At what cost technology replacing personal contact?
FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:
The holidays are upon us - traditionally a time spent with our families, friends and loved ones… intimate gatherings in our homes, which give us all a chance to reconnect. And maybe the need for that is greater than it's ever been.
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Here are a few statistics that might be something for us all to think about:
There are 270 million cell phone subscribers who sent more than 110 billion text messages last December - that was double the number sent a year earlier. The average teenager sends more than 2,000 text messages every month.
At the same time - the average length of a cell phone call declined last year. The problem is, this is all stuff we mostly do alone.
We spend five hours a day watching television… and another two hours on the computer…
Walk down the street in any city in America and notice how many of us never see our surroundings. Our faces are buried in personal communication devices - At the expense of seeing someone smile as they pass you - of noticing someone who might be in need - or of missing something like a changing street light that can actually put you in danger.
It doesn't seem to be a big deal now but my guess is in 20 or 30 years we won't recognize ourselves because of the effect all of this has had.
That we will be different is certain. Whether we'll be better off is very much an open question…
Here’s my question to you: At what cost is technology replacing personal contact?
Interested to know which ones made it on air?
Laura writes:
So much is lost in communication through technology: tone of voice, body language, facial expressions, even signals sent through our skin. It's easier to lie through technology, and sometimes I even feel more disconnected from the person than if I weren't talking to them at all.
Pete writes:
Jack, You and I are about the same age. Times they are a changin’. Get over it.
Christine (from Oxford University Press) writes:
When Oxford lexicographers selected "unfriend" as the 2009 Word of the Year, it was because of the indisputable cultural imprint that the word has left on the past year. An entire generation is coming of age in a time when even friendship is a function of our technology. A pretty sobering observation, don't you think?
Nancy who’s an American in Scotland writes:
Jack, I think the kids are fine. Texting is a fad, and eventually it will pass. Modern technology means that everyone can be informed and educated; I am not worried about the kids and technology. I am worried about parents not having time for their kids, working all the hours God gives. It is us old folks that don't have enough conversations. Teach a Grandfather near you to text!
Diane writes:
I am sitting with a colleague right now and we are both on our phones instead of interacting with each other. Yes, technology is taking the place of human interface.
Ken writes:
I will tell you the cost: last night I saw a story in the news where a man married an Avatar online. Got the point?
John from New Jersey writes:
It's not costing anything. You sound like you’re getting old and cranky, just like the nay-sayers when the telephone came out. You need some time off. I'll Google spas in Amish country for you.
@jackcafferty on Twitter
At what cost is technology replacing personal contact?
Penmanship and grammar
Jenna
Roseville CA
Jack,
Having worked with troubled teens for a decade and a half, it is more frightening daily. The youth can no longer write a sentence, they have difficulty carrying a conversation, they are lax in their hygiene, and struggle with math. This is directly attributable to the amount of time they spend without supervision or family interaction. Technology has become a lifeline for many and a way to escape the pressures they encounter daily!
In the quest for the the material, we have neglected a whole generation or more. They are rewarded for very little, since everyone gets the same recognition regardless of their ability–they are rarely challenged to succeed or make a choice. Isolation within technology leads to the inability to connect except very superficially.. Sad case but we adults are to blame–not the children or the machines!
The adults immersed in our Blackberries/Iphones/ PDA's/computers are just as isolated..So , YES, tech has replaced the individual contact on many levels!
If you are using technology to shorten the distance between family and friends when they are not close than technology is wonderful. It's when technology is abused to the point that you are not communicating in person when people are right there that it becomes an artificial barrier to human contact. Just like previous technology, T.V. for instance, it's not the technology in itself that is bad it's how you use it. I work in the communication field and I will be teaching my children how and when to communicate in person and with a computer or hand-held device. Teach your children well.
Loss of boundries.Look at how people act when they are in dispute of one another now. The annonimity of internet dispute allows people to go far beyond the bounds of healthy debate, without having to be accountable. People are now taking that to the steets with them. Look at some of the vial signs people will take into public debates, or just the complete lack of respect for others views when shouting hurtful words at one another.
Humans are becoming more heartless, from the youngest to the older.
Joanne B
Wi
Since my dog can’t use a computer or blueberry or strawberry and is not a Twit, he is the only person that makes any sense anymore and is the only one worth being around and the only person I can have a relatively intelligent conversation with, I’d say it has no cost. He has more social skills than most of the fools I meet on a daily basis. The more people I run across, the more I like my dog. But as soon as he gets one of those cell phone thingys surgically implanted to the side of his face, he’s history.
Dear Jack, That happened long ago. I tried calling you but never got past the switchboard answering device with hundreds of options. Please don't hang up, your call is important to us. Bzzzzzzzz "If you'd like to make a call, please hangup and try again.
