The modern world has embraced the 21st century movement toward digital and social media with fervent gusto. Facebook accounts have become an integral part of today’s social scene, physical resources like music and books are transferred by the click of a button and seemingly any piece of information can be accessed through basic Google or Wikipedia searches.
Communication is as efficient as its ever been – and it’s hurting us.
For one thing, these new-age technologies put informational power in our hands, allowing us to access the information we want. It’s a privilege, but one that comes at a price.
With personal control of the information we consume, we implicitly control the information we don’t. Users flock to information sources that support their own views and preconceptions, which can be detrimental to their critical thinking.
Accessing only information that one agrees with could lead to an inaccurate view of the world and often serves as disproportionate reinforcement of one’s personal beliefs. For example, if your politics lean more liberal, you could avoid known conservative news and opinion sources — a closed-minded approach to staying informed.
Read more
Categories: Indonesia, Technology
I told a friend of mine that I am compiling my grand father’s biography. She said ” I am glad my grandchildren wont have to do that me since Face Book and Google etc are already doing that for all of us who use internet. What all our grandchildren will have to do is to choose which version is best for their pocket.
Ah, your friend might be in for a big disappointment. Recently I read an article (sorry, cannot lay hands on it just now) stating how much the ‘online security’ and the ‘computer security’ is neglected. Remember the Super8 movies? We thought that we had nice movies of our children and now we cannot watch them anymore. How many times computer programs have already changed? Have you never lost any photos due to a computer crash? Or simply because you lost your phone? Libraries might have had problems to save the paper books from centuries of storage. Computer libraries can be wiped out in a second.
Technology is progress!??? Of course in many cases, however, the invention of the E-mail, looked at it properly, is in fact a disaster. I was Director of Finance in Nigeria from 1973 to 1980. E-Mail did not exist. Fax did not exist (or not work, whatever). How did we work? We MADE IMMEDIATE DECISIONS AND GOT ON WITH IT. Now we have e-mail. My present employer has ‘outsourced’ and diversified. If we want to re-grade a junior local staff we need to submit files and explanations to Panama for a decision, which in the old days took as two minutes. I could give you lots of examples. And walk into an office, anywhere in the world. OK, facebook is blocked. So they sit in front of their computer e-mailing up and down. I say that the disadvantaged seem to outweigh the advantages, not only in facebook, but in many other ways as well.
ok, call me old-fashioned now. But you have to ‘proof that I am wrong’, before I accept your verdict.
Replying to your first comment I wonder if I was able to get my point across. My English probably or…