Better technology = Better life?

[Keyboard Ninja]

15 Hot New Technologies That Will Change Everything - Page1 -  MSN Tech & Gadgets - Products

I just finished reading that article, and while it sounds cool I'm a bit worried. To me life is already fast paced, and technology only makes it faster. Will this mean more road rage, car accidents, and even forgetting history at some point?

What I mean by that is the fact that so many of my peers are dependant on cell phones, the internet and whatever else they feel like they need to function. I think I'm the only one of my immediate group of friends (if you call them that) that knows the phone number of everyone I call. I don't try to remember it, but I don't save the phone numbers on my cell phone either.

I've also noticed that people try to multi-task when they shouldn't (eating, chatting on the cell phone, driving all at the same time). Then when they get into an accident they get out of the car pissed at the other person who had the right of way (happend today actually). I can just imagine the same idiot with an ultra-small, ultra-fast, responds to your voice type of computer getting into a much bigger accident attempting to do too many things at once.

Also wouldn't it be reasonable to assume that technology is a big reason why so many kids are obese these days?

Let your opinions fly.

 

[Notmuchlonger]

Technology also saves a great amount of lives. I dont agree with blaming obesity in children due to technology. I would call it poor parenting. As for multitasking while driving. Yep dumb.

 

[harley]

Obviously talking, reading, putting on makeup, whatever while driving is incredbly selfish and stupid.

As far as the child/obesity issue, I think it is directly due to the inability of kids to run and play by themselves in an unsupervised manner. We used to be outside for hours after school, after dinner, whatever. We would run, sit, walk, play, run, etc in bursts, which is now recognised as the best way to exercise. But now, due to safety issues (real or perceived), kids only outside playtime tends to be organized and supervised by adults. There is nothing better at totally removing fun from an activity than getting an adult involved. It's more fun now to go play video games or surf the web.

I don't know if there is a solution given the concern parents have over their kids. And this is from an overprotective parent. But I think if kids were allowed to just run and play they wouldn't spend so much time in front of a screen and would be far less obese.

Obviously food choices and other aspects also contribute, but when I was a kid I could eat anything in any quantity and never gain weight, due to the activity level of my daily life.

 

[Nords]

Also wouldn't it be reasonable to assume that technology is a big reason why so many kids are obese these days?
Let your opinions fly.

We could just as easily blame obesity on high-fructose corn syrup & french fries while (to steal another poster's thunder) we praise the Wii Fit as the technological solution...

Socrates probably wrestled with the same issues. But I wouldn't want to go back even 20 years, let alone a few millenia, just in search of simpler times.

However when our PC dies I think we'll just move everything over to our Mac Mini and let Wintel thrash around on their for a few more generations.

 

[Frugality_of_Apathy]

People are idiots regardless of technology.

Are you somehow implying there were no car accidents before 1985 because noone had cell phones?

Even though kids in the US may be more obese due to lack of exercise you'll notice their life expectancy is 20 or more years longer than yours. If the media didn't scare everyone by harping on the one kidnapping not by a family member that happens somewhere in the country every few months this wouldn't be an issue.

It would also help if they didn't stick everyone on the sex offender list because they were 18 and their girlfriend was 17, or for peeing in an alley, so that everyone in america doesn't gets letters informing them of a sex offender in their area.

 

[OAG]

Better life for who? The seller or the user? My grand kids (9 of them, aged 10 to 22 years) got every technology known to mankind (I can even do the Wii Ski Jump) and not a single one of them is obese or even over weight. I wish this GP could say the same. They also, between them all, participate in almost every sport know to mankind.

 

[slimm]

OMGosh, I am totally against cell phone usage while driving...in Dec. 2001 I almost died due to an imbecile who was yakking & driving...yikes, get a damn clue people. That said, my 4 nieces & 1 nephew enjoy the latest tech toys, stuff, whatever...all completely indulged in the "bestest" & hottest....nary a single one is obese - they all have chores, and are active in sports & all live in dual income households with parents who work waaaay beyond the 9-5, 40 hr. week. Soooooo, me thinks that perhaps poor choice of food(and too much of it!) is the probable cause of obesity in chillun, as well as, their folks. Not a single person in my family (including sibs inlaws) is obese, but we are all active and don't eat fast food garbage

 

[Frugality_of_Apathy]

Soooooo, me thinks that perhaps poor choice of food(and too much of it!) is the probable cause of obesity in chillun, as well as, their folks. Not a single person in my family (including sibs inlaws) is obese, but we are all active and don't eat fast food garbage

I think the issue is that since most families need both parents working to make ends meet there's no one home to cook so they get take-out and fastfood which raises their cost of living enough that there is no way one of them can quite working.

It's a vicious cycle.

 

[haha]

I think the issue is that since most families need both parents working to make ends meet there's no one home to cook so they get take-out and fastfood which raises their cost of living enough that there is no way one of them can quite working.

It's a vicious cycle.

True. Modern American life-long work hours, long commutes, high costs in most places where a family can make good wages or salaries-is very difficult for parents trying to raise a family. My Dad had an ordinary job, but he supported 8 people in pretty good circumstances. Today 2 working parents either need fancy careers or they struggle to support themselves and a couple kids. A real status symbol today is a big family where Mom doesn't need to work.