Well, there are instances like the Cafferty File in which I would NEVER be able to share my opinion with a large group of people if it weren't for technology, and there are instances where people get depressed and lose the people around them because they are so involved in their virtual lives, they neglect their real ones. Not only that, but I personally think people need real human contact to maintain a certain level of happiness and proper functioning. So in a way it brings people together who would never know each other otherwise, and tears people apart when they already do. My rule of thumb is to use it as a way to make plans to meet in real life, never as an alternative to real contact. Although I am a bit guilty of getting wrapped up in Twitter and ignoring the people right in the room...it's really sad.
Laura
I think the fact that facebook was invented by a bunch of socially awkward Harvard students says it all...it's like a way out of face-to-face contact.
Laura
Jeff
Nashville, TN
Sadly, I believe it is. Watch people in the park on the trails, or at a store, maybe get in an elevator with a group of 3 or 4. Everybody is nose down into their phones, texting and oblivious to their surroundings. Hard to get out and meet new people and interact when they are all absorbed into their phones. Pretty soon nobody will have any social skills!
A very high cost!
The impersonal touch that companies have now is costing them customers but they just don't care because they look at the bottom line in the short-term and decide to eliminate the receptionist or the customer service person. I miss it very much when a person doesn't answer the phone with a nice professional hello and how may I help you, so I always press zero to speak to someone.
Jack, our current society is SO out of touch with each other it is a sad commentary... The whole idea of texting, emails, etc. are to keep in touch, when in fact we are not having face-time any more.
A generation ago everything was accomplished with a handshake. There was no need for written contracts. Today, these contracts on paper do not mean a thing.
Man is no longer as good as his word. He is no longer as honest as the day is long. He no longer spends quality time with others, including his own family...
I'm a product of the 50's and can only see the sadness of how far we have come... and it's all been DOWN HILL...
.
Most of the people I know and work with are the very people I wish I had LESS personal contact with. Thank God for Technology!
Mark
OKC
tampa, fl my wife has a cell phone, a lap top, twitters & tweets, and has "farms". she is so busy raising crops, livestock, answering emails & texts that we haven't had sex in years. she's too busy.
I was going to post a witty response, but thought I would share it with you over lunch instead.
Jack, I routinely ask the service person for a company I am asking information and help from, 'where are you (the caller) located?'.
More often than not, the American Corporation has hired boiler room service providers located in a foreign country thru cheap labor practices and that person is located in Bombay, India, or New Deli, et. al.
The idiot automated help systems are so tedious, I often last about 30 seconds before loudly proclaiming 'live person' at ever prompt, where upon I am thankfully transferred to a 'real person', go figure!
Riding the underground used to be fun place to people-watch. And others did the same. Now I watch people with heads down, eyes averted and Blackberries w/bluetooth attachments. Boring!
At least when I get my hearing aids I can get an outrageous color, like neon purple and people will just think its just another cool electronic hook-up!.
Maria
Brunswick,MD
At all cost Jack. It will only stop when the Avitars take over oh yea that is technology too.
it makes our once personal converstations less personal with the eletronic buffer coming between us and distances oneself from responsibilty and even etiquette, and that's no way to allow our children to be raised ... lieterally creating a disconnected society.
It is a very big problem.
I have a cell phone in case of emergency and I don't care to learn to text.
When the Computer came out, I said it would be the downfall of the world and it has pretty much come true.
My 14 year old grandson is either texting or checking to see if anyone has sent him one.
I don't understand, as we didn't even have a phone, TV, DVD or any fancy things when I was a kid. You played jacks, skipped rope, made mudpies, walked to the grocery store etc.
Things are achangin but not for the best.
Jack,
Last Christmas, I spent hours playing 'tic-tac-toe' with my young grand-daughter. (And, yes, I let her win a lot.) This year we bought her an electronic game, and it is my guess she'll be spending a number of hours amusing herself. I just hope I can get her to turn it off long enough to eat.
Rick, Medina, OH
Jack I don't like it anymore than anyone else.However that is how its evolving and it can not be stopped.SO!!! one must make time and take time to be a human in caring contact and that is what I do.While still using tech in our future.
David
At a huge cost. Isn't that why so many people and kids are obese, less activity? Kids don't go out and "play" any more, it's all about video games.
When Oxford lexicographers selected "unfriend" as the 2009 Word of the Year, it was because of the indisputable cultural imprint that the word has left on the past year. An entire generation is coming of age in a time when even friendship is a function of our technology. A pretty sobering observation, don't you think?
Christine Lindberg
Senior U.S. Lexicographer
Oxford University Press
I can't tell you how many times I have been to our local walking track, tried to smile at someone only to discover that the other person was completely out of touch due to either texting someone who was nowhere around or jamming out to tunes on their ipod.
Show me the money, can you remember a service station that could fix your car? can you remember when you made a phone call and you got a receptionist ? Why not have 20 questions before you get to a fire man or a policeman? It all about money and people out of work
It is probably more of an immense detrimental affect than one would think. Many people now work at home instead of the office which may greatly affect one's social skills in relation to those other than family members. One good sign of the affects of technology is watching a group of kids texting one another instead of speaking to one another.
