| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| yasserh |
Posted - Sep 30 2009 : 09:38:22 AM
Hi all,
I am a new to the Forum and the Web Site in general, but I really do appreciate the team behind this effort. I am a father (46 years) of two kids (8 and 6 years), I am somehow attached to the new technologies as I am an IT and telecoms professional for more than 20 years. Spending my life in this domain allowed me to monitor the advancement of the technology dumping us in hundreds and thousands per day from new mobiles, laptops, TVs, etc.. Today for one moment I've start thinking, do we really need this, do we really need to have a new mobile each day, do we really need to have a very high speedy cars to let us move in a bit of congested roads and not using them to the maximum, do we really need a 100+ inches Plasma screen in our homes, questions go on, and we keep struggling. here is the question, what about my kids, in 10 years time, the hundred new innovation per day will become thousands, and this will add to their confusion a lot. with no real need or necessity. despite the fact that all these innovations come with stress, fatigue, blood pressure, heart attacks, and a lots of deceases.
I am willing to start a movement requesting all technology companies in the world to stop/halt for sometimes innovating (perhaps 2 - 3 years), then we can assess the impact, had we really lost a lot for having new innovations, or we are still living the way we are now?
I may be long in my first entry, but it is just a thought.
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| 10 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| fern |
Posted - Nov 02 2009 : 7:49:54 PM
La, leysa darurie ya sadiqui.
I am glad to hear it is the same in UAE as here in the states, although my family doesn't own the latest technology I am saddened to witness how everyone around me feels the need for the latest and best in such a short amount of time.
Well I shouldn't say I am glad, just relieved to hear we are not alone! |
| jlroussin |
Posted - Oct 23 2009 : 11:32:05 AM
Better yet, we can stay home and make and eat a healthy, delicious home cooked meal. 
quote:
Originally posted by Sawney Beane
It's the adults that have me worried. I kind of expect children to play with toys, grown men should be a little embarrased about it. It seems like all the guys I'm around want to talk about is their iPhones and the cool apps they've got, etc. All culminating in that wonderful innovation, the Pizza Hut ordering app: "Look, you can go into this app here, then you click here to select the toppings, and you can order the pizza by pressing this button here!". Great. You bought a $200 dollar phone that you can use to order pizza. I could do that with a rotary phone in 1970.
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| Crystal |
Posted - Oct 18 2009 : 10:00:14 AM
Maybe the movement should be for the parents -- simplify, simplify, simplify. We set the tone for our children, so even though they will inevitably be exposed to some techie stuff, the tone can be set at home during conversations at meals, etc. It's a worthy goal, and very do-able, I think. |
| HappyHiker |
Posted - Oct 17 2009 : 4:59:25 PM
Seems many of our cultures seem to think "newer is better." And to be hip and cool, we need to embrace the latest technological invention. IF we buy into the advertisements and hype that prey upon our insecurities to want these things...that we'll be less without them...
But maybe teaching our kids (and ourselves) that "less is more" and that buying into all the latest, fastest and brightest is not in our best interests...
Teaching our kids to think for themselves, teaching them to value themselves over materialism...
Perhaps I'm old-fashioned, and perhaps I had an old-fashioned upbringing, but whenever I wanted something that went beyond my parents' budget (or desire) to provide), I was told, "If you really want that, you'll have to figure out a way to earn the money to get it."
That made me angry sometimes, but it also taught me to sort out needs from desires pretty quickly. I remember working, all summer, in an un-air-conditioned soft pretzel stand at a train station to earn the money to buy a pair of contact lenses, for instance. I was 16. I know the value of a dollar.
Today, still, I have to think long and hard before I buy something. Less is more. We have an old-fashioned 19" TV, no microwave and a push-mower. And I've no cell phone. One car the two of us share--and two bikes for the other times. My life is rich and full.
Maybe lessons learned in childhood? Every time I see a young person with a cell phone, I wonder who's paying for it? The kid--or the parent??
There's an eight year old I know who's pestering his grandmother for a Wii. He's seen them advertised on TV cartoon shows... Why a Wii??? What's wrong with riding a bike or skate-boarding in the outdoors?
