Has new technology taken over our lives?

Has new technology taken over our lives? Pretty much, although it's led to a more shallower existence for many. Many people today would be lost without their mobile phone, sky tv and games consoles. Technologies help create a better world, so long was we don't forget we are all human beings, this is not a problem at all.

Technology helps, but I am glad that my non-work life is not evolving around a certain product or virtual environment. I still prefer reading a book, watch a movie and go to see places and people. There will always be more technology. It just depends on how the individual choose to live his or her life.

7 hours a day!!!! I wish I had 7 hours spare. I spend about 40 mins a day on this BBC Site (at work!) and that's about it. 20 mins of TV news in the evening, then out with the dog, off to the gym, out for a meal or off to the pub. Walking or travelling at weekends. My house is somewhere to lay my head at night.
My children, nephews & nieces (all grown up or teenagers), on the other hand, probably exceed the 7 hours. How sad is that, when there is so much to do outdoors. I multi-tasked for 28 years in the Armed Forces, as you do when you are not given the resources you need!! New technology is for people not creative enough to turn off their PCs and get out there.

It is an obvious fact that most 'new' technology is designed to make our lives easier. However, this ease of use comes with a downside. It is far too easy to access the internet and to spend too much time doing things that, if we stood back and looked hard, we would say are not the best use of our time.

Although I am not young, I still would never use a social website like facebook or this twit thing. I know I would not be using my time to my best advantage.

One comment from the young, my daughter aged 22 bought a new car and had several free gifts with it, one was a mobile phone which she declined. The garage couldn't understand why. She told them that all her girlfriends phoned her at home and at work, constantly. If she had a mobile phone she would have no time to herself. Now twelve years later she has a phone given to her by a friend which she still rarely turns on.

She may be difficult to contact but she does have plenty of freetime.

No it becomes normal every day life. What is new technology?

Personally no but I do wonder about the people who walk down the streets head down looking at their mobiles whilst ipod headphone chords dangle from each ear. What vital messages are sending to people?

Has new technology taken over our lives?

When I was a student we used to laugh at people with mobile phones, and the internet, although extant was incredibly slow and had very little entertainment value.

So, in the last 17 years the way we live and interact with the world around us has changed immeasurably.

I, on the other hand am regressing, i do have a mopbile, but its very basic and I can't use half the features. I can just about browse the internet, but i could probably get more from it.

Mainly i spend more and more of my time reading real physical books - although that probably has more to do with the fact that the quality of television has declined to a level that would have been unimaginable even 10 years ago.

Celebrity Ballooning with Stephen Tompkinson anyone?

Sounds like an Alan Partridge idea from a decade ago...

Its not taken over my life, though I do make use of it.

I go onto the internet at lunch time from work (because there is not a lot else to do), I have my mobile switched off when I am at home and I only watch TV when there is something specific I want to watch. I am a big fan of the original 'red-button' as in the big one that turns things off. I do however spend many hours listening to the radio. Technology only enters my life when I chose to let it and (other than being forced to listen to other peoples innane telephone conversations in public places) I can quite happily avoid it when I want to.

For some people, the more neurotic young, social software and computer games present this risk.

But for many it is a great, liberating, timesaving and educational advance.

Why should anyone try to keep across more media platforms than they find suits them? Are people really that scared of being thought not to keep up? Dear me. (Then again if you go to any pub round here on a sunny day and see the rows of beetroot red, shaven-headed partially bald middle-aged men sat outside, all dressed the same, with not one daring to show the non-conformity of even wearing a hat if you please, then perhaps people are that frightened of not fitting in these days).

Most definitely and for the better too, the Internet is a tremendous source of information Wikipedia is a fantastic website that i feel is the most beneficial,
Anyone with an internet connection is now capable of finding out the COMPLETE picture, rather than a state approved source such as a highly biased text book.
For those detractors of wiki i would say the reason your paper was rejected when you sited or failed to site it in a paper was because copy and pasting information from wikipedia does not demonstrate that you understood the task that you had been set. If you had taken the time to rewrite it in your own words you would have gotten an A rather than a F for plagiarism.
Knowledge is a powerful tool and it should be freely available to all.
As for social networks this is a new and potentially dangerous area.
I as a responsible Parent monitor every single website and friends request and email that my children send or receive or view, we have had situations where my child has had friends requests of adults from all over the globe that she did not know and they were binned straight away.
There are a number of freely available software packages that allow you to protect your children( this is not advertised and large companies and their affiliates the retailers that sell these packages would not like you to know about. For every piece of software that is available to buy there is an equivalent and usually better free ware open source one available.
Knowledge and technology are not good or bad it is as with anything else its what we CHOOSE to do with them that defines its acceptability
Is technology a bad thing was flint tools or the wheel or throughout history any advancement in technology. I Have not read a printed book in years, for the simple reason that i can purchase it online and have my computer read it to me. Allowing me to get on with other things at the same time.

Not taken over but has become part of. Even a silver surfer like me enjoys using a computer. Not too keen on mobile phones, though. I have one for " emergencies" as I've no wish to waffle away to someone whilst doing the shopping. Prefer to talk sitting comfy. I'll never stop reading. Only this morning I was nearly mown down by three different people who were walking along fiddling with their phone, oblivious to anything. One had a fag on and nearly burnt my hand. Obsession has crept in to some. They have to prattle, come what may.

I think a large proportion of 14-40 year-olds are far too reliant on things like social networking sites and mobile phones. I use the internet when I need it, and probably spend 1 hour per week on my mobile. I blame mobile technology i.e. people now use mobile phone conversations for entertainment rather than necessity. It is also sad that my partner's children have become so reliant on PC online gaming that they don't know how to amuse themselves when it is taken away. But we can't blame the individuals, it is the media giants that are thrusting these reasonably cheap gizmos in our faces, and telling us that we must have them. As usual our natural thirst for information and technology is being used against us by big companies to make money.

