Technology has the capacity to automate redundant tasks and provide endless hours of entertainment. It negates the need to leave the home, the room, the chair we sit in. Well, let's face it: Unless it's a really comfy chair it's probably a sofa.
Back in the summer of 2003 the entire Eastern sea board went without electricity. People panicked! They had no idea how to exist without something that powered so many of the things now considered essential. Some, did the truly unusual: They gathered everything that could go bad in their fridge and that of their neighbors, went outside, fired up the barbecue, hibachi, and the crank radio and had a picnic. When the power came back on, they rushed back inside and went back to surfing the net and watching TV.
Certainly, there are many perks and positives to having such an unprecedented array of tools that are so readily available for relatively little expense. They are used to save lives, bring clean water to places that have none, allow people to have a voice where they are being suppressed and denied basic human rights. Technology is clearly a great thing.
Nobody is saying that we are now lazy because we do not have to go out to the well for fresh water each day, or stand in line at the market early each morning because there is no such thing as a refrigerator. We can warm up food in seconds using microwaves and stand in the middle of a forest and call for help on a PDA. We can call the police from half a world away because somebody we don't even know is crying out for help in a chat room. Sure, there are benefits.
But, let's be realistic. Most people do not simply use technology for essential needs. They have turned it into life sustaining tools and avoid tasks and chores by flicking a switch or pressing a button. Society has become helpless when unplugged. We used to have to get up and go to the library to research projects for school. Now, libraries are depleted of truly useful volumes. Even librarians point to the web as the place to go instead of aisle EE 647 - 749. Anybody who has ever tried to find information online should be able to attest to how easy it is to get distracted and find far more and far less than what was aimed at. While we are on the topic, the quality of information put out there is not the same. Much of it is unreliable and unverified. Anybody can publish anything and we are all too busy multitasking to dig deep enough to get true insight.
Technology is making us lazy. Flat out. There is no denying it. We cannot ignore the trend toward mediocrity. Too many people are now satisfied with status quo and no longer strive for excellence. There is more value placed on quantity rather than quality. It is a sad state of events and is the reason why bridges fall down and planes fall out of the sky. It is the reason why carbon offset credits are considered an effective way to save the planet. Technology is making us lazy.
