A Technology Rant

While thinking about how much technology has affected the actual quality of life I realized that those of us who spend a great deal of our time online interacting with social networks and gaming or just interacting primarily with a variety of software applications throughout our day are far less interesting and far less substantial as people than those who existed decades before. It's not that the technology itself is evil and is solely responsible for corrupting its users. I'm not a Neo-Luddite. I'm quite confident that like in all things the problem begins with the users themselves, people in general.

Just like "Guns don't kill people, people kill people" one might say "Technology doesn't diminish people, people diminish themselves."

Sure, we can push a button and see shit happen fast. We can play a plethora of games on one of several platforms both mobile and home based. We can sit down and with a few hours whip up some artwork in something like GIMP or Photoshop. Big fucking deal. How many of those skills effectively translate to life beyond a device? Where is the real world application of skills acquired through excessive software use? Have button pushers found a way to make everything depend upon and exist around their superior skill set? Seems that way.

Photoshop paintings (and those of like programs) are the felt paintings of the modern age. One's Angry Bird skills will not gain them success in a practical field. One's Facebook meme-sharing will not define them as clever or witty or profound. Who actually uses the internet for something useful like research or to find ways to better one's community? Where is our cancer cure, or our faster than light space travel, or our colonies on other worlds, or the shrinking of poverty and the bettering of all societies?

I am just as guilty as many others. I'm also aware and willing to regain my substance and real world worth, if I don't still have any left. How about you? (these are my opinions...so, yeah...flame wars won't achieve anything)