Technology Rant

Tricia has lost her cell phone.  After weeks now of waiting for it to show up somewhere I finally decided to give her mine. While this might seem a selfless act it is anything but. It was a pleasure to give it up. Anyone who knows me knows that I’m not much for technological gadgets. Plasma TVs, Blackberries, Bluetooth, Skypes. I only know what one of these things actually is. And I like it that way.

I’m a bit disappointed that my brief ownership of a cell phone will forever serve as a blemish on what could have otherwise been a perfect record – a lifetime of NOT being available at the drop of a hat.

A few years ago I read this really great book titled Better Off: Flipping the Switch on Technology (Two People, One Year, Zero Watts).  In the book the author Eric Mende, a graduate of MIT, wrote about his concerns that he, as well as society as a whole, had become addicted to technology. He wondered whether the very machines that have been designed to save us time actually do just the opposite.

I’m sure this is true. I would bet that if there were a study conducted to show the relationship between internet speed (dial up, DSL, cable) and time spent at the computer you would find that the faster the internet connection (a supposed opportunity to save time) the more time spent in front of the screen. Rather than saving time at the computer we are lured into sitting and staring even longer.

 So, are things actually better when they’re slower and more laborious?

Mende was determined to find out. He and his new bride found a small religious community (Mennonites most likely) who  would take him in as an outsider amongst them for a year and a half. The Mennonites, in case you are unaware, make the Amish look like something out of a science fiction movie.

So during his “simple life” experience, Mende looked to see for himself the pros and cons of a life without technology of any kind.  His days were spent planting, weeding, milking, feeding, building, and mending. He worked from before sunrise each morning to after sunset each evening. It was hard. But he found that the best conversations he and his wife had took place when working alongside one another. There was no need for a gym membership because everyday life provided opportunity after opportunity to walk (no cars, although there was a horse and buggy for longer trips) and labor.

The kids in the community helped out as well. There were always a number of tasks for them to tackle and when they weren’t working they were running around the fields and barns playing. No television, no video games and, yet, no “I’m bored.” They learned how to entertain themselves rather than becoming dependent on the glare of a screen to do it for them. Certainly, they thought more and read more and imagined more. There’s already plenty of research out there showing the relationship between screen time and attention span and imaginative play. The results are far from surprising.

The experience wasn’t perfect, though. It got awfully hot in the summer without air conditioning. And as his wife became pregnant and neared her due date she worried about the possibility of complications and how well equipped the midwife would be able to handle these.  And after a lifetime of what they had come to accept as normal life there were a lot of change to adjust to quickly. So after twelve months, six months shy of their intended exit, they left the community and came back to “civilization.”

However, they came back changed.  Living in St. Louis, they still walk as often as they can rather than jump into a car for a ten or fifteen minute drive. When they can’t drive they hop on their bicycles. They do their wash the old-fashioned way . To supplement their small garden they walk to the farmer’s market (one of the largest open air markets in the country and just minutes from their front door). All chores are done as a family, alongside one another, and they figure they spend far more time each day talking with their kids than do the vast majority of families today.

While I harbor no dreams that I would like to return to the 1800s and their ways I do think there is something to be learned from that kind of life. I appreciate the convenience of a trip to Target and finding quick information on the internet. I’m thankful for new drugs, life-saving medical procedures, and elevators that can get me to the fifth floor in a snap. But I know, too, that sometimes it’s okay to take the stairs.

It’s with my tongue firmly planted in my cheek that I say I hate technology. I don’t at all. I just think maybe we should be a little more careful at times to think about the effects it has on us.  I hate seeing people texting while they drive. And in a movie theater. And while I’m talking to them. I hate seeing children needing to watch DVDs during a twenty minute drive down the road. I hate seeing that there are tours of beautiful caverns that utilize heavy doses of elaborate light shows and hidden speakers when just the cavern itself should be enough to leave us is awe. I hate seeing teachers use SmartBoards to show videos of the natural world without ever taking their kids out into it.

So maybe it’s not the technology itself that I hate. It’s the way we abuse it.