"Technology"... ewww

This might sound like a contradiction, but I'm not a fan of today's technology... for the most part; I'm especially not a fan of technology that makes the world smaller.  You can take any one one piece of technology and say "See, this isn't so bad," but a combination of all this technology, and our reliance on it, is what worries me.  What worries me even more is that, like many things, you'll either end up on my side of the fence and all the kids will make fun of you, "Ha ha, I can't believe your parents won't let you have a cell phone, I mean, we're in 4th grade, your parents are so lame,"  (Note: I don't care if your friends think I'm lame) or you'll be like most people MY age and your age, in which case it's going to be a constant struggle between you and me.

Ha ha, your dad won't let you get Brain Jack^tm, you have to use your
phone with your hands, you're so lame.

I was originally going to give a section about cell phones and another section about computers, but they're already blending today (yes, there once was a time when a cell was just a way to call people, and maybe do some basic functions like a calculator), who knows what's going to happen in the next 10~20 years, so I'll try to talk about them together.  Computers, especially mobile devices, give us unprecedented access to all knowledge... pretty much anywhere, anytime.  It's not the information that's new, or the amount of it, it's the accessibility to it that has me worried.  Why will we, as people in general, ever need to "learn" anything other than learning how to find the knowledge?  Yes, having the ability to seek out knowledge is important, arguably more important than the having of said knowledge itself, but that doesn't mean we should not strive to learn that knowledge for ourselves.  I've often seen kids who put off doing work now-a-days because they know the information is right there, over at the desk where the computer sits; they don't have a certain window in which they can access the information or to go to a specific place to get that knowledge (i.e. go to a library when it's open).  And this is coming from me, a true procrastinator if there ever was one.

I believe there's something to be gained by having the discipline to plan to set aside time to do the work.  I'm not talking about doing the actual work.  A research paper isn't going to write itself, it's always going to require time to actually write up the paper; the information that's out there isn't going to gather and organize itself, you still have to do it.  I'm talking about planning ahead; back in the days of yore (i.e. my childhood), I had to say to myself, "OK, the library is closed on Sundays and it's only open until 6:00.  I get out of school at 2:30, so I've got to head over there right after school to do this research.  Since this is due on Monday, I have to make sure all my materials are gathered prior to Saturday."  I believe this unlimited access to knowledge is making us lazier.  And if I do things to try and instill in you those, what I believe to be, important values it will, again, drive a wedge between us because you simply can't understand why when you see all your friends who are carrying all the information the Internet holds in the palm of their hands.  Yes, it's convenient to have this knowledge at our disposal, I'm not knocking the access itself, I'm knocking our reliance on it.

With this unlimited access to this information also comes unlimited access to each other.  I believe we, as human beings, aren't meant to be as connected as we are, or at least how we're becoming.  When God confused the languages at Babel, maybe He did it simply to spread the tribes to repopulate the Earth, or maybe He did it because he knew that we weren't meant to be that connected with that many people.  I believe most of the Laws he gave to Moses weren't because he was lording rules over us, it wasn't a power trip, I believe all of His commandments are because He knows how we work, He knows what's best for us.  What I know is that I don't like being so accessible to everyone; I don't want people to know what I'm doing every moment of every day.  I like that I have the ability to reach someone at anytime, wherever they are, but I don't expect or rely on that connection; I know that if I want to make sure someone is available for something, I need to plan for it, and if plans couldn't be made then it's just a shame if that connection can't be made.  There used to be a time when, if a child couldn't get permission from his parent he wouldn't do it (or he would do it and know he would get punished if he got caught).  Today I see too often children saying, "Well, I texted you that I was going over the Frank's house," or, "I called your cell phone..."  It seems like because now we have this always available connection to each other, we shifted our thinking from "I couldn't get in contact with them because maybe they're out in the field doing work, we'll have to hold off on doing this until I get in touch them," to, "Well, they're not answering their phone, they must not care if we do this so let's just go ahead and do it."

Again, I think it's unhealthy as a people and I'm worried that you'll either agree with me and be ostracized, or you'll be like everyone else and and just have another barrier between us.