Enough rambling, sorry. But I do know what you mean. Our capacity to invent far exceeds our need for the inventions... |
| yasserh |
Posted - Oct 05 2009 : 12:31:02 AM
Thanks all for your messages, actually your messages encouraged me to look around and find others who share the same opinions, and frankly speaking I found few of them. I'll try to ask them to post their entries to the forum here, so that we can all share them and help growing this post, perhaps one day we can achieve this hope.
Yesterday, I was speaking to one friend (who was busy in the coffee shop in his off day replying to few emails using blackberry), and told him, I don't like to go back, I don't like to stop the blackberry mobiles, but I need to HOLD this innovations as they are now for 2 - 3 years, and I believe that our lives will not by all means be harmed, possibly it will be better. |
| Sawney Beane |
Posted - Oct 04 2009 : 07:55:09 AM
It's the adults that have me worried. I kind of expect children to play with toys, grown men should be a little embarrased about it. It seems like all the guys I'm around want to talk about is their iPhones and the cool apps they've got, etc. All culminating in that wonderful innovation, the Pizza Hut ordering app: "Look, you can go into this app here, then you click here to select the toppings, and you can order the pizza by pressing this button here!". Great. You bought a $200 dollar phone that you can use to order pizza. I could do that with a rotary phone in 1970.
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| juliapenguin |
Posted - Oct 03 2009 : 11:49:51 AM
sewmaven, I've recently moved from a small town (where I taught the UAE students) to the city centre of Manchester, and I've been struck by how common it is for Manchester people of all ages and socioeconomic groups to either walk or use the bus/tram -I don't know if it's because the city centre is relatively small and there's very little parking, but it's a refreshing change.
An American friend here confirms your point that it is indeed very common in the US to take the car on short journeys.
Karen - I do agree, and I think yasserh will find many others here who feel the same way. It's impossible to keep up with all the latest developments and keep your sanity and a reasonable bank balance! |
| ~kib~ |
Posted - Oct 02 2009 : 09:49:52 AM
In my own life, I'm coming (again) to a point of implementing the No New Technology rule, because this latest bout of upgrades, purchases and learning curves has left me with an empty wallet and a set-up of technological wonders that works about half as well as what I had before I knew what 3G meant, for twice the price. This stuff didn't improve my life, it just complicated it and bogged me down and made me a. poorer and b. less effective. I'm paralyzed by the efforts of simply making my life functional again.
It is scary to think of what this is doing to kids. They're more adaptable to new things for sure, but is this age of incessant demand monopolizing all those flexible brain cells that could be learning things of real value and importance, not just how to function with the latest "improvement"? Do we really need kids who can twitter with one thumb at the speed of light but don't know how to make change, sandwiches or conversation? |
| sewmaven |
Posted - Oct 02 2009 : 07:21:25 AM
Welcome Yasserh. I don't know if it's possible or even realistic to expect the inventors/manufacturers of all the tech to take a break from offering new products. Planned obsolesence was invented a long time ago to keep us buying. After all, they are in business to make money. Sort of like asking MacDonald's to stop making french fries because we can't stop eating them. I think it's up to us as individuals to practice some self discipline to assess what we already have and if it's still working for us. As parents, we have to set limits for our children and be able to say NO.
Julia P, the shock of walking, biking or choosing public transport over your own personal vehicle if you have one is not unique. No one, and I mean no one, here in my U.S. city (suburb) walks anywhere. If they do, it is because they cannot afford a car. I think it's funny, though, that folks will walk or run their 3-miles a day for exercise, but won't walk the mile or less to the store or to see a friend, etc. |
| juliapenguin |
Posted - Oct 01 2009 : 04:27:43 AM
Hi yasserh and welcome to the Forum.
I find your ideas really, really interesting, as I am an English teacher and many of my students are from the UAE and Saudi Arabia. So far, I have not met one who is not obsessed with new technology and having the fastest cars.... They are great people, I'm not criticising them, but to meet someone like you is surprising. Once when I was teaching a group of UAEs they told me that they felt really sorry for me because I had to walk to work (about ten minutes) and when I told them that I had a car and a parking space at work but CHOSE to walk, they were sooooooo shocked.
Do you have many friends who feel the same way as you, or family members? Still, you won't be lonely here :) |
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