Technoslave
From Adbusters #77, MAY-JUN 2008 (http://adbusters.org/the_magazine/77/Technoslave.html)
Photo: Peter Funch.
Once, while I was riding on a crowded bus, the man sitting next to me threw his cell phone out the window. When his phone rang, instead of dutifully answering it, he casually tossed it away. I was stunned. He looked at me, shrugged and looked away. I had no idea if it was his, if it was stolen or if he even knew what a cell phone was. But in one seemingly careless motion, he managed to liberate himself from something that has completely consumed me.
When my cell phone rings, it's an incessant and incensed vibration that demands my immediate attention. I curse its calling, but am unable to refuse. Whether I'm in the middle of a conversation, in the shower or sound asleep, the ringing causes such panic and excitement that I feel forced to answer.
"The pressure to answer the pulse or ring in a flash has Technoslaves hopping to grab the message, scrambling away to find clearer signals and/or deal with the urgency of the moment as though it borders somewhere on the fringes between life and death," writes The Trends Journal editor Gerald Celente." ... And for what, to say hello, to bitch and moan or do business on the phone?"
Technology is supposed to free us from the shackles of work and give us more leisure time. But it has proven to do the exact opposite. A 2005 Leger Marketing survey for the technology newspaper Computing Canada found that the majority of people feel technology has meant more work and less time with the family. Whether it's cell phones, Blackberry's, video games or email, we have become a culture enslaved by our electronics.
As people fall further into their personal gadgets, scientists and psychologists are now beginning to classify technology dependency as a major health problem, putting it in the same categories as alcoholism, gambling and drug addiction. The stress it creates is causing arthritis, migraines and ulcers. These physical attachments are causing weight gain, back problems and bad skin. But most troubling, it is having a powerful impact on our personal development. It seems the more 'connected' we are, the more detached we become.
"Humans are being trapped in a high-tech cycle that is freezing their minds away from living in the moment, looking at life and taking in whatýs around them," writes Celente. "While technology has radically altered the externals of life, it has done nothing demonstrable to enhance the internals: moral, emotional, philosophical and spiritual values."
As I stare blankly into a computer screen for hours on end, sometimes I wonder if thereýs a secret message hidden in this technological maze. But the more I stare, the more I keep coming up with the same answer: I am trapped.
_Eric Slate
Feedback
way of ignoring the ills that are systemic and very hard to avoid, esp. when imposed on one, as some contributors here have noted. Seems to be a legacy of Cartesianism and Protestantism to pin total reality and responsibility and blame on the lonely denatured individual. Throw in a little Buddhist detachment/moderation philosophy and that lets technosocial degradation off the hook. Cell phones and other technoaddictive gadgets weren't necessary 12 years ago why now?!?! Because toy supply, like the availability of drugs, creates demand and need. We ARE enslaved by much of the new technology, whose creation, keep in mind, is precisely for that purpose not to make a better world, but to make more money for the corporate pigs. Doesn't that raise your ire enough, in itself, to want to toss the phone? And note we're not even talking about the physical health effects now burgeoning, the neurological disorders with a roughly 10 year incubation time, according to major doctors and publications. Brain tumors are skyrocketing, and there's no coincidence, especially for vulnerable brains of the young. A closing thought, from my musings in the middle of last night: The revolution will not be podcast.
Noel
I think this is very interesting and a great idea also, I spent a week without computer, television, cellphone, music, etc it was a project and my results fascinated me, at first it was driving me crazy but then I felt totally free and discovered how great it is not depending on this kind of stuff.
Edith
Technology is the way that we are all being slowly but surely enslaved....it provides us with entertainment work, great shopping abilities and everything else that we need to not rebel against our masters. Now that we have it all at our fingertips why should we worry about corruption, war, famine or any of the other things that are happening in the real worlds...we are being spoon fed through network hoses and always feel strangely disattached from the pictures on the screen not really knowing why.....Should we ever want to venture out of our cozy condo our position can be easily tracked by global satellites and with the new DNA testing technologies available a court can decide that you are likely to commit a crime and therefore detain you for the good of the rest of us sane people..... Luckily enough the people who built the systems aren't half as smart as they need to be so we are still in control.....The Matrix isn't coming...it's already here....open your eyes zombies
Krs
Well many of these electronics do make life easier but it's interesting to see many of the younger generations addiction to it. One of my favorite things in this life is the internet and having instant access to information, as well as the networking possibilities the net provides. All the gadgets can become a distration but overall I think the pros far outweigh the cons. But I do feel for the teacher who always has to be available, I would not work under those conditions.
