Technology is becomming frighteningly intrusive

[rpp]

I saw this article about “augmented reality” applications for cell phones.

cnn.com/2009/TECH/08/05/augmented.reality.phone.apps/index.html

Frankly, this makes me rather nervous and leads me to long to move to some of the places you can see if you go to my profile and look at my photo albums. For those who do not want to do that, the description, “the middle of nowhere” should suffice.)

It is not that I am a technophobic, not at all. I mean I am a computer software developer and database administrator. It is just that this is getting too much. Sensory and information overload. What is wrong with a simple life? Isn’t it okay to not know things?

 

[whatevergirl]

My question is this…what* DID **we do before cell phones? Before all of this technology?

Right? It’s like info overload. :hypno:*

 

[Primox]

I think that technology offers a 2:1 ratio of advantages to disadvantages. So I agree, it is overload, but it’s also beneficial in some ways.

 

[captaingator85]

I don’t feel like these things should be terrifying at all, but should be looked at as extremely useful. All of the information being displayed is already public, people just tend to get upset when it is all raked together and put in front of them.

Think of the useful applications of such things. If you and your wife are walking through a bustling downtown, and you pan the camera around to see that a local bistro is advertising a dinner special you would like. The possibilities are endless.

Technology is simply a tool that people can do both good and bad with. We have to educate ourselves as to what information is ok for people to see, and how to keep everything else private

 

[rpp]

I don’t feel like these things should be terrifying at all, but should be looked at as extremely useful. All of the information being displayed is already public, people just tend to get upset when it is all raked together and put in front of them.

Think of the useful applications of such things. If you and your wife are walking through a bustling downtown, and you pan the camera around to see that a local bistro is advertising a dinner special you would like. The possibilities are endless.

Technology is simply a tool that people can do both good and bad with. We have to educate ourselves as to what information is ok for people to see, and how to keep everything else private

Or pan your camera at someone and see how much they paid for their house or when they last refinanced their mortgage and for how much. That information is also public, but should it be so easily obtainable.

Just because information is public, does not make it right to package it up and deliver it people. Just because something is legal does not make it right.

That empty land in the center part of my state is looking more inviting by the day.

 

[Primox]

How old are you, rpp (if you don’t mind me asking)?

 

[rpp]

How old are you, rpp (if you don’t mind me asking)?

On my profile. I have a birthday coming up in a few weeks.

Why do you ask?

 

[whatevergirl]

*Oh, are you a Leo, rpp?

Something that I personally find troubling, is that ANYONE can purchase YOUR credit report for a nominal fee. Around Christmas time last year, I looked up a few of my dh’s relatives to get their addresses to send Christmas cards out…ok, so I went onto www.whitepages.com. I noticed that next to their names, if the person is listed, were fees that you could purchase a lot of personal background info on the person…I’m talking like $30…that’s nothing, if you’re nosey. It bothers me that if someone wants access to your credit report, they can pay to see it? That’s not right!*

 

[rpp]

Oh, are you a Leo, rpp?

My name is not Leo.

 

[Primox]

Leo is a zodiac sign .

I ask because you would be hard pressed to find someone my age (20yo) so leary of technology.

 

[rpp]

Leo is a zodiac sign .
Oh, yeah, the Zodiac. No, my birthday does not fall within the traditional rendering of that sign.

I ask because you would be hard pressed to find someone my age (20yo) so leary of technology.

I have been a computer software developer my entire professional life. I actually built my first computer around 1977 or so when I was in high school. I was using BBS before the Internet had ever been heard of. I designed globe-spanning private networks before the Internet ever expanded beyond the limits of academia. Perhaps it takes someone who is not afraid of technology to say, “This is too far. This is too intrusive.”

By the way, my son, 24, does not like this technology either. He did not have a computer until I bought one for him when he started college. Now that he is out of school, he hardly ever even turns it on. He still has it and does not even want and Internet connection. (He is a chef, by the way.) And I had spent my whole life trying to get him interested in computer, it just never took. He does not even like video games!

In addition I have several friends whose children also eschew the iPhones, and the constant presence of cell phones. In fact, the daughter of a friend, who is a senior in high school, recently gave her cell phone back to her parents voluntarily saying that it was just too darned distracting.

Perhaps those “unplugged” young people are easier to find than you think. Of course, those young peoiple I know spend more time in prayer and reading actual books, you know, the kind made with paper, than the plugged-in crowd.

