The Digital Age

Let's consider the pro's and con's of the digital age.

• We Socialise In A New Way - we don’t learn how to read facial expressions or navigate “real world” social situations.

• It's Becoming Harder To Concentrate - Heavy multitaskers are much more easily distracted.

• The Types Of Friends We Make Is Changing - We're becoming more tribal and less exposed to people with interests or beliefs different from our own.

• There’s An Awe-Inspiring Online World To Discover - Our fondness for the search field may lead to real-life adventures later on.

• Privacy May Soon Be A Thing Of The Past - We might be forced to change our names one day in order to escape our cyber past.

• We Could Stay Sharper, For Longer - Searching and browsing on the internet exercises the brain in a way that is similar to solving a crossword puzzle.

• We Procrastinate More - At the flip of your wrist, there’s YouTube, chat rooms, jokes, humour – whatever’s your poison, it’s all out there.  

• Video Games Are Teaching Us New Skills - The skills required for video games are being harnessed to useful ends in education, health and even geo-politics.

• Technology Is Starting To Correct The Damage It Causes - RSI will soon be a thing of the past. Instead, everything we presently see on computers, games consoles, tablets or smartphones will be projected in front of our eyes and we will use hand gestures and voice commands instead of keyboards, mouse clicks or iPhone “swipes”. 

• We’re Becoming Less Empathetic - This is down to the superficial way we consume information.

• Our Memory Is Deteriorating - As it is now so easy to find information via Google we are getting worse at remembering any facts at all. 

• We're Becoming “Cyberchondriacs” - GPs now estimate a day a week is spent dealing with patients who have diagnosed themselves online.  

So do the pro's outweigh the con's?

It will probably be years before we start to really understand the impact of some of these drawbacks and potential issues.

"I'm certainly not opposed to digital technology, whose graces I daily enjoy and rely on in so many ways. But I worry about our virtual blinders."
~~ Diane Ackerman

The Twelve Apostles - Great Ocean Road, Victoria, Australia - April 2014

Diane Ackerman

Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/d/dianeacker596398.html#BjBPMOEEaTrxFsIm.99

A Platform For Our Lives

The internet is not just a place to find a bargain or a mate - it has become the platform for our lives.

In 2007, Facebook exploded. Ordinary people posted their pictures and profiles online, proving that the web was no longer an arena just for geeks and gossip hounds, music buffs, porn addicts and lonely hearts.

It was for everyone. On a mass impulse many of us jumped on board the electronic merry-go-round.

Did we do it in a spirit of adventure or resignation?

Was it inevitable or had we gone mad?

I believe the answer is YES, we are nuts and worse, we can no longer opt out! Our lives have changed irrevocably.

If one factor changed the face of the internet, it was broadband. Once the internet was switched on all the time, everyone from toddlers to maiden aunts became intimate with it.

The world that computing makes possible can no longer be thought of as parallel to the real world: the two have merged.

The web is now the platform on which we live our lives. From this point on the story of computing is no longer the history of a machine. It is the story of a culture, though it is barely five years old.

I have been trying to take a break from blogging to see what it would be like to live in the real world without my virtual friends. I may succeed this time, at least for a couple of weeks anyway.

So if you don't see me around it's because I am wandering around smelling the roses. I may get lost, but I am sure I will find my way back home....because YOU are family!

Keep shining.......keep smiling.

"Computers are magnificent tools for the realization of our dreams, but no machine can replace the human spark of spirit, compassion, love, and understanding."
~~ Louis Gerstner

As well as smelling the roses I am going to talk to the animals. These cockatoos visit Dianne's house in Cromer, Sydney every day. (photo taken 31st January 2010.)

Communication Breakdown!! Woe Is Me!!

Alas my metal companion is ailing. Caliginosity has fallen upon this Sydney blogger.

I awoke this morning, fed the cats, turned on the TV and turned on my other favourite machine to hear a very strange noise. Beep, beep, beep, beep.....what ails you my friend I asked?

By the third try of turning it on and off, panic started to set in....my heart was pounding. What have I done to deserve this (the song kept running through my mind).

OK reality check Peggy, let's settle down and find a solution.

I called my computer guy who thought there might be some dust in the RAM and wanted me to take off the cover and clean it. I can do that I said, and hung up. You know that housework I haven't been attending to, well looks like the dust crept into the computer as it had filled up all the other places.

Unfortunately cleaning the RAM did not fix the problem, so I will be having a forced break from blogging - an addict's worse nightmare!

So if you don't hear from me for a short while be happy in the knowledge I will have a clean house, be catching up on my reading and missing you all a great deal.