"Technology killed the Radio Star". We are now a "service" country. Fast food, computers, internet. We were out shopping for tennis shoes (Van's) for my granddaughter, and of course, she want's a certain style. The store did have it, and couldn't get it, never heard of it. I went to their "online store" and found the shoes in that style and in a varity of colors. I don't know if the store employee didn't care, or what. It seems that we are moving away from personal service to no service. Hell Jack, when was the last time someone counted out your change.
Jack, at the least we'll have fewer people. You can't start a family with a cell phone and a computer. It's high tech herd culling.
It may cost us our planet and our grandchildren's lives,
You will first have to wait for the weather! Then the transport! Then the road back-logs, or any other transport. I don't watch TV at-all. I am on the internet six hrs a day. Everyday!
Mother Nature has programmed us to adapt to our environment. That environment has less and less human interaction. Society is moving toward an autistic culture and Buscaglia weeps.
Jack
Technology has increase my contact with friends and lovedones. I work faster, accomplish tasks considered impossible twenty years ago. I like to shop and compare in my home before costly ventures to the brick and mortar stores at the Mall or Downtown. I don't make trips to the office to conclude work latter at home. What we accomplished in the last 100 years without computers is nothing compared to the next 100 years
Having a computer and a phone connected to it saves me a lot of postage and telephone fees. I also do not need to drive as much so I buy less fuel (which also helps conserve precious energy and lowers pollution). My banks do not need to mail statements to me. I will admit I do not text message so I still have a lot of personal contacts. Obviously I am not in big business.
All I can say is thank heaven for GPS. I no longer have to watch my husband blow a gasket because I misread the map or failed to tell him when to make a turn. Now that kind of "personal contact" I'm very pleased to lose.
The cost is going to be significant, and it already is. Look at what is now on TV.....reality shows, which primarily show people at their absolute worst!
Cell phones were bad enough, now texting is taking over, because no one wants to take the time to just chat, anymore.
Now, even politics has gone to one-liners, on Twitter.
Communication is everywhere, every minute, and 90% of it, is just worthless.
Like most things it has its good side and bad. Most people anymore are complete loons and you should avoid them at all cost but there are still a sliver of decent and with being on the web you can at least keep them at an arm's lenghth.
The cost is only as high as your cell bill. Whether you email or text you still have to send a message! And the content of the message you send is what's most important... Happy Holidays! 🙂
Too much, Jack. It's what's wrong with our society today – it's too easy to be anonymous and say what you'd get your butt kicked for– if you said it in person!
The array of personal communication devices has effectively driven our kids from reading good or any books, learning to form thoughts in writing, and talking to others about anything at length because they have a call coming in to ask them what r u doin.
Well, in Tigers case: NOT AT ALL!
Seriously , whether its a email or text you still have to send a message!
And the content of the message itself is what's most important....
Happy Holidays! 🙂
I just wish they would go back and teach penmanship in school again,I hate it when someone signs a check,or a contract and you have no idea who signed it,it just looks like some scribbling.
All technology has done is eliminate any "real time" with people on a personal basis. There is no "human contact" when you call the phone or electric companies to make a complaint or start or end services these days. Text messaging and video games have made people more nearsighted also.
All this technology has done is eliminate contact with "real people" and taken away intimate contact between families. Texting and the use of video games has created a more uneducated and uninformed citizenry. No one takes the time to really communicate with friends or family these days.
Jack, my great grandfather just told me you asked a variation of this same question shortly after Alexander Bell invented the telephone.
I don't know Jack, give me your phone number and address and I'll decide wheather to call you, vist you or email you like I do everyday.
You should knowm Jack. You work in a field that is part of the problem.
How are we communicating now. Enough said.
Arrrggghhh matey ! I remember a slogan for one of the communication businesses was "Reach out and touch...." I watch teens sit in the same room, texting each other. My son-in-law who works for the Military-Industrial Complex has to order his employees to use the phone or have eye to eye contact with others in their field. He claims that texting and emailing misses the nuaunces of a tone of voice, the look in the eye, etc. As a result, items are missed.
On the other side, however, I've just joined FaceBook and have found long lost cousins and new relatives So, it's a mixed bag. As with everything else, if used in moderation and not to replace personal contact, it can be helpful. But we humans are additive beings and I'm afraid that our technology has no is moving us apart.
The irony is Jack, that technology isn't replacing personal contact, it is enhancing it.
Through a simple social networking website, I've been able to reestablish contact with about two dozen old friends who I would have had no ability to do so ten years ago. I can talk to several of them at the same time, and learn intimate details that people would have kept silent at a party or other social scene for fear of other ears hearing. My contact with family is immediate, even though they are spread about the country. True, we should always take care to interact with people when we can, but a fear of technology is a irrational fear of change. Change happens, you just have to be smart about how you utilize it.
The way we were communicating before, there might actually be an improvement. People on a cell phone or a PDA are too busy with their device to get angry when someone bumps them on the street, they're also too busy to get angry at what's going on around them, so not having that day-to-day contact with the public might be a good thing.