 

[lifeisbeautiful]

I have been a computer software developer my entire professional life. I actually built my first computer around 1977 or so when I was in high school. I was using BBS before the Internet had ever been heard of. I designed globe-spanning private networks before the Internet ever expanded beyond the limits of academia. Perhaps it takes someone who is not afraid of technology to say, “This is too far. This is too intrusive.”

By the way, my son, 24, does not like this technology either. He did not have a computer until I bought one for him when he started college. Now that he is out of school, he hardly ever even turns it on. He still has it and does not even want and Internet connection. (He is a chef, by the way.) And I had spent my whole life trying to get him interested in computer, it just never took. He does not even like video games!

In addition I have several friends whose children also eschew the iPhones, and the constant presence of cell phones. In fact, the daughter of a friend, who is a senior in high school, recently gave her cell phone back to her parents voluntarily saying that it was just too darned distracting.

Perhaps those “unplugged” young people are easier to find than you think. Of course, those young peoiple I know spend more time in prayer and reading actual books, you know, the kind made with paper, than the plugged-in crowd.

I’m in my 20’s, in the upper 20’s, but still, and I don’t like the idea of technology that makes it easier for weirdos to track me down and get my info. I have had weirdos do it to me before (nothing dangerous, but still) and it isn’t fun. Now that I have kids I like it even less.

 

[rpp]

I’m in my 20’s, in the upper 20’s, but still, and I don’t like the idea of technology that makes it easier for weirdos to track me down and get my info. I have had weirdos do it to me before (nothing dangerous, but still) and it isn’t fun. Now that I have kids I like it even less.

I, myself, have been the target of stalkers twice. (I am a man and the stalkers were women.) I understand how serious the consequences of this endless invasion of privacy, no matter how legal it may be, really is.

 

[GratefulDad]

Leo is a zodiac sign .

I ask because you would be hard pressed to find someone my age (20yo) so leery of technology.

Prim, I also am in the technology consulting business from RFID, sensors, Pocket PC’s like Windows Mobile & Android(The circles I work in consider the iPhone a Simpleton’s hand held) all the way to Super Computers. Including human recognition systems. To be blunt the technology can be of great benefit. However thinking that this technology cannot or would never be used against you or your family is rather naive. Not sure if you have been or are in college, but you’ll see abuses either on a personal or macro level as you get older. Their are some very sinister people who will use the technology and personal information for their benefit.

 

[Primox]

I have been a computer software developer my entire professional life. I actually built my first computer around 1977 or so when I was in high school. I was using BBS before the Internet had ever been heard of. I designed globe-spanning private networks before the Internet ever expanded beyond the limits of academia. Perhaps it takes someone who is not afraid of technology to say, “This is too far. This is too intrusive.”

By the way, my son, 24, does not like this technology either. He did not have a computer until I bought one for him when he started college. Now that he is out of school, he hardly ever even turns it on. He still has it and does not even want and Internet connection. (He is a chef, by the way.) And I had spent my whole life trying to get him interested in computer, it just never took. He does not even like video games!

In addition I have several friends whose children also eschew the iPhones, and the constant presence of cell phones. In fact, the daughter of a friend, who is a senior in high school, recently gave her cell phone back to her parents voluntarily saying that it was just too darned distracting.

Perhaps those “unplugged” young people are easier to find than you think. Of course, those young peoiple I know spend more time in prayer and reading actual books, you know, the kind made with paper, than the plugged-in crowd.

I can think of people who don’t like technology also, but it’s uncommon. That’s what I’m saying.

However thinking that this technology cannot or would never be used against you or your family is rather naive.

And I agree. As I stated above, technology has advantages and disadvantages. Personally, I tend to weigh the advantages against the disadvantages in a 2:1 ratio.

 

[Consecrated]

Leo is a zodiac sign .

I ask because you would be hard pressed to find someone my age (20yo) so leary of technology.

My DH is still in his 20s, and he frequently asks the OP’s question: isn’t it ok to NOT know something anymore? We don’t have a cell phone, nor do we have cable or dish. DH is very computer literate, and it’s a favorite hobby of his. With him as with so many others, it’s a love-hate relationship. And he does fantasize about moving to the middle of nowhere… really the main thing stopping us is that we would be leaving behind our easy access to Church and the sacraments.