Warning's

Do you ever wonder what a person from the past would think of us today? Lets say someone from 4000 years ago, seeing our enormous skyscrapers, sleek cars, colorful  TV’s. Would they call us gods, or would they call us cursed? Well couldn’t tell you. Although technology allows us to do almost god like things, it also weakens us as we rely on it. Todays technology has complicated our lives, made us lazy and allows us to avoid face to face interaction. I am sure a person from the past would be amazed at what an average american can haul in a pick up truck. But how would that person react when seeing how distracted we are by the complications of our technology.

I know a place where life is simple, a country called Mauritius, its an island off the coast of Madagascar. There you will find the kindest, happiest people. When I was in 5th grade I visited Mauritius, I remember visiting a slum and joining in on a game of soccer with some village kids. I was so amazed at how much they loved soccer. I realized the village only had one ball. That one ball brought the biggest smiles to every little dark face in the village. None of them knew what a N64 gaming console was, let alone seen one. But they didn’t need one, they seemed to have more fun than I did without one.  How could that simple soccer ball be better than Super Smash Bros. The simplicity of their lives harbored more joy than my cluttered complicated life, it was complexity that distracted me from true happiness.

Weeks later I went back to my old life, sitting on my butt throwing fits when ever my Pokemon fainted, while those kids were probably having a blast, scoring goals and staying in shape. There is no question that laziness is derived from technology here in America.  Its a well known fact that we have higher obesity rates than any other country. Average young boys in America play video games and watch TV after sitting all day at school, instead of running around outside. Kids aren’t the only ones susceptible to laziness. With so much on the internet adults too find themselves consumed. Also things like auto correct and key boards do not help us learn spelling or legible writing. In Mauritius I had met man named Jonathan Baillache. Before I had left the island we exchanged addresses so we could write each other. It was common for me to talk to people over the phone but to talk to people over pencil and paper was un-heard of. Jonathan had no phone. Over the years Jonathan was much more diligent to write me than I was. I remember for months I would pretend never to get his letters because I was to lazy to write him. Truth is I wasn’t used to putting an effort in to communicating with someone, I was lazy. Growing up with technology like computers and telephones was the root of my laziness.

Some people rely on Facebook and other sites for their daily social interactions. Doing this puts you at a disadvantage in the real world, especially when trying to find a job. Instead of learning to interact face to face, people learn to interact over keyboards. When talking to a friend over Facebook you type something wrong, no worries, just erase and start over. Along with that, emotion and body language are completely lost over internet communications.  The internet allows us to think out exactly what we want to say before we send it. When talking face to face you do not get this luxury.   When talking to your boss you can’t go back and hit the backspace key. If your looking for a job its hard to win over an employer with the “hey whats up , how are are you doing?”, instant messenger jargon. Practicing face to face interactions could land you an awesome job, so before you log on to Facebook maybe a better idea would be to go to your friends house and talk to them in person. Who knows you might land a job because of it.

Although technology has allowed us to do so much, you can see now that maybe we rely on it to much. But where do we draw the line? I think thats up for you to decided. Technology is a tool, and its up to you to decide how to use it. If you rely on it completely, what happens if its not here tomorrow? People 4000 years ago didn't need what we have today, so why  should you?