I live at Lake Camanche, calif I am 60 years old and I am retired from
pharmacy. My husband and I have always watched cnn and like most
of your programs. We are very loyal demacrats as were our parents. But I must tell you we are getting pretty tired of cnn one sided reporting
on politics, we like to hear both sides. We live in a close comunity with
other retired neighbors who I assure you feel the same way. Most of all our neighbors voted for our President but we now regret that vote more than any vote in our lives. please give us both sides of the story from your wonderfull cnn station , we count on it .
thank you
Karen Buie
Jack,
What cost?
T. V. ads – research, write, focus group test, produce, air: several hundred thousand dollars -plus commercial air time on each station. This runs into billions of dollars. Those with the most money win. But that is what we want; our money represented or else we would demand campaign finance reform.
The republicans have a built in advantage with Fox running a 24/7 campaign against all ideas that serve citizens. In addition we have the 2500 or so hate and lie spewing radio group. All breaking the FCC law which requires each broadcast license be used in the "PUBLIC INTEREST." Last I knew lies and hoping for our government's failure are not in the public interest and inciting violence is a crime – conspiracy to commit.
Remember The Soviet Union came apart partly because their economy collapsed. Then we too may have civil unrest as our heavily armed citizens with their puny hand guns a thinking is coming. They will wish they too had black helicopter gun ships and drones.
None for me. I LIKE being alone.
Ironically, technology will isolate us personally even further as it expands our ability to communicate with others globally. There is no end in sight nor should there be one. We are creating a "hive mind" like the Borg on Star Trek. Once we get rid if manual input devices we can operate at the speed of thought. Then we will really see accelerated change. Change is normal and positive in the long run. At least it's always interesting.
I know it's causing old people a lot of heart attacks. Have you ever been robbed and try to call to let some one know. First of all you can't call 911. It's not an emergency. The fine print in the phone book is hard to read. You finally find the police under Fire,Life and safety. Next press 1 for English press 2 for this, press 3 for that and it goes on to press 6. None of they above. No human comes on line Then you ask into the phone how about a person...Voice "you must press" 1 for English and it begins all over again And that's only the beginning...Seven days later we are still trying to clean up this mess. We did find out one thing we need, a first grader to come live with us to help us place a call.
it costs more than Oprah Winfrey's paycheck!
It is costing us our humanity. It is the goal of Corporate America to widen the gap of human contact between an individual and business to purposely avoid dealing with any complaints or responsibility after the sale of goods or services. They count on us not being able or willing to contact them personally and make it so difficult that most give up and accept the fact that they do not care. The irony of it all is the fact that the most difficult of all businesses to get in personal communication with, is Communication Companies. Ever try to get in touch with ATT, Yahoo, SBC or any others? They do not even post an email site and to get a live body on the phone is laughable. The scary part is the younger generation is brainwashed to the hilt with how wonderful this way of interacting is and the older generation are so befuddled by it, they cannot deal with it.
Thom Richer
Negaunee, MI
Personal contact is over rated. I prefer to be left alone since the alternative is to be bored with others that seem to know what is best for me.
I have not had a cell phone for nearly 1 1/2 years. When the Bush administration enacted his wonderful housing reclaimation project, he also destroyed alot of the surrounding businesses. Thanks to his brilliant stroke of genious, I lost my cell phone as well as many other familiar things (i.e. house, car, wife, children etc.) but the loss of my phone brought me a sort of serenity as all my creditors cannot reach me now. I have to reach out people now by visitation, leters and some pay phone calls. The point is, I have rediscovered communication the way I feel it should be. I , for one, will leave the cell phones to the teen-agers and people who feel they can be sincere over them.
Happy Friday Jack,
I saw this disconnect with society coming 20 years ago, so we moved our family, to a remote mountain top home, threw away every cell phone, limit television and computor exposure, plant a huge garden every year, walk to our friends houses and love life. And we're still waiting to hear Ba Ba Ba Boo Blitzer sing.
"Well I am still trying Jack, but I just can't seem to get through!
I know your hero Obama is speaking at this time, but what can I do?"
Gee, the number of cellphones in this country is almost as high as GUNS,what an exciting statistic. The next uncivil war in this country can match IEDS against drive by shooters. Gene
The cost of technology has replaced personal contact and value of relationships. We are slowly approaching the point of no return to appreciate and value verbal communications. Anytime a piece of heartless equipment replaces human relations, it's time to reevaluate what's more important...time talking to people or texting them.
Hi Jack, I am a ninth grader in Woodstock, New York and I don't have a cell phone. But I do have a computer and I know that talking on the computer is so much worse than seeing someone in person and talking to them, seeing there face, watching them laugh, and hearing there voice. I really feel that we need to stop somewhere so that eventually we aren't just sending texts to people, or talking them online, so that we can still enjoy the joy of talking in person.
