Are we.....

[Timmay]

too dependent on computers? 

Just a question that I sorta asked myself today.  I am sure this question has crossed your minds at one point in time.

Just look around us, there are computers everywhere.  I know that computers have been around for a long long time, but not liek the computers we have today.   The first computer was what?? The size of a small house that had to have vacuum hoses to keep it air cooled.  Now we have computers that are about teh size of the head on a needle.  Ok OK a computer that size is not usuable by most of us..even though they are found in small simple things...but the most common form of a computer is now right in our own hands and pockets....Cell Phones. 

It just really amazes me, that if you stop and just think for just a few seconds, how many people in this world right at this very moment is using a computer.  Would it be for work, pleasure...etc.   I couldnt even begin to guess the number of people who are sitting down with a computer and doing exactly what we are doing right now.

Just wonder what it would be like if everythign was turned back to 1970's.  Leaving all of our gadgest behind....how do you think you might be able to survive?

[slyatlast]

It would mean no SBG....

Gasp!  I would probably still have bad hair on my head!!   

[warhawk]

hey timmy:  4 me  cell phones & computers will always B a part of my busy life.  however... it would B nice 2 have a 1 or 2 day break from it.

WARHAWK

[Timmay]

It wont happen warhawk.  Even when I went to Haiti, where it is a third world country and one of the poorest....computers were part of their daily lives as well.

[Sly Red]

Maybe I'm just old school but I like the way PCs, digital high def television, MP3 players and cellular telephones have enhanced my life, but don't control it.

I can ignore my cell phone for hours.  I have a rule, "Just because it rings doesn't mean that I have to answer it."  I own it, it doesn't own me.

I never want to be without my modern gadgets, I just want to maintain control over them.

Red

[GaryT]

Ya know, I was going to say that's why we love camping. A few days that aren't run by a computer! Then I realized that we will have cell phones.....and a digital camera and the computer in the car and probably more that I just can't think of right now.

You're right Tim they are everywhere!!   Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!

[BaldBear]

If you use an automobile...you use a computer.

[PeripheralxMvmnt]

I can ignore my cell phone for hours.  I have a rule, "Just because it rings doesn't mean that I have to answer it."  I own it, it doesn't own me.

THANK YOU! We have guys here at work that go on vacation and will work all the way through. There have been a few times where the guys wives have asked us to make sure they have a vacation, so we disable their Blackberries from the BES and lock their login accounts just so they stop working and spend some time with their families. And this is for a church organization!

And there have been a few times where I have made someone mad because I didnt answer the phone when they call. They cant fathom the fact that I let the phone ring and didnt feel compelled to react immediately and answer.

People seem to forget that these devices arent our overlords. They only function because of the information we put in it at our own free will. Computers arent sentient (yet) so they can not force us to comply.

[D.A.L.U.I.]

For me all this "no computers, no cell phones"==Good Old Days just doesn't deal w/ my reality.  I don't miss coming back to the office after a few days off, never even consider a vacation, and a pile of phone call slips to return, some w/ messages taken by a less than apt receptionist that are totally illegible and unintelligible, nor do I miss not being able to locate members of the family while on vacation--the same vacation and running all over the beach or mountain trails to locate them. 
For the few minutes it takes to flip the message on my BB to someone to take over an important matter for a client--I'm in a service based business and good service keeps our clients happy and happy clients means a full checkbook for me-- or return an important call for the same reason or locate my wife or other family members--that is what electronic convenience means. 

You can have the "good old days" or even leave your devices at home.  Not me. 

[GaryT]

Sad to say, but you hit it right on the head Peripheral!! Excellent point well made!!

[Vash]

If you take time to really think about it, if we'd never developed computers we'd have no...

Automated Manufacturing
Digital Watches
Video Games
Cell Phones
Internet
Space Exploration
Satellites
GPS
Paternity Testing
DNA mapping
Nuclear Energy/Power/Weapons
Cable TV
Lasers
DVDs

And pretty much ANY kind of MODERN:
Warfare
Solar Power
Fuel Efficient Vehicles
Special Effects

And lots of other stuff that isn't coming to mind right now. But MAN.... the tech is just so much a part of the fabric of life, and has been for so long.

