The Dark Side of Digital

I'm sure at one time or another we have all stopped and thought about what technology has done for us. We have all marveled at our cell phone capabilities or a new video game system and the crazy functions that it's able to perform. Now, in our digital world, it seems that we only thrive if we have the most modern and fastest of technologies at our fingers. Have you ever stopped to think though; about what being connected is doing to us as a culture, the dark side of digital?

Today we are more connected than any group or civilization has ever been. Perhaps a more appropriate way of saying that would be, "today we have the ability to be more connected", because it seems that even though we have this connection that there is a fundamental disconnect. People don't seem to talk to one another anymore. That is to say that people don't seem to carry on conversation anymore. Now it seems that each of us exists within our own little world, and anyone not stored somewhere in our contacts isn't part of that world.

What about the effect that all of these "digital distractions" are having on our young children? In my Communications class, we recently viewed the documentary "Digital Nation", and I believe that it brought up both relevant questions and good points concerning the younger generations. One such question was, "is the brain capable of handling, on a daily basis, all of the information it receives from multiple media outlets?" Most people would say yes, but all studies point to the contrary. Young people are spending an average of 50+ hours per week with digital media. We have only recently begun to see the effects of this. The movie gave an example of teens in South Korea going to "technology rehab" centers, and recently read an article about sleep texting, and sleep emailing. Really, this is now recognized as a true medical condition, similar to sleep walking or apnea. Doctors say that this new condition is caused from the stress of having too much to do during our waking lives. One Doctor explains, "People are doing so much during a normal day that it can mean that they feel like they're "on call" even at night, because it's so easy to receive emails constantly, and get notifications from smartphones, it becomes more difficult for us to separate our waking and sleeping lives."

The world seems to be moving at a much faster pace now, and instant gratification seems to be the preference of everyone. The video at the beginning of this blog is David Fricke, Senior Editor of "Rolling Stone". I'm inclined to believe the same as he does, that people don't stop to really enjoy things anymore, that everything is done in a rush, or at least with a sense of urgency. I Hope in the future we learn to slow things down, and once again discover the art of conversation.