At work the other day the internet went out for quite some time and since that is how business is done these days, it was a pretty big deal. Instead of googling the information that I needed, I was forced to, as we jokingly called it, “go old school” and pull out some books instead. It got me thinking, has the internet really taken over? Is it really impossible to get things done without it?
Now, as we all know, technology has advanced a lot in the last couple decades. Smartphones have found a home in everyone’s pockets, children under the age of five can often be found with their eyes glued to the screen of an iPad and if you don’t have a laptop, then how are you supposed to do your homework?
Technology is great. It has made our lives so much easier. We don’t have to do math by hand, know how to spell things properly or even physically leave our homes to take a summer class. Although all those things are easy and convenient, are they really benefiting us?
Jimmy Kimmel recently did a segment on telling time on analog clocks in classrooms. In this segment, he took to the streets and asked children to tell the time on one of the “old school” clocks. The results, although probably somewhat biased for the purpose of the show, were still pretty eye-opening.
Originally why this conversation of children not being able to tell time on non-digital clocks came about due to a report stating that in England there is the talk of taking analog clocks out of classrooms and replacing them with digital ones because of complaints from children that they could not read them.
It’s sad to see such beautifully made and historic items disappear from our world. I know clocks and books and other “outdated” items seem trivial to be concerned about but with the way things are going, my fear is that our intellectual abilities will be compromised once the technology becomes far more advanced than it already has.
Technology is a beautiful thing when it is being used for good. Technological advances in medicine, art, engineering and more have done so many amazing things for so many people. That technology is the type of technology that I am so grateful for. As much as I love my iPhone and my laptop and everything that comes with both of those things, I still wonder, when is it all too much?