Technology exists without prejudice: what you as an individual get out of it is up to you. If you decide it is going to enrich your life, that's what will happen. If you decide it's going to consume it, that's what will happen. As a self-confessed misanthrope I value immeasurably having an alternative to human communication that, all things considered, is a hell of a lot more dependable.

When a plane lands and you are standing in the aisle, dont look at your phone look up, look at the other people, see how they are all staring at their phones, mesmorised, hypnotised, are you one of those people?

The thing with new technology is that it is addictive, someone looks at their phone and then so do you, like a yawn it's a natural reaction almost.

At work you have a pc, does it really help you get work done or could you easily use it for just half a day?

The thing is that technology exists and we waste a lot of time using it to gather information, there is no overload we probably did the same when we were primative humans, scanning the grasslands for antelope.

But yes it seems to be taking over many lives, especially my wifes with facebook.[but really....is that just a woman thing?]

VCR, beta max, Digital revolution
HDMI, blue ray, mega confusion
DVD, watch and see
Listen to your MP3

Nothing to watch on satellite TV
900 channels are insufficient for me
I remember when TV closed down
We got the test card and a girl with a frown

Now kids are easily unamused
They get so much that is not used
Games that only last them hours
They must have mighty techno powers

Are you on facebook, you have to be
To keep in touch with the likes of me
You cannot afford to be left behind
In the digital future, so I’ll remind

You to do it online, without the human touch
No interaction no cuddle or clutch
Just living in a world of gloom
Watching the same programme in a different room

I'm concerned about the increasing depersonalisation of the financial services, for example the proposed abolition of cheques. Not everyone has access to new technology or is able to use it, but I foresee a time when it will be the only way of accessing one's money. It seems that the financial sector is already sufficiently remote from its customers to do pretty much what it likes.

Nope, If I don't want to be contavted I turn my phone off, If I don't want to game I don't put Warcraft on & if there's nithing I'm interested in on TV I read a book ( still my preferred choice of solo entertainment)
I am able to spend a lot of time online ATM as it's extremely quiet at work but that all changes in 2 weeks when enrollment starts & I'm doing 50 hr weeks so my use of tech is generally dictated by what ever else I happen to be doing at the time.
I have, however, been sat at the pub with previous work colleagues who got their blackberrys out when we arrived & then sat there staring at them, snatching them up every time they beeped & completely ignoring the people they were sitting with! (not a very long drinking session that) If this is the state of your life you probably need to have a chat with yourself.

Technology has certainly improved my life,
I can talk to friemds across the globe
Research any subject within seconds
Choose what I want and when I want.

With this techno driven freedom has come greater responsibility that I dont use such it for negative activities.

Remember that Technology is a tool and its up to use to use or abuse.

"Taken over our lives?"

I don't believe so. Become an useful part of it? Yes!

I watch about 2 - 3 hours of TV daily - maybe more if there's a really good film or documentary.

I use a computer in the workplace - no other choice in my job. And I use a PC at home for about 1 hour per day. I have a SatNav which I use in conjunction with a road atlas (and usually only in large towns and cities). I have a (non-smart) mobile phone which I hardly ever use. I don't have an e-reader (yet), but as reading is one of my major hobbies there's a distinct possibility that I'll be acquiring one very soon.

They're all very useful tools - but all a bit sad if it takes over your life.

I would add that i do not watch tv programs on a tv i watch them on my laptop, i enjoy it because of my broadband connection i have already watched next seasons True blood from a catchup tv network in the usa .

Certainly through my lifetime it has always been the same. I am 45 now and as a teenager I was often told I "spend too much time in front ot he TV - you'll end up with square eyes" or "you spend too much time in your room listening to that awful loud music - you'll be deaf by the time you're 21". Now I am 45 I cannot imagine life without the Internet via my laptop and would be lost without my mobile. I still watch TV and listen to music, not quite so loud and my tastes have changed. I drive a car and have many mod cons which my parents didn't have and to be honest, if my microwave, dishwasher, waching machine, tumble dryer, surround sound, iPods and docking stations of various sizes vanished tomorrow I wouldn't really give a damn!

Without knowing more about the very small sample number of 1,138 people the results are meaningless. What "Industry Sources" where used, where did they come from, are they likely to be biased? What age group(s) were they in, most seem to be between 16 and 34 according to the article, hardly representative? Where did they live? What is their occupation?

I certainly don't spend anything like 7 hours a day accessing "media" (although there is no precise definition of what "media" is). Use of TV is rapidly reducing as far as I am concerned, there's not much of interest to me shown now although I do watch the news every evening. Only use radio in the car and thats not much. Never walk around with earphones plugged in, it's not safe not being able to hear whats going on around you, just use them on the train to learn another language. Is that classed as "accessing media"?

LOL just read my previous post & apart from the typos (SHAME) "my preffered choice of solo entertainment" sounds decidedly dodgy!
I like reading. Nuff said.

Technology is ruled by two types of people: those who manage what they do not understand, and those who understand what they do not manage.

Um, while I probably spend in excess of your 9 hours a day accessing media, in particular the internet, I don't spend much of it 'consuming' content - I'm far too busy creating it!

My first computor course was in 1985, then the tutors spoke about the next generation of computor language and what it would do.

Twenty five years and we are still waiting.

Most 'new' technology is actually pretty ancient.

Your keyboard is over 100 years old, the screen is over 70 years.

The computer hardware, silicon processer, motherboard, memory etc are all over 30 years old.

The only thing thats changed is software and that is still not reliable. We have two servers in our office and one has been down since yesterday.

We process 100 times more data in 100th of the time and we still cannot make decisions or find 'stuff' when we want it.

