useful as technological tools may be, we must remember that they are just that: tools.

The problem is that technology is not satisfied to be a mere tool. It wants to be regarded as a lifestyle, just as Caesar wasn't content to be a king and demanded that he be worshipped as a god. Society is in real danger of unknowingly making this quiet mental adjustment. Indeed, it may already be too late. However, if you're reading this, it probably isn't - at least not for you.

Will we rise up against the dehumanization, or will we just be "one of the dominoes"? I'm not talking about going to war, I'm just talking about stopping to think. If we don't, one day we may wake up and find that our paradise has become a prison.

The headlines in the dailies
Are the horses in a race
They lead you to believe
Life and death are commonplace
Some believe it
And I'm crying again

I've heard some good intentions
Not all were secondhand
But bravado and pretension
Will not feed a hungry man
It's been said before
And I'm crying again

Very quietly
The world loses blood overnight
Without a fight
And in the morning
The sickness will hide in the light
Out of sight

Running from a world
That they will never understand
The masses ride their passions
With the throttle in their hands
Nobody knows
What is waiting around the bend

Now and then the criminal
In my skin lets out a sigh
He'd like to think he's innocent
But he cannot tell a lie
Truth is like a knife
And I'm crying again

-Mark Heard

Image courtesy of geeksontime.com