I didn't realize just how far back it goes, but we've apparently been building basic computer technology since the mid 1930's: http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000984.htm

[Mike]

I think I might be able to live without technology. I didnt even know how to turn on a computer until about 6 years ago. Ever since I have been addicted to it, I think I go through withdrawls when I am away from internet for more than a couple days. I dont like cell phones, they annoy me so much. My brother always has his on and is talking or texting all the time. I hate it when we are camping or fishing or even in the store and I hear it ring, it makes me want to smash it. And I dont have any use of a cell phone, I talk on the phone about 2 times a month.
 Like I said, if I had never been introduced to a computer I could live just fine without one but now that I have one I am always wondering whats going on on facebook, any good deals on craigslist, oh I wonder if there is something I want on ebay/eggbid/aquabid. I am so addicted, LOL.

[Antimidas]

Let's not forget www.woot.com and woot-offs!  Those are really addicting.  I have filled my basement with wine from their deals.

[Rusty Shackleford]

I have a love-hate relationship with computers.  On the one hand, they allow you to do so much but on the other hand such little care goes into the design and development of electronics and their software that they are often barely worth the trouble.

It's like they allow you to do something that you couldn't otherwise do, yet in order to get that functionality you have to endure brutal trials with buggy software and sloppy hardware.  I was in the industry for 12 years as a software developer and hated it more and more every day.  I am out now and will never return.

I despise the industry: software engineers, as a rule, don't give a **** about the reliability of their software.  All they care about is that they've developed software that they have seen accomplish its goal once or twice.  If it screws up on you then it's the fault of some other software on your system, the fault of the operating system (if it's software), the fault of the software (if it's an OS bug), or user error.  It's never their fault!  Of course this assumes that you can actually reach someone, generally they have a hidden email address where you can complain and never get a response or a tech support number that charges you $50 for them to tell you that it's not their fault.

When I can I b*tch, complain, moan, and otherwise make myself a pain in THEIR a** when I have a situation where they cannot easily blame the bug on other software or me.  Perfect example is Nintendo's Legend of Zelda game for the Wii.  The game had a bug that's difficult to stumble into, but once it happens it causes you to be permanently locked in a small cave.  The only solution is to restart the game from scratch.  I made myself into a royal PAIN-I-T-A for weeks and didn't get anywhere.  I gave up on the gave because I stubbornly refused to start from scratch.  A few months later Nintendo called me and told me that they've fixed the bug and that I should mail the disc in for a replacement.  I did, and they had it fixed.  At one point in my rantings Nintendo said that if a fix was created that they'd make a public announcement, but I never saw one.

And another thing I hate about the industry are the apologists that blame YOU for actually trying to use the software as advertised.  When complaining about this bug online both I and others actually got numerous comments blaming US for the problem!  Saying things like "Well, it was your dumb fault for saving there!  Blah-blah-blah!"

[crazy.irish.celt]

Humans thrive off of change.  It is necessary for us to grow.  The catalyst for this growth is the accumulated knowledge of millenia.  Knowledge takes time to acquire, and so computers have become indispensable tools in the pursuit of knowledge.  They are the reason that humanity is producing new technology at an exponential rate.  We can't learn EVERYTHING that has been discovered, so we have a tool that lets us sift through it at our leisure.  I'd say we can't PROGRESS without them.  I think we could live without them. 

If you think about it, people are basically mirroring the components of a computer in that they are able to process more and more information at a faster rate by using them.  You could say that humans are the 'hardware of the world' and that we're being constantly upgraded, as are our computers.  I think that a lot of the financial and economic stuff would fail instantly if every computer in the world blew up at once, simply because it's all digital.  No country has the gold or resources to back its monetary claim. 

My dad ponders this all the time (as I install his new cell phone or camera software, usually...) and he assumes that he would be one of the few that could survive simply because he grew up farming and killed his own hogs, etc.  Maybe he's right.  I know I personally don't want to test his theory.