Adam Forrest
Woodstock, NY
Cutting off personal contact is the main cost of technology. If all the texters had to speek face to face they would all realize how rude and selfish they all were and get into fights. You would think that this technology would be the manifestation of the religious doctrine of inter-connectivity. Instead the opposite has become the reality, People have withdrawn from each other. Unenlightened withdrawal from the world and personal relationships is the cost of our technological dependence.
Automatic computerized voicemail systems should be detonated.
The cost is huge Jack. People are losing the fundamentals of conversation, writing, spelling and basic communication. As long as they can text it or type it they're okay. If they have to have a face to face personal conversation, they're out of luck. It's the same as being able to do math without a calculator. If the cash registers in the stores don't tell the cashiers how change to give customers, they can't figure it out.
Jack, I just heard that Christmas card mailings are down by over half from what they were just 5-6 years ago, it's all going over to E-mails and texting. Maybe I'm old-fashioned(I am), but I would rather get the card and a message than a E-mail. I am getting to the end of my rope with people who think they can fiddle with their electronic gear and drive at the same time(most of whom won't make it 20 years down the road). Layne A. Antioch, Il.
Jack, it is at the point now that people no longer know how to relate to people. Personalities are no longer an issue and it effectively boils down to the fact that they can be talking to a stone wall and get the same results.
It is too bad that people no longer know how to interact with the human race. This holds true in most of the ongoing wars we have in the world today.
Texting and social networking sites are much more responsive than sending a letter and waiting a week for a response. Personal interactions seem more shallow than a well written letter considering the usual e-mail jokes that have replaced a conversation or correspondence. On the other hand, social sites are much safer places to meet people in today's world.
So much is lost in communication through technology: tone of voice, body language, facial expressions, even signals sent through our skin. It's easier to lie through technology, and sometimes I even feel more disconnected from the person than if I weren't talking to them at all. BTW: David, Natchez,MS, you sound depressed and as if you could use some different friends.
Its an unstoppable decease without a cure were heading towards total test tube babies.
At what cost is frivolous infotainment replacing legitimate news reporting?
Technology is isolating people.
None.
Ahhhh Jack, I'd love to be able to respond to this question in person but all I've got is this blasted technology 🙁
Jack, confused old man, technology doesn't replace personal contact it increases it – just in a different form. More 'happy holidays' will be said this year than ever before thanks to technology.
I will tell you the cost. Last night I saw a story in the news where a man married an Avatar on line. Got the point?
There is no denying the fact that technology has a negative impact affecting how people interact with one another. Unfortunately I don't there is a way to stop it. Do you?
Technology has made it easier for people who don’t normally stay in touch to do so; a plus surely. The ability to communicate regularly with people from different cultures & countries is a plus, too. And the availability of information is remarkable. I'd give up a little personal contact for that alone.
I'm 27 years old. I currently went on a date this weekend with someone who was 20 and he could'nt hold a conversation for the life of him in person, yet he was very able to do so via computer or cell phone. Its only a 7 year gap in age, but I did not grow up in the age of texting, yet grew into it. These youth now days have no clue how to interact on a face to face basis. Sucks when they have to get a real job in the real world!!!
Jack,
You have nailed it again. I think that technology is, for the better part, spiraling us inward and separating us from each other. You can already see it, in the "me first" mentality of most Americans. Put the phones away and pay attention to the world around you..
I obviously have a lot to say here. Anyway, I once knew a guy who was miserable in real life, but would light up whenever the camera was pulled out, because all he cared about was his Facebook profile. Really. And his laptop and cell phone. He treated people like crap, but had plenty of friends because he looked great on Facebook. That's the cost.
Laura
"But Jack. The Toto's have little fingers.. I do not posses a Cell-Phone. I have had two in the past six years, and I gave them both away to relatives. My fingers are too-fat for such little key's, and my eyesight is even worse."
Technology is overrunning Humanity and disconnecting us from our move valuable abilities to personally interactive, perceive each others needs and wants. Isoloation is not simply becoming a national way but even a personal way of functioning. It seems we've taken the phrase "in this world but not of this world" way too far.
At 30 years old I have seen this all the time growing up. The true point is one of humans losing their humanity. More engrossed in their own personal gains, people do not look around or care to. I wish this holiday season people would think as to grow as was foreseen much longer ago. "MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.:
An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity."
Well, I consider my cellphone/mobile more like a dog leash, than a useful device, it only allows poeple to abuse me. ie yanking the dog leash.
Two words come to mind Jack . . .
"It's sad."
Boy, we sure are quick and easily satisfied to sell oursleves, our friends, our privacy and the world around us for the ease and speed of nothing at all!!
Wow, and we can NEVER get any of what we give up back!!
It is President Bush's fault that we don't interact with each other anymore. as are all the other problems we are facing. But, never fear, Jack, your president, Barack Obama is going to have us hugging one another in no time.
Jack,
Could you re-ask your question as I was too busy communicating on Facebook to hear it?