Is it all a bit of an illusion really?

Yes and No.

Technology is good but it makes me fed up when I see young people constantly on their mobiles - they don't seem to do anything else except check their mobiles every five minutes.

Also, if it weren't for so much technology more of us would still be in employment.

There are positives too such as advances in surgery etc.

Yes we have a sort of 'Media Overload'...We can have a 'SKY' box with a dish on the side of the house...once the old aerials were deemed to make property look awful...now we have dishes...unless you have a cable link!
Either way we have a multitude of channels and yet nothing of worth to watch at times...unless you want to watch reams and reams of repeats...just like the old days with programme after programme being repeated over and over again...
We have a vast array of computers which when connected to the internet - allows you to also watch television programmes...thanks to i-players another avenue of watchin repeats...
Oh! Let us not forget that the latest phones can allow you to access the internet and guess what...you can view repeat programmes there as well...
Oh! Technology is a wonderful thing...What's next then?

It certainly hasn't taken over mine in the way that it apparently has zombified the rest of Britain. I don't own a mobile phone. I don't have a Facebook account. Naturally, most people I know have forgotten I exist because I'm not right there ROFLMAO at their SMS texts or LIKEing their latest status update on Facebook.

I do stare at a computer screen for most of the day, but I don't have a lot of choice if I want to earn a living. So I don't feel too left out.

This could well be another flawed survey of course...
Ofcom the media regulator, who surveyed just over 1,000 people. How did they do that? I wouldn't mind betting they did some sort of online questionnaire. Who would have responded to it? People who spend a lot of time online I would guess. Ask people face to face in the street and I bet the result would be very different.

I cant believe how guillable people are. before PC ruled our lives then computer logic what was the one thing your mother warned you about??? The goggle box the one eyed monster taking over your lives. Sure the govt want you to believe it is for your good to enhance and educate but what it does is control people they can now enter your homes and monitor they can subjugate your brain And get you to pay for the priveledge Its called crowd control where they control the masses Its aout time we took stock of our position on this planet and said NO NO NO to a lot of these technological inventions. believe me there is Nothing since 1966 that has been invented or re invented that is to the betterment of mankind

Q - Has new technology taken over our lives?

A - No more than HYS.

32. At 2:47pm on 19 Aug 2010, I_amStGeorge wrote:

believe me there is Nothing since 1966 that has been invented or re invented that is to the betterment of mankind

---

You are undoubtedly Karl Pilkington and I claim my prize.

If people want to waste their life with all these gizmos let them get on with it. Their brains will surely wither. For me, there are more important things to spend time on (meeting friends, visiting attractions, reading, walking, playing sports, travel, hobbies, local societies, concerts, gardening, shopping, charitable work, etc., etc. ...)
I watch TV on average for less than one hour a day. I have a mobile phone for making/receiving calls & texts only. I use the computer for perhaps an hour or two a day, but not to play games or watch videos. That seems a satisfactory balance to me, and I have a life.

Before computers became "personal", we were told that they would save so much time that we would all be working only 1-2 hours a day, and we would have so much more leisure time. In fact, the "experts" were actually worried about what we'd all do with the huge increase in leisure time. They lied to us! Instead, we now do in one day or less what used to take one person several days to do. The only people who have gained are employers, by the increase in speed and productivity. The rest of us are merely like the early factory workers in the cotton mills, slaves to the loom...

By the way, remember that TV, computers, the internet, e-mail, mobile phones, CDs, DVDs, digital recorders, laser printers, satnavs etc. are all quite recent inventions. Without them we built (and lost) an empire, fought two world wars, designed advanced ships and aircraft, created great buildings, bridges, works of art, and made huge advances in medicine. Our educational standards were the envy of the world.

The danger of the present electronic-digital age is that we finish up spending the entire time processing information and losing the ability actually to get anything done.

Recommend 37 and 36.

Now when systems crash the workplace grinds to a halt.

Personally I think technology is changing the way we think, I am currently a teacher and students are obessed by mobile phones, the internet and computer games. I am not sure all this interactive technology is good for cognitive development, the question must be whether students are developing the emotional and social skills required to deal with what they have to do in life?

Personally I am shocked by the lack of social and emotional development of students, especially male students, concentration levels seem to be getting worse. I can not prove what I am saying, it is just an observation, what needs to happen is serious research into the effect of a vast amount of electronic media on people and their cognitive, social and emotional development, if something is changing our overall behaviour we need to know about it and understand it.

Jaywat Message 34.

Precisely. I rest my case

i drive to work in a fairly modern car, taking into account various traffic light systems while listening to the radio. i get to work, swipe in (clock in) and boot up the old PC getting cracking on some systems design and posting here. I take lunch, sometimes using my credit card to make my purchases. After work back in the car, more radio, mobile phone, home security system, TV, internet, alarm clock.

Nope, technology doesn't make a blind bit of difference to my day to day tasks

Has new technology taken over our lives?
Almost and getting closer.
It wouldn't be so bad if we learned something from the endeavor - something truthful, maybe wise, but never spinning. Sometimes, I think Governments like the US must be terribly pleased with all this technology; not only do they get to know where we are (geolocation), what we access (and therefore our likely stance on several issues), they also compile humingours data banks for whatever use the Government may deem neceessary.
I remember it wasn't so long ago that a big stink waas raised about the Government wanting access to library cards i.e. what we read. Now big brother has access to not only what we read, but in practicality our every thouight. More terrifying, the Government can gather people towards a cause for which the average person may have very little real understanding (i.e. Iran green Revolution).
All this technology has great potential to make homo sapiens into shleeps - people who sleepwalk through life following the leader without too many indepedent brainwaves - aka good citizens.



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I never gets too excited by all this new stuff. When the world starts to run out of oil and other energys then most things what we has built will be worth nothing. If we got no electric then they wont work.