It was even much easier when I was a young father, compared to now.

Ha

 

[FinanceDude]

True. Modern American life-long work hours, long commutes, high costs in most places where a family can make good wages or salaries-is very difficult for parents trying to raise a family. My Dad had an ordinary job, but he supported 8 people in pretty good circumstances. Today 2 working parents either need fancy careers or they struggle to support themselves and a couple kids. A real status symbol today is a big family where Mom doesn't need to work.

It was even much easier when I was a young father, compared to now.

Ha

If my son wants to go the same college I graduated from 20 years ago, it will cost him 5 times as much, and that was a state school, not even UW-Madison........

Marquette University is now $36,000 a year to go. My brother went there from 1988-1992 and paid $10,500 a year.......

 

[slimm]

I think the issue is that since most families need both parents working to make ends meet there's no one home to cook so they get take-out and fastfood which raises their cost of living enough that there is no way one of them can quite working.

It's a vicious cycle.

I understand the dilemna of a "vicious cycle", however it doesn't have to be so complicated.
1. Big pretty bowl on the island or countertop full of fresh fruit
2. Sliced meat & cheese in the fridge for sandwiches - whole grain bread
3. Crockpot humming on the countertop - fill in the early a.m. with chicken, beef, or pork, liquid, brown rice, onions & off you go...first person home adds fresh veggies & voila....healthy, economical dinner.
4. Take another look at a pressure cooker - my mother never used hers after an accident (green beans on the ceiling) and I grew up with the same mindset. A frugal friend, who is a great cook, and an executive with a Fortune 500, taught me how to use a pressure cooker - it's great!

Realistically speaking, economical & healthy meals CAN be done for a frazzled family

 

[freebird5825]

at the risk of stating the obvious, kids' access to technology is controlled by their parents until they get their own money and buy it themselves.
so if kids park themselves in front of the computer 24/7, password it and limit their time there. if they get fat, stop buying fattening food and cases of soda for home. is this rocket science?

my exposure to technology went this way...
the hand held transistor radio as a teenager
then computers
then digital image capture of lasers
then speech recognition software when my hands went south from carpal tunnel
then a cell phone
then my intro to video games, arcade style, on the PS3

i love technology. i made my living in technology. it's not the technology that hurts people, it's the way it is used. so let us use it well.

 

[slimm]

At the risk of stating (yet another)obvious - as children we (bro, sis, & yours truly) were NEVER in the house except for family meals, studying, chores, sleep, or illness. After school, whatever the weather, we were outside playing soccer, basketball, tennis, hide n seek, skating etc. Mother whistled (ref's dang whistle)for us to come in, get cleaned up, and set the table for dinner...we hated to hear that sound for we knew it was time to go inside.

My father, who was an electrical engineer took our family television to his factory one day, and had an employee fashion a lock on it, after which, Dad and Mother had the only keys. Most of our neighbors and friends had multiple TV's in their households incl. kids bedrooms, while we had the solitary TV in the den, under lock and key. I was convinced, at the time, that we were so deprived. Now, I am thankful to have been raised in that environment - I learned to love books,nature, use my senses ,be athletic, and disregard pop culture.

Just my two cents. My sibs & I get nostalgic every once in awhile 'bout the good ol' days...late 70's early 80's.

 

[freebird5825]

and i thought my mom was mean for putting a lock on the telephone.
yes, a lock was available COTS for the old rotary style wall phones. it was placed in the hole for numeral 1 and locked with a key.
heeheeeheeee...but i figured out a way to outsmart that. there were real human operators back then that you actually spoke to and could dial a local number for you if you asked nicely and maturely enough.
sorry, Mom!
but she sure was proud i turned out the way i did.

 

[slimm]

and i thought my mom was mean for putting a lock on the telephone.
yes, a lock was available COTS for the old rotary style wall phones. it was placed in the hole for numeral 1 and locked with a key.
heeheeeheeee...but i figured out a way to outsmart that. there were real human operators back then that you actually spoke to and could dial a local number for you if you asked nicely and maturely enough.
sorry, Mom!
but she sure was proud i turned out the way i did.

Yup, I hear ya. One day my bro and I devised a plan to have mother's key duplicated. We "borrowed" her key and rode our bikes to a locksmith...thinking we were soooooo smart. And of course, we rode to the next suburb, thinking we could escape detection. The locksmith looked at the key - which was imprinted, Do Not Duplicate, and informed us that it was a "no go". Oh the wicked web we (try to) weave!

Now, of course, it's a source of great hilarity at family gatherings. The next generation chillun can't comprehend our laughter or the thought of their grandfather accomplishing such a heinous act......no TV?!

 

[REWahoo]

The next generation chillun can't comprehend our laughter or the thought of their grandfather accomplishing such a heinous act....

Off topic, but your profile says female....?

About slimm Gender: Female

 

[harley]

I thin the grandfather would be her father. The one who locked up the TV.

 

[REWahoo]

I thin the grandfather would be her father. The one who locked up the TV.

Got it. Some of us are generationally challenged...