Great Question, Jack...Technology will be the downfall of our society, our world society. We are on that road now and if we don't take notice soon our world destruction is eminent. Maybe the Mayan calendar wasn't too far from being wrong!
Incredibly effectng us, but it is just the begining. We are starting to work out the phone, the internet, AND television all in one peice of equipment. THEN, we will begin to effect ourselves in a deep way. My wife and I are finding out that our new phone will cost less per month than the present individual pieces of equipment we are using now. So, I'll see you soon, Jack, on my phone!
I believe there is a direct correlation between technology and childhood obesity. When I was young, we grew up playing ball on the street with our friends. We were social and getting exercise. Today's children are growing up with video games, television, text messaging, etc. Yes, technology increases ability to learn quickly, but at what cost? Isn't there something to be said for social and physical intelligence?
Jack
the holidays are not what they use to be stocking one toy nothing like they do today. We use to write letter send cards even walk over to the neighbors and have a cup of cheer and cake. I do not reconize us anymore. We are strangers in the night not exchanging glances. we are all self absorbed and disconnected with our own humanity. Forgive us we knew not what we did. I now know what my Dad meant when he said he wished for the good old days. I wish for them too.
Jack, I could not have put it better myself, but I would add that an etiquette needs to be established. I'm a TA at a state University and I see students distracted from text messaging and facebook on a constant basis, I even saw a student playing World of Warcraft. The worst is having to grade essays using 'txt spEch"
There is truth in the old saying, the eyes are the window to the soul.
How do we understand human emotion if we cannot look into each others souls to see the compassion, gratitude, anger, love, or any emotion that we emote upon one another? The idea of an emotion may come through in an email or text message, but the energy that is our soul cannot.
Could the cost for future generations be an even greater soulless society?
And someone mentioned safety . . .
So we choose to live in a cell on a deserted island and prey for perfect safety?? From what? Everyone else in the world??
Wow, I hope I am never that safe!!
Jack, you are so right and I commend you on your observation. It's one thing to see people ignoring one another on the bus or subway because their face is in a device of some sort. It's quite another when you see it intruding on life. I once could not figure out why a young woman was walking so slowly as she was getting off the train...she was bound to game of solitaire on her blackberry. Solitaire?
The cost is = becoming zombies. We drive to places we will never know, thanks to GPS. You cannot seduce anyone anymore because singles they are waiting online, we don't visit because there are phones, Facebook and Skype. And Jack doesn't go to the streets with a camera crew soliciting views because he will get 5,000 responses from me and others in five minutes!
These things make us lazy and stupid (for the most part). They make us expect instant results and forget that people are living breathing things, not machines, and should be treated as such. If we can't figure something out, we can look up the answer instantly rather than figuring it out. If we're lost, we punch something in rather than noting where the sun or polaris is. We post a version of our lives that is often polished and not really accurate. I agree with the benefits of being able to communicate but one should not allow themselves to become absorbed by it. It's easy to do. Besides it only takes one solar flare to take it all away
Jack,
I personally feel that communicating via texting is an insult. If you can't take a few seconds to make a call and express yourself don't bother. Alone is a key word here !!!!!! Like you said we are missing on a lot of smiles and even a nod of the head would be a welcome change rather than people looking down at their thingamagigs.
All these teenagers using their phones will soon be unable to express themselves verbally very soon for the way most text messages are written they are short hand sentences.
A hello Mom what's up? I can live with that.
Love you Jack
puffy
Mr. Cafferty, Don't you find it a bit ironic that you are asking people to respond to your comment regarding technology by writing a comment on your blog?
Jack,
Technology will eventually destroy mankind. Man can develope a machine to do miraculus things but man cant make man better. Maybe down the road man can develope a machine to fix the racism issue. Technology is basically like drugs, people will use it to escape the reality of things.
Postal Joe
Rock Hill NY
'Social networking' to some is 'social notworking' to others. Twitter is a mindfart factory and unfortunately one of the few things America still makes more of than the rest of the world. The younger generation of today are as arrogant and as certain of their ascendancy as we were but you wouldn't know to listen to them because their ability to speak in whole sentences is quickly descending to the level of their ability to write them.
Jack – – You and I are about the same age. Times they are a changin. Get over it. Pete from Mount Pleasant, SC
Technology is replacing LEARNING not personal contact. Kids today are in constant 24/7 contact with each other and their virtual "frends"! But high school and college teachers will tell you that a third or more of them CAN'T write in script, can't calculate change in their heads, and can't spell ANYTHING! Research in schools today is most a matter of cut and paste because you don't need to KNOW anything that you can look up somewhere. In 20 or 30 years everyone will be communicating with everyone else and nothing will be getting done!
Cheers!
Jack,
Cost vs benefit is tough to say. For instance, I recently met an old classmate to go see our Saints beat the Skins in OT, it was the first time we have seen each other in 22 years. Technology also allows me to communicate with friends with different schedules so that we can sort out a time to meet.
Whether it is a good idea that we so readily enable this 24×7 life is another question.