People what will be worth something then will be those what can grow things and make things with there hands like pots from clay and the like.

Has new technology taken over our lives?

I don't know, but I'd like to have a girlfriend that doesn't have her hand permanently clamped to her ear.

I use technology every day. for work, entertainment and contact. But what have i spent most nights this year doing? reading. there is noting on the tech that is as entertaining, certainly not on the TV. radio on the till 7pm bit more work then sink into a thriller and a comfy sofa, wearing elastic waisted trousers, now theres an invention!

I work in an industry that is totally dominated by the most highly developed and expensive technology, but at home I never use a mobile phone - I only possess one for emergencies.

I use the net all the time for just about all purchases except food and fuel - and save a fortune. I never play computer games and certainly don't multi-task - I'm a man. My experience of 'multi-tasking' is that it's mostly a female activity, which consists of starting several activities simultaneously, then finishing either only one or none of them.

Has new technology taken over our lives? Yes thank you, it has taken over my life, I'm what the young ones call a silver surfer, and I love it. New iPhone soon on my 70th birthday :-)Maybe :-(

No, it hasn't taken over my life, but there are things I find useful. I have a mobile [rarely switched on unless I want to use it or I know my husband may call me]. My computer is very handy for e-mails and sometimes ordering things like groceries from one of the main supermarkets and having them deliver, especially the heavy and awkward things. I watch tv like most people but that's because my husband likes tv. Usually if I'm on my own in the house and there's nothing I want to see [and that's quite often] I like to read a book or use the computer for writing articles, poetry, even a novel - all for my own entertainment. I don't have an Ipod or anything like that and I've never gone on to Facebook or Twitter. I suppose I'm one of those people who sift through and use modern technology for my own benefit.
Hav ing said all that, my favourite site on the computer is HYS - not to openly flatter whoever is in charge of the site, but to genuinely read what people think about the issues of the day and then form my own opinion. I enjoy some of the discussion programmes on tv and I suppose HYS is a bit like that.

It goes in cycles, yesterday I contacted a friend thinking of visiting him, he replied that he was already out with another mutual friend and just turn up for a drink - when I got lost, we used our mobiles for him to give me directions - to a social event! But those two text messages and two calls took up barely ten minutes, then almost 2hrs were spent talking face to face!

(20 year old) Email is still best for me as I can think about what to say in reply. I'd have to cut down on my four hours per week of listening to the radio to cram in much else, I would be overloaded. Linking in with your other HYS going on, it would be too easy to be ashamed of your past online if you spent too much time glued to the net. If your job doesn't require net access then that's one way of keeping control.

The BBC performed a major service to the public thirty years ago when it ran its Computer Project. It created a large number of people with computer literacy, and basic skills in using technology.

Unfortunately the labour necessary to obtain those basic skills have been swept aside by a market that has divided into several strands, giving us so many options but none with the comprehensive potential of a single computer. Open a box and use a gadget straight away; you do not even have to have reasonable literacy skills.

Perhaps the market place is crying out for cheap 'build it yourself' opportunities, especially during a recession. Skills are larned much more quickly when there is something desirable at the end of it.

We have become the slaves of technology, and must now be more discerning and selective in employing the benefits it can provide. We have made ourselves the victims of a veritable data deluge and so have become imprisoned in an ever shorter decision loop in our daily lives. Complex problems require careful thought to reach a right solution, whereas technology presses us to come up with instant answers. Technology must be made our servant, to be used on our terms, not the other way round.

YES! AND I LOVE IT!

The irony is, those who say 'it's terrible blah blah blah' are debating to people they can't see on the internet. HYPOCRITES!

I've regressed, and don't even watch TV anymore.

The net wastes too much time and is unfulfilling...only took me 15 years to find that out...
It's all been corporatised now anyway, those wild west days are gone and now it's all big government and lawyers, was fun at the start though, but too regulated and boring now, and infested with advertising bloatware.

The net is now the "interactive shopping channel", and it's a good one too.
The TV is just...awful...(infantile was one description)

So an ancient mobile, a 1990s pooter and a monsterous pile of DVDs will just have to keep me going.

It has taken over our lives; but more blatantly...it has taken over most our minds. Even rigor mortis mocks us in kind.

Yes and no.
Maybe, maybe not.
Could be?
That should cover it...

Pros to Technology are improved medicine, improved cars, great video games.
Cons to Tecnology are due to massive improvements in communications you are expected to always be available and therefore have no down time from the stress of the office. The Pros help with this esp the cars!

I don't own a mobile phone. I don't want or need one. I no longer watch TV. I can't remember the last time I watched a DVD. Obviously I have the computer but I don't belong to any social networks, don't run a blog and don't use electronic messaging systems other than email. Media content doesnt overwhelm me at all.

Poor sad me, you may think. Well, actually I'm very happy without these things. The dual nature of life means that technology has its benefits but also its downside. You see, governments assume that we are all addicted to technology; which is why we are facing the approach of a cashless society, for example....God help us, because then all our personal transactions will be up for scrutiny, with no exceptions. Also, you can be tracked everywhere you go, through your mobile phone. Your car number-plate is also tracked everywhere. In fact, that's the trouble; technology has become so efficient that we have lost all our privacy. Almost everything about you is "known" by some authority somewhere and you've got nowhere to hide (even if you've done nothing wrong).

Technology is an excellent servant, but a cold, brutal and unthinking master that reveals all, knows everything.

The other day on a 20 min bus journey a teenage girl was sat in front of me chatting to her mate when she got off she found out her mate had been on the upper deck of the bus the whole time.
Technology has its benefits but only if used with intelligence.

I wouldn't call it 'taken over', but it is of considerable help to older people like me who live away from centres of population or in remote country districts.

