and I’m trying to figure out why. By the time I’m done writing this I’ll probably answer my own question so lets see what happens.
13 yr old Pennsylvanian Morgan Pozgar spelled out “Supercalifragilisticexpialidoucious” the fastest and won 25k. The fact that a kid won doesn’t bother me, it’s the effect that text messaging has had on butchering the English language. Yeah kids have been speaking in codes for years but this line from a British release is what disturbed me even more “Morgan said she trained by sending on average 8,000 text messages a month to her friends and family – which works out at one every five and a half minutes!” 8000 messages! holy fucking shit! I admit that I send out a decent amount but 8000! Christ I can’t fathom that many. Think about it though, kids today are becoming drones to technology. Hey I love technology and it’s a part of my life but goddamn learn to disconnect. I work 8-10 hours a day online, come home to do online schooling and chat with some friends for a few hours but I also know when you need to turn the damn things off and take a break. In a time when it seems every parent thinks their kid needs coddled or sheltered because of some emotional side effect of real life, they’re adding to the mental demise and dependability on others by allowing this to get out of hand.
Ipods are another thing. I don’t own an ipod or any mp3 device (funny since I’m a podcaster eh?) and everytime i see people walking around with those in their ears I want to smack them. There’s a time and a place for everything. My wife and I went to the store yesterday to get some brats for the grill and saw a couple of teens walking around like zombies with the ipods on and sending messages. wtf. Now to sound like an old person, back in the day my parents would always say that TV was rotting my mind by watching it. Now in it’s place ipods, text messaging and the internet have taken it’s place at a more dramatic level.
Technology and the New Media are tools that will make life more enjoyable but don’t forget that once in awhile you need to unplug and take time for yourself… or you will be assimilated. Resistance is futile.
a blog post about how bad technology is?
brilliant!!!
go drink some piss warm beer you wanker.
go tigers!
I agree, fairly ironic that Spoon’s bitchin’ about technology 🙂 But I see where he’s coming from. I was shocked by this girl’s admission that she thinks she sends 8,000 text messages a month, but she only estimated… so that number could be extremely overestimating to garner attention.
I also hate seeing all of the “drones” listening to their crappy music through their white earbuds, but I look at it as – you aren’t bothering me yapping on your cell phone! Same with text messages! Typically it’s the older people talking way too loud on their phone, invading the personal audio space of others in public. WHICH IS WORSE?
I have an mp3 player, but only use it in my brand new Mazda 3 🙂 I text message, but probably keep it to 5-10 messages a day. And I log onto the Internet more than most, but in actuality it’s not alienating me into my own world – it’s helping me connect, learn and make my life better. I realize there are some limits and some people take it over the top. I love to go for an entire weekend every once in awhile without touching a computer, but it doesn’t make me feel like I’m making my life better necessarily. Just like you going without a beer for a few days wouldn’t make you feel any better about yourself 😛
I say let the kids go into their own little worlds – keeps ’em outta annoying ours 🙂
-sav
yeah ironic isn’t it.
Don’t get me wrong, I think the technology is great but not when it’s abused and consumes your life. I think portable media devices and texting is fine but learn to disconnect. Parents of teens today are so hellbent on not “hurting anyones feelings” that they don’t have the balls to take anything away or restrict the time of usage.
Actually only drinking 1 night a week has made me feel better about myself. I don’t have the urge to kill hobos anymore.