HD
Jack, this is a serious problem that we as a nation are willfully ignoring. We are in deep denial that our egos have become more important than our soul's worth, which is only worth anything if it exhibits compassion, empathy and intimacy. While many will defend the "advancement" of the human race due to these wonderful isolating inventions, we fail to see that true evolvement will only come through the joining of our collective forces...to embrace globalization on a more visceral, spiritual level, rather than the superficial allure of the internet. We cannt connect as a planet merely through devices, but rather through our common understanding, and that cannot be fully realized unless we pull ourselves away from the egotistical inner sanctum of the new electronic age. There has to be balance, at the very least, and somehow it doesn't seem to be working.
Virtual reality is altered reality. Something many have sought through drugs. Like a drug, I'm afreaid virtual reality will become so addicting that "users" will ignore reality in search of their online drug. We already know where that leads....
Jack, I think the kids are fine. Texting is a fad, and eventually it will pass. Modern technology means that everyone can be informed and educated; I am not worried about the kids and technology. I am worried about parents not having time for their kids, working all the hours God gives. It is us old folks that don't have enough conversations. Teach a Grandfather near you to text!
An American in Britain,
Aberdeen, Scotland
What was that question you had over the summer, about the increase in use of anti-depressants? Isolation contributes to depression. This increase in technology ironically seems to increase feelings of isolation (perhaps some basic mammalian instinct craves real human contact that technology can't provide). Connection?
Laura
it's of a great cost, it's sickening to see so many people hooked up to machines, logged on and linked in etc. when in reality, they are completely disconnected from real human contact which comes with emotion and feeling. it's just a matter of time that we too function as such. celebrating life via a computer or cell phone instead of a real day at the beach where all senses come to play.
Jack, I was once a computer guru of sorts. If there was a technical question, I had the answer. I had all the new gadgets. I realized one day that I was at Disney World with my wife and kids in line to a ride and all was doing was solving problems for the company I worked for at the time via cell phone. I was supposed to be on vacation with my family... Instead I was working from a remote location. I swore at that moment that I would not continue to live this way. I resigned short there after and became a truck driver. Now days I have a cell phone but I only use it when my wife and kids call me.
The only constant thing in life is change: The big question is? Are we prepared for the unfolding chages in our lives? The answer is a big NO. Today more than ever before, teenagers are practically becoming endangered species; thanks to Technology Abuse by them and producers of goods and services.. Parents should take time out to educate their children on the advantages and disadvantages of IT:
They are lost in its maze...
Let me see Jack ....... opps, i'm too busy to care, too busy to feel, too busy to comment because i'm too busy being the center of everything ..... that is the true danger in all of this technology – it changes the focus of everything to oneself which is very very sad.
Jack, actually you are very certain in this technology and personal contact dilemma or issue. It is true that everyday we are get more involved with ourselves, less with what sorrounds us. In 20 years, when everyone has the chance or opportunity to own their own technological device (cellphone, laptop, etc) we will most likely roam the streets like noiseless ghosts trapped in our own social bubble.
At what cost? At thew cost of an inarticulate but technologically savvy generation... at the cost of thousands of traffic accidents every month... every year. Most notably at the cost of young people who cannot communicate verbally face to face with anyone including potential employers at a job interview or when persuing a mate. They say that some 70% of communication is non-verbal, as in body language and facial expression (not to mention voice inflections). Our species may be doomed for a number of reasons. We really do not need another obstacle to future progress. The communications renaissance that began some 450 years ago may have evolved into the inability of the human species to truely communicate.
R U LSTNG?
I'm sure I'm not the only one thinking this, but human's insane desire to be more than human is slowly destroying all that is great about humanity. Our technological advances are outpacing evolution's ability to keep up with them...we're not designed for this crap.
All of this technology has it's pro's and con's. Yes it takes away from the face to face contact. But it also has allowed me to become a better philanthropist, finding easy ways to volunteer and donate online, also sites like facebook allow you to contact family and friends all over the world and see photos and live chats. We control our daughter's phone and computer on how much she is allowed to use them. Everything in life is measured in moderation. An overdose of anything is bad. Technology is the future.
Roger
We ignore the world the around us for one we create for ourselves, we grow impatient for having to wait two minutes for a red light to turn green, we expect sympathy for the most trivial of problems while having none for humanity suffering from disease and starvation.
Don't get me wrong, technology is wonderful. It can and has changed things for the better. However, we must learn to balance having all of our problems made minor with spreading awareness, increasing knowledge and helping our fellow man.
Jack, this is the best social question I have heard from anywhere in a very long, long time. One can enumerate many prices that will be paid by humanity with the slow but certain move for technology to replace personal contact, but the highest might be loss of family values and the care for one's neighbor. I will not be surprised if in a hundred years from now, people prefer sex with technology to sex as we know it today.
Jack aw trick question Hear How am I answering Your question . What bothers Me is what Is next virtual marriage . Have virtual Families .
And people are more rude because they get in the habit of being rude . It is easy to be Rude to a computer screen no real consequence at least for the person being rude . If we could only make computers that reach out a slapp some one then we might get back to respect in this world ! but That Is just my opinion .
Ron From San Antonio ,TX
Technology like anything else is great if used for good. Unfortunantly that is not the case. Buisnesses use it to maximize profits and reduce us to a number. Human resource offices have become just a legal business for most companies and, no longer accept job applications or resumes in person. Before long we may not answer to our own names but to a number. SAD.
Regards,
J. McKay
P.S.
Jack Cafferty for President :), Seriously!
Jack,
The separation technology is creating for humanity is immeasurable at this point. However, I beleive we are straying away from the true fundamental of human compassion, which will ultimately lead to the regression of human happiness. We have had a paradigm shift in human values and true meaning of happiness and life. One day we will literally look up (as you said) and we will be so out of touch with what true compassion and humanity are, we will find ourselves alone and tied to materialistic things that do not really bring us to our full capacity as human beings. We must all conciously make a change bringing us back to what really matters, real people, real faces, real humanity !
Finding my way,
Phil Scaffetta
"I know you won't believe me jack. But my first comment, to your first Blog was unknowing to your weather forecasts. But then how would you know? When you had to travel as I did 20yrs ago, with just five minutes to decide whether I should even try to mix with so many fools?"
Jack, here's just one example of what are many. At a recent conference I attended one person 'tweeted' to another to find out where a colleague was in the venue. After several minutes of back and forth it turned out they were at the same table, only 2 seats apart! Need I say more?
Jack, tecnology was hudge this decade and is only going to get better. Here's something you would like to know, I responded to your question through my cell phone.
In some situations, it can be huge. I try to exercise some discretion, but in general, I prefer personal contact. Emails can be easily misinterpreted. Texting can make absolutely no sense except to those that are familiar with the shorthand. I'm not big on social sites because of all the online viruses floating around. It depends on what I need to communicate. It's really bad because I think some people don't know how to open their mouths. They prefer to give out hints or assume you should know. And you know the real meaning of the word assume.
Well it definitely speeds up communication. Problem is important communications that get intercepted..easily fixed with updated encryption though. Now, the problem would be kids like that boy from Japan. Then again, we had a topic covering mandated population control...so, hmmmm.
Personal contact today is like invading someones space, even in your home. In our house we either communicate to the person in the next room by cell or by texting and we don't live in a 21 room mansion.
If you want to get a touch of the cost of technology and where we are headed in our increasingly impersonal world, your need to see the latest movie, "Up in the Air". Imagine getting laid off by a remote video conference or quiting your job by sending your boss a text message.
It's a shame, Jack that so many people bury themselves behind a mask.
They communicate without really communicating. It's that handshake or hug that starts the real process of communication.
Now grant you, I'm writing to you through the technology that so many hide behind. But, I know the difference. These technologies are tools. We can use these tools for our benefit, but when we forget the true benefit of communication; that being interaction with people, That hug or handshake, we become lifeless and we lose as a society.
I teach At-Risk students and take them backpacking where there is no cellphone reception. You can tell the level of addiction by the outcry, "what no cellphone? What if a family member dies or gets hurt?" But after three or four days in the wilderness, they often agree they would not have interacted with each other as much as they did if their cellphones had worked.
We are creating a generation of people that have no social skills beyond texting. People don’t talk to each other anymore, they just text or tweet. I don’t think anyone cares what I am doing every second of the day, but some do apparently. We are no long communicating, we are just chronicling.
KUDOS JACK!! I loved your presentation @ 6:49 EST
Technology does not hinder any communication. If anything, it helps for quick conversation!
Growing up, i made my friends through human contact and learned who to trust and who not to. Today we make friends by pushing buttons, no human contact and no emotion's, so how do we learn to trust each other, your friend might as well be a robot. The cost to me is trust and the breakdown of socialization.
Tom,
Orange California
it starts way befor being able to talk. how many babies do you see in parents arms with out a car seat. physical touch is really limited. much less eye to eye contact....
Tell wolf he better quit twittering or he will forget all about you and your part of the program.
You do sound like an old grouch, maybe the Republicans have been leaning on you too much.
"But you also said Jack. You don't pocess a Mobile..." You even have trouble with your Lap-Top!
Merry Christmas Jack. I am happy for your daughter. My her family be bless and that includes you, Jack. Take care, for Jesus Christ is with you. Take care, My Friends at CNN. Merry Christmas.
i think someday the tv will die out & will be streaming channels on the internet ever since 1947 when the ufo crashed in roswell technology has just explode over the last 62 years i think someone has been doing back engineering
Jack, Merry Christmas, and thanks for the fun every afternoon. "See" you next year.
We have to keep adjusting to the environment. The need for human contact will not wane, therefore, we have to find ways to manifest love and concern using all available tools. Communicators learn this from Day One of their education and training. The cost is the learning curve, quite steep for those who pine for the old days, but we just have to move on and get it on.