Article: Resist the Internet

Article: Resist the Internet

Article: Resist the Internet

Article: Resist the Internet

And yet another column that reminds us to use technology wisely and seldom, if at all. As the negative effects of smartphones, the internet and especially “social” media slowly unfold, the dangers are more obvious than ever.

By now, smartphones took hold of our daily lives, and it’s not going to change anytime soon.
“[…] there are also excellent reasons to think that online life breeds narcissism, alienation and depression, that it’s an opiate for the lower classes and an insanity-inducing influence on the politically-engaged, and that it takes more than it gives from creativity and deep thought. Meanwhile the age of the internet has been, thus far, an era of bubbles, stagnation and democratic decay – hardly a golden age whose customs must be left inviolate.”

“Used within reasonable limits, of course, these devices also offer us new graces. But we are not using them within reasonable limits. They are the masters; we are not. They are built to addict us, as the social psychologist Adam Alter’s new book “Irresistible” points out — and to madden us, distract us, arouse us and deceive us. We primp and perform for them as for a lover; we surrender our privacy to their demands; we wait on tenterhooks for every “like.” The smartphone is in the saddle, and it rides mankind.”

The article closes with the author asking what would happen if we, like the “Silicon Valley overlords who send their kids to a low-tech Waldorf school”, all do the same. Those people must know best what technology does to humans.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/11/opinion/sunday/resist-the-internet.html

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