mr. bixby
Intriguing and disturbing how the personal responsibility dogma is so prevalent, a way of ignoring the ills that are systemic and very hard to avoid, esp. when imposed on one, as some contributors here have noted. Seems to be a legacy of Cartesianism and Protestantism to pin total reality and responsibility and blame on the lonely denatured individual. Throw in a little Buddhist detachment/moderation philosophy and that lets technosocial degradation off the hook. Cell phones and other technoaddictive gadgets weren't necessary 12 years ago why now?!?! Because toy supply, like the availability of drugs, creates demand and need. We ARE enslaved by much of the new technology, whose creation, keep in mind, is precisely for that purpose not to make a better world, but to make more money for the corporate pigs. Doesn't that raise your ire enough, in itself, to want to toss the phone? And note we're not even talking about the physical health effects now burgeoning, the neurological disorders with a roughly 10 year incubation time, according to major doctors and publications. Brain tumors are skyrocketing, and there's no coincidence, especially for vulnerable brains of the young. A closing thought, from my musings in the middle of last night: The revolution will not be podcast.
Noel
I think this is very interesting and a great idea also, I spent a week without computer, television, cellphone, music, etc it was a project and my results fascinated me, at first it was driving me crazy but then I felt totally free and discovered how great it is not depending on this kind of stuff.
Edith
Technology is the way that we are all being slowly but surely enslaved....it provides us with entertainment work, great shopping abilities and everything else that we need to not rebel against our masters. Now that we have it all at our fingertips why should we worry about corruption, war, famine or any of the other things that are happening in the real worlds...we are being spoon fed through network hoses and always feel strangely disattached from the pictures on the screen not really knowing why.....Should we ever want to venture out of our cozy condo our position can be easily tracked by global satellites and with the new DNA testing technologies available a court can decide that you are likely to commit a crime and therefore detain you for the good of the rest of us sane people..... Luckily enough the people who built the systems aren't half as smart as they need to be so we are still in control.....The Matrix isn't coming...it's already here....open your eyes zombies
Krs
__._,_.___
*****************************************
Sign the Petition : Release the Arrested University Teachers Immediately : An Appeal to the Caretaker Government of Bangladesh
http://www.mukto-mona.com/human_rights/university_teachers_arrest.htm
*****************************************
Daily Star publishes an interview with Mukto-Mona
http://www.mukto-mona.com/news/daily_star/daily_star_MM.pdf
*****************************************
MM site is blocked in Islamic countries such as UAE. Members of those theocratic states, kindly use any proxy (such as http://proxy.org/) to access mukto-mona.
*****************************************
Mukto-Mona Celebrates 5th Anniversary
http://www.mukto-mona.com/Special_Event_/5_yrs_anniv/index.htm
*****************************************
Mukto-Mona Celebrates Earth Day:
http://www.mukto-mona.com/Special_Event_/Earth_day2006/index.htm
*****************************************
Kansat Uprising : A Special Page from Mukto-Mona
http://www.mukto-mona.com/human_rights/kansat2006/members/
*****************************************
MM Project : Grand assembly of local freedom fighters at Raumari
http://www.mukto-mona.com/project/Roumari/freedom_fighters_union300306.htm
*****************************************
German Bangla Radio Interviews Mukto-Mona Members:
http://www.mukto-mona.com/Special_Event_/Darwin_day/german_radio/
Mukto-Mona Celebrates Darwin Day:
http://www.mukto-mona.com/Special_Event_/Darwin_day/index.htm
*****************************************
Some FAQ's about Mukto-Mona:
http://www.mukto-mona.com/new_site/mukto-mona/faq_mm.htm
****************************************************
VISIT MUKTO-MONA WEB-SITE : http://www.mukto-mona.com/
****************************************************
"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it".
-Beatrice Hall [pseudonym: S.G. Tallentyre], 190
Change settings via the Web (Yahoo! ID required)
Change settings via email: Switch delivery to Daily Digest | Switch to Fully Featured
Visit Your Group | Yahoo! Groups Terms of Use | Unsubscribe
__,_._,___