I only use a mobile phone in emergencies or if I am expecting a call. The Internet is another matter. I have found it a wonderful resource for banking and shopping not to say information and it is easy to organise important aspects of life around it when previously that meant travelling away from home. That saves money and lessens CO2, so it benefits others as well.

Not sure about taken over but its definately changes my life.

I met my husband online and there is no way we would have met otherwise.

Communications around the world have improved and I do wonder how the World coped without it for so long.

Firstly I shall assume that technology refers to the sort of everyday items such as phones, computers etc. as opposed to things like hospital life support machines and the likes that are far more obviously benificial.

All those people who claim that technology is a bad thing are simply ignorant to its uses. Computers have vastly improved the work rate of employees, and enable faster access to information from places such as the BBC etc. The internet has given voice to millions of previously unheard people, and has enabled us to question the status quo far more readily than any previous generation. To those who say they rarely turn their phone on except for an emergency, what if the emergency involves someone that isn't you, and you need to be contacted? Sites such as Facebook have enabled me to talk in real time to my friends who have moved away, as well as share pictures of all the excitement in our lives. The perils of video games have been commented on since their inception, with many people discussing the violent content that children can see. This simply shows the ignorance of those critics. Video games have an age grading system similar to the film and TV industry. Therefore, if a game is unsuitable for children, then it will be aged accordingly and any parent who ignores this has only themselves to blame. Besides, look at the violence on the 6 o'clock news whenever there is a report from any warzone. As for games causing social problems, many games offer people somewhere to interact with people they would otherwise not, through online play. Games offer people a chance to make an impression with no prior impressions. For example, a group of people playing Modern Warfare 2 online. If someone is good, people will tell them. It doesn't matter if you are black, white, old, young, male, female, you are good at the game and that's all that counts. In many ways it is the fairest peer assessment possible.

Technology has improved my creativity. Using a computer program I can create sound files of the riffs that I have written on guitar, then add bass guitar music and drums. Then, when the rest of the band come round for a rehearsal we have already practiced the music and can start tweaking it based on what sounds best. Then we can record the music onto the computer. We can share lyrics via MSN and work on things far more efficiently than without a computer. Essentially, we could record an entire album using the computer in my bedroom if we wanted to. Even 10 years ago this would have been far harder, if not impossible, to do.

In response to comment 17, most of the time you can speak to someone in branch if you require face to face contact. The use of cheques has largely faded because it is far quicker to use a debit card. The only time I handle cheques is collecting money for trips/fees at Beavers. Online banking is much easier these days, especially if you work and can't make it to the bank for closing time.

I wouldn't consider myself reliant on technology, but it does make life so much easier. If it's there, why not use it?

depends what you mean by media overload. I dont feel overloaded, I feel distinctly empowered. I can answer questions that I have forgotten the answer to by a quick google search, I can learn new techniques on the job by the same method. I do get too much email with new tasks but its getting better now that I delete 80% of it. I can waffle on HYS for five minutes whilst drinking a cup of tea instead of staring out the window. Its all good to coin a phrase. One day I may even be able to avoid wasting the best part of a week to attend a short meeting in America by teleconferencing, who knows.

Has new technology taken over our lives? Well we certainly use it a lot. Is that a bad thing though? Not if our intentions are good and we use wise judgement.

I am waiting for the do-gooder-lefty-humanist bureaucrat to appear to propose a law to discriminate against on-line, say, shopping, and limit my internet access to no more than n hours a day. At that point I start turning the ploughshare back into a sword.

I have, at last, this golden opportunity to make my views, such as they are, known. Previously this would have involved letter writing to people who couldn't really be bothered and most of the time would have binned it wihout any hesitation. Now I have to substantially annoy some-one to be excluded. So three cheers for this multi media world. As a full time carer well passed my prime this has become well nigh essential to enhancing my life.
Regards, etc.

With the development of mobile phones and the internet, there are now more ways than ever to access media. We now spend almost half of our waking life viewing content. Is this your experience?

To a degree, Yes, Fifty years ago (I'm now a retired old dinosaur) many people didn't even have a land-line telephone, so the old red telephone boxes were well used, I can remember our first telephone being installed by 'Post Office Telephones', the engineer turning up in the ubiquitous Post Office Green Morris Minor van, to me it was amazing being able to speak to friends at the other end of the country, of course when you wanted to speak to someone in Australia, it would take perhaps an hour or longer for various international telephone exchanges to link up to your chosen number, all this had to be done through the operator of course. Watching TV, BBC1 and 2 and ITV, listening to the Light Programe, Third Programe, Home service, now radio 2,3 and 4, the equivelent of radio one was the pirate radio station 'Radio Caroline', or if you wanted to be really dareing you'd tune to Radio Luxemburg in the evening on your little tranny, or play a record - LP, on my fathers radiogram.

So, yes, I have seen a lot of changes in my time in the way we use the media, listen to music, watch TV, Now it is so different. One uses a mobile phone without even thinking about it - although I rarely text, and use the internet quite frequently - as now - and of course 'video skype' our daughter in Australia, all at the touch of a few keys - Its and amazing technology that we all take for granted nowadays!

As a retired electromechanical engineer I have seen a lot of the changes happening first hand.
In the audio industry - hi-fi, progress and the advance in reproduction of music has been staggering, the late 1960's and 1970's had a sort of pioneering spirit to it, so many new technologies were coming in and being developped, when I first started in Hi-fi, it was LP's, reel to reel tape recorders or FM/AM radio - that was your lot! Interesting was the BBC's Radio 3 collaboration with Sansui of Japan in broadcasting four channel stero FM late at night around 1973 I remember, it was really very good and no doubt a forerunner of todays multi channel audio and home theartre - a great pity it wasn't further developped - we'd all be listening to standard four channel stereo.

The late 1970's to early 1980's saw a plethora of musical recording and replay equipment come on the scene, compact cassette - taken to the limit of performance with the massively over-engineered and superb Nakamichi Dragon, soon followed by the Pioneer Elite compact cassette decks, Sony went one stage further with their 'Elcassette', a cassette tape, about 2/3 the size of a standard video tape, but failed to catch on enough to make it commercialy viable. JVC introduced four channel LP's replayable with their four channel cartridge - another development that failed commercialy.
Then came Digital Audio Tape, first in the professional arena, this soon followed by the release of the first CD players and disc's for audio reproduction (now of course we have CD, SACD, DVD & DVDR, DVD-Audio and Digital Adio Tape in the domestic hi-fi domain) Mini-disc followed in the 1980's but again failed to catch on in a big way although it lingers on.

The amazing thing here is that the humble LP, which amazingly has been around for over 120 years now, first introduced by Emielle Berliner, a German migrant in America who turned out to be an amazing and very prolific inventer in not just the early audio industry, but in mechanical engineering, is enjoying something of a very considerable return to popularity - why? just listen to a good LP on a really good hi-fi system, and compare the performance with a CD, SACD or even a DVD-A, preferably in the same system, there is just no comparison, a well recorded and produced LP is far and away superior in sound performance than any other home hi-fi reproduction medium.

Now of course we have such viewing mediums as Sky, so we can all be boggle-eyed with the plethora of interesting, and some not so interesting TV channels, and with the choice of storing this information in 'Digi-boxes' a God knows how many terrbytes hard drive recording and playback device, watching one of your chosen DVD's or even a video if you still have one, then of course you can have home theatre 7.1, or even link it up to your hi-fi multi-channel surround system, entertain yourself - or the whole street if you like to be deafened.

Now of course we have digital radio and even digital movie camera's which some record directly onto DVD-R discs to play through your home theatre system, or via digital tape, so yes there is an absolutaly mind boggling array of media equipment to view, use, play-on (computer games) listen to.

Of course all this 'entertainment media' is quite good, but it can get to the point where it takes over your life - comper games over the internet - 'warcraft' or what ever, for example.
Often families never sit down to eat dinner together and discuss the events of the day, this can and sometimes does lead to seperate existances upsetting the balance of home life.
It is still very important to keep a good balance with all this media, everything in moderation.
It'll be interesting reading comments to this.

Just walk along a street in the city of London and see how many people knock in to you as they are using their mobile phones! Just think if they were DRIVING!!!

Has it taken over our lives? Not everyone.

Although I work on a Phone/Broadband Helpdesk and over the past couple of years I have come across a growing number of people who genuinely get into a state of panic and I've even had quite a few break down in tears when they potentially have to go 24/48 hours without internet access. And these are not people who rely on it for work; I am talking about those who are lost without their facebook or World of Warcraft.

The two most common things I have found as well is their lack of real life social interaction, for example I also deal with enquiries by e-mail and I am seeing more and more people writing in their e-mails things like, 'only reply by e-mail as I don't like speaking on the phone'.

Also their apparent inability to now think for themselves, such as when I have to tell them their broadband will of off for 24 hours they ask, 'what should I do now?'. And this isn't them asking what they should as in wait for a phone call from us to confirm it's working, etc but as in what should they do in general while their broadband is being fixed. I feel like saying; ‘do you really need some guy who works in a Call Centre of all places to tell you how to live a life without internet access?’.

Is this a new advert for Bing.com? I ask because this is basically their catch-line.

Yes, there is more electronic media available, which lends more immediacy to news and information. It also leads to "old" news being more quickly lost in the mire of "new" news. So I don't think that there's too much information being given, but that the volume has changed the way we interrogate that information. Politicians are getting particularly sleek at using this effect. They now pile a heap of bad news together and expose it to the light, then follow it some hours later with some good news. If they time it right then tomoorow's chip-paper doesn't even carry a footnote on the bad news.

I find I have to check the BBC website several times a day, because otherwise a news story has been and gone and it's as if it never was.

BBC, you may be obsessed with media, but New Technology does not equate to More Media.

Humans are little more than a big brain with opposable thumbs. We've evolved to make and use tools, and our tools are what defines us.

It's true for cavemen and their hunting weapons, and it's true for modern man with all their gadgets.

It is not fair to say that tech has taken over. You have a choice of what tech you carry. Some people will prefer to carry a gun over a phone.


The only people that tech has taken over, are the folks that are willing to queue up for hours, to spend hundreds of pounds on an inferior phone that doesn't even do as much as their previous version. Because it looks different. Because others will have it.
They're also the people that believe everything the news tells them.

Bing, bad idea i dont like being told how to think,
technology is neither good or bad its how we choose to use it that can be detrimental to lives, especially when it comes to young'uns teenagers growing up thinking that socialising is sitting infront of a laptop posting comments on a wall or sending a text message to check out this cool thing i found online is not going to help develop the social skills needed to be a full player in the game of life. As so many have said moderation is the key and for children supervision is the key. I wouldnt let my tv raise my children nor would i allow the internet to do it either.

new tecnology cannot take over our lives unless we wish it to. so many have so little to do they will play any and every game they cross, others have enough to do in life and do not need modern science to take over. The tele in the UK is bad, very poor, too many stations and the majority are repeats. Do I care if one can text a message in 3 or 10 seconds, 30, who cares, it (the message) still gets there. Do we need regular updates of cricket, tennis, rugby - if at work we should be working anyway, if at home then watch what one wants. technology, and the new twists make the rich richer, do the same as the old so why all the impatience - why the rush. If it rains, it rains, nothing changes that or the majority of our lives, but, a brolly does help.

This is the future. Live with it!

"Multitasking"? It's a myth, you can't actually do it, otherwise you would be able to use a phone and drive safely at the same time.

So my theory is that anyone who has promoted the concept of multitasking prbably has blood on their hands.

All technologies are mere tools which we can choose to use or not. I wouldn't take hold of a shovel unless I was planning to dig or a telephone unless I had a need to communicate.

Why has no one replied to my letter?

I spend about 12+ hours a day on my computer.

What do I do?

- search and apply for jobs
- read up on news and BBC
- watching iplayer and football on the sky site
- go on football forums
- tear americans apart in the youtube comments
- selling stuff on ebay and play, making whatever money I can
- read stuff on wikipedia, knowing that as each day goes by its a blatently biased site favouring americans
- check out women

I read classical and out-of-copyright literature on my mobile phone while listening to music on my iPod shuffle every working day during my commute. With a bus and a train ride in and back, that adds up to about an hour and a half of quality reading time per day - I've read over 50 books in the last 6 months. I would never otherwise have the time to read so much!

I love technology - I love the fact that I can put my dishes in a dishwasher and in about 2 hours, they're clean without any effort on my part. I love that I can get clothes washed and dried while I'm at work. I love the fact that I can get news all through my day just by popping onto the bbc website, and can stay in touch with my spouse all day via email and texts, in a way that wouldn't be allowed by my job if it were phone calls instead. I love the fact that I can go somewhere I've never been before and not worry about getting lost - I've travelled to strange cities and google-streetviewed my hotel so I knew exactly where to go. I love the fact that I can find old friends via facebook and we can catch up on each other's lives, 10 years later and a continent away.

Technology is, in a word, awesome.

Its the same situation as for the internet. People look at content because they can. The more accessible it is, the more they look. Natural curiosity.
Ten years ago one of my pet hates were people walking and barging their way along the streets bearing coffee cups, assuming and often arrogantly insisting that others made way for them. Today the coffee cup has been replaced by the smartphone. Natural curiosity has given way to habit, and unfortunately its not always a good thing...

for the current generation .. not much YET..

but for New Generations that are 13 years old or so now .. yes and it is Dangerous and is destroying everything.

The Worse thing is online Games .. what 7 hours ? they play all day even at work in free times .. they wake up wash face and open online games and say oh i have 30 min will goto school I will do this and that I hate going to school ..it is addicting and so bad .

as for Gaming consoles ? also a game needs hours to finish .. and the more stunning the game is the more addicted and stuck to it they become.
add to that they are only producing shooters and Violence games ... u see the kids very aggressive and losing peace u see it in their way of talking.

Health Problems .. OFC !!! but not now ! wait till u are like 40 and they will hit u one after another . it wont give warnings it will happen so fast.

the helarious thing also is Internet TV .. who said we have 900 channels?
we have all the channels in the world. people and kids are watching Chinese Drama , Korean DRAMA , Indian , Russian , Middle Eastern .. and thats not only Movies it includes shows and Series .. and while watching they download in background ... they ARE living on internet TV.. and is not controlable.. they are wasting their time on REAL TV and Internet TV and Downloading ..
Torrent Download? the download is automatic yes .. but the search for the items takes time ... and later on to use that item..

ofc we will turn into big fatty balls on chairs with broken back and blurry eyes very soon

what I usually say to others . turn it of and go out ..

wanna see a movie ? make your own movie .. be the hero your self .. get out and LIVE ..

wanna play a game ? Play sport and enjoy life and nature and build up also while u do this .. instead of loosing health !

there is another issue also .. Gambling !
most of parents dont know thay their kids are Gambling in online GAMES .. and Gambling is not allowed for 13 years old right ?
ALL online Games , sell you items for real money .. and to earn more money they make it Random success .. that is u buy item for 2 euro and u get nothing like 90% of time , they put low success rate so kids end up paying 100+ euros to get what they want. you fool parents YOUR KIDS ARE IN CASINOS GAMBLING ...

I can go on and on ...

I dont hate technology .. I hate the ways people use technology ...
and it IS dangerous the way it is now ...

Take care of your children wake up

"Yes" in many areas {Mobile phones} {Computors} Cars D.V.Ds. and all white goods without them we would be back in the dark ages' all part of every day life today. But What will happen when the oil runs out???

In short - Yes - You just have to look at the drivel thrown out by the 24 hour news circus when it is a quiet news day !

i think it's a good thing.we have been given the tools to reach the corridors of powers with our opinions and to share our feelings with our fellow countrymen,this cannot be a backwards step,this his a leap forward
i see high/tech inovations in the field of health becoming the next big step,this will help to ease the pressure on NHS funding the right wing will be pleased to hear, as will we all.we have still,(in my humble opinion)along way to go on education on the internet as a universal college where great numbers can gain access to a first class education,being taught by the best in there acredited field.of course there his the open uni which is available now but this is early days, i'm sure,with the right investment this can be greatly improved upon.

voting can be revolutionised by the internet,maybe PR might become the norm,it might start to bring a goverment which is on par with public conscience instead of it's own overbearing pompous image of it self, maybe.

Has new technology taken over our lives?

No, it has become integral. The common incorrect notion is believing technology is just a computer, or anything with a chip. Big mistake, as technology is any and everything we use in our life that is not a part of the human body. Since we picked up a stick and stuck a sharp stone to it, we relied on technology.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with technology. The fault lies with the users and abusers. The mass media has long used it as a tool to broadcasting messages, however irrelevant in our daily lives. For me, this is where the down fall of humankind began.

Giving the power to someone who is corrupt, and allowing them to spread their ill-conceived propaganda is what gave power to the Nazis. Although it is no longer so obvious since we all have 'learned from our past', our modern corrupt leaders evangelise in new ways, charlatan commercial entities manipulate media to spread their cancerous products and factory belt 'streamlined' services in the name of profits, and media puppets such as 'celebrities' fill our airways with their useless sound-bites and public exhibitions, leaving the young impressionable generation of modern Britain vulnerable to their ignorant and self-absorbed lifestyles.

I often disconnect from the sheepish masses, and whilst I exist in the daily grind and inescapable metro-pole that is London, I am fortunate enough to be capable of manipulating technology for my own gain, enabling me to filter out and discover new sources of thankfully diverse enough channels of interests parallel to my own and seclude myself away from stupor inflicted on this society.

Technology is brilliant to the eyes of the beholder, but to the ignorant, it is blinding!

All this user's posts have been removed.Why?

This is just the beginning. Within 50 years most of us will work and study at home, supplement our incomes with garden grown vegetables, cities will be abandoned, travel largely local, professional services provided by databases, surgery by robots attending your home, income disparity a thing of the past, active life expectancy in the 100s of years, genetic modification commonplace, genetically perfected children, licensed parents.
The danger is we fail to crack faster than light travel and end up dying from boredom.

There should be a study into the long term effects of electro-electric-magnetic-micro waves being radiated from installations & through us eg. walls, human bodies, etc. in order for us to receive our communications online. I was, for example, able to send a signal through my cordless laptop in my garden to my printer located two floors above!

76. At 2:14pm on 20 Aug 2010, RockingTheJoint wrote:
I spend about 12+ hours a day on my computer.

What do I do?

- search and apply for jobs
- read up on news and BBC
- watching iplayer and football on the sky site
- go on football forums
- tear americans apart in the youtube comments
- selling stuff on ebay and play, making whatever money I can
- read stuff on wikipedia, knowing that as each day goes by its a blatently biased site favouring americans
- check out women
----------------------------------------------------------
Presumably you eat and sleep, so you don't have time to get out, keep fit, interact with real people, or to create or invent anything? You'll soon be forgotten, then. What a waste of a life.

I love my computer it keeps me in touch with family abroad who i can only get to see every other year ( price of the air ticket), on the other hand the use of mobile phones and the iphones etc are a pain, you can no longer sit on a train or bus or anywhere without someone shouting down a phone. its gone to far.

NO.

Its up to the individual and their personal circumstance as to how much or to how little they use the available technology.

The more the better = cheaper, access for all, technology mobility for the poor and handicapped.

Bring it on............

75 Burt Cobain.................What letter dude ??

New technology does help in many ways, but it also de-skills on traditional skills.

..well it has taken over some people's lives, mine more than i would wish, but i fight it. I like horror movies, but I am alarmed by the number of zombies now waking the streets ,with mobile phones glued to their ears and headphones on.They'll be growing antennae next. People are just ruder nowadays as result too, talking into their phones at bars, shop counters ,on trains, even in public toilets and worse of all in company. Like i'm really interested in your sad life ..i mean can you just talk a bit louder then the whole carriage can hear!(and often they can)Act like a grown up, not a puppet.. insecure or what? Give yourself some space and well ,just shut up please!"Yes, i've got a mobile phone but i don't carry a simple hankerchief so i'll just sneeze in your face then". I'm not impressed by people using the tables in coffee bars and trains like an office either.'Grumpy Old Man' Rory Mcgrath's solution is to sing 'Tie a Yellow Ribbon' loudly as a protest.. good for him! We seem to need a printer in the home now because firms cannily like to save money(their own)by e-mailing contracts etc. so that i have to do the printing of it at home myself, at cost to me! Technology has done the fantastic job of not paying us every week, like our fathers were, in cash and actually not shortening the working week for many people and now highering the retirement age. Multi channel tv is soooo good isn't it?Well, maybe the kids think so. Yes ,well done technology. I think traditional tv and radio will survive if the number of channels are reduced. We can't afford channel controllers' salaries AND reasonable drama budgets long term. Terrestial TV, back to four channels ,showing no dross , likewise radio then they might survive ...if the quality of programmes improves. (HD can't make a bad script any better) Oh yes and the postal service really has improved with technology hasn't it??? Not. Less collections less deliveries.Advances in medicine would be really valuable if people looked after themselves a bit better. Technology's ok, it's the human interface that is forced to use it that's the problem. Now ,were's that really essential sandwich toaster...?

36. At 3:32pm on 19 Aug 2010, Graphis wrote:
"Before computers became "personal", we were told that they would save so much time that we would all be working only 1-2 hours a day, and we would have so much more leisure time. In fact, the "experts" were actually worried about what we'd all do with the huge increase in leisure time. They lied to us! Instead, we now do in one day or less what used to take one person several days to do. The only people who have gained are employers, by the increase in speed and productivity. The rest of us are merely like the early factory workers in the cotton mills, slaves to the loom..."


Yes, I remember the 1970s, even then advances in technology, automated production etc were going to give us so much leisure that we wouldn't know what to do with ourselves. It was mooted that we'd all have to attend special classes to help us cope with all this leisure-time

I would not accuse the 'experts' at the time of lying, that was genuinely what they expected to happen

Of course, it didn't turn out that way because no-one can see into the future with any accuracy

As you say, there has been an enourmous increase in speed and productivity as compared with earlier decades but surely it is not only the employers who have gained?

If you compare the general standard of living now as compared with just a few decades earlier, then we have all gained, in a material sense

Whether we are any more content or in general happier for it I'm not too sure but nevertheless I don't think 'they lied to us'

There is a difference between lying and being mistaken

Gordon Brown once tolds us there'd be no more boom and bust, in retrospect it was a foolish thing to say but he was not lying, simply mistaken

I worry about technology overwhelming disadvantaged and older people, they will be disadvantaged tremendously when you get the likes of the previous government pushing forward and saying that everything will be accessed by computer and the internet, we must leave easy loