So Close, Yet So Far – About the Impact of Technology in Our Daily Interactions

4 thoughts on “So Close, Yet So Far – About the Impact of Technology in Our Daily Interactions”

  1. very recognisable indeed. And I like your point in finding your own balance. That’s why I don’t take my laptop in the train, otherwise I don’t have time to think and read. Last week though I talked to 3 students in the train and thought that was a long time ago that that happened (talking to strangers in the train).. And they were from India and Buthan, so may less ‘multi-taskers’.

  2. Hi Joitske ! Thanks a lot for dropping by and for sharing your thoughts ! I must say that I can certainly relate to that, specially having living in a number of large European cities for a number of months and years and having experienced the same thing. However, things have changed a bit now. Ever since I relocated to the small village where I am in now, things are different. People talk to you. They get to share with you what they know and what they want you to know and that is certainly something that I was missing from the big cities. Perhaps it is that non-stop, too busy, too isolated attitude to things, that plenty of us have been making use of to just keep going, that prevented us from establishing those social links. Who knows. The thing is that I have been at both ends of the spectrum and I find it much more rewarding and enlightening to be on the latter example you have mentioned šŸ™‚

    Oh, guess what has been the tool that I have been using over here the least thus far? Yes, indeed, my mobile ! Whereas when I was in The Netherlands I just couldn’t get rid of it ! Oh, yes, I can relate to those stories. And I am glad I am no longer using it just as often. Yes, indeed, sometimes it is good to just switch off, focus again on what is important and move on ! And Thomas’ article reminded me of that when I first read it.

  3. I was more hit by another couple of sentences.
    The first is “We are everywhere – except where we actually are physically” and “Linda Stone, the technologist who once labeled the disease of the Internet age ‘continuous partial attention'” and, finally, “I’m finding this age of interruption overwhelming. I was much smarter when I could do only one thing at a time”.

    It is true that technology did not invent the need for staying alone that is important in some moment of our lives. Also, technology did not invent the lack of concentration…

    But it is true that current technology is making of the lack of concentration the norm of our approach. In all aspects of life.

  4. Ciao Stefano ! Thanks a bunch for the feedback comments and for dropping by ! Yes, those two quotes are very good, too ! Specially the second one ! And I can surely relate to both of them and your last set of comments. I guess that in some ways that is the price we are all paying for multi-tasking, in a sense. However, wouldn’t you have the impression you would be missing something big if you would not learn how to multi-task? I mean, in such a world as today where information travels really fast how can we keep up with just one thing at a time ? Doesn’t that make us lag behind very badly and therefore have some difficult times catching up ?

    I guess in the end it would all be pretty much down to some focus and balance on splitting up tasks as we may see fit and multi-tasking whenever we feel there would be a need for it. Somehow, it sounds like that may be the panacea for the 21st century and I would think that it would not be easy. But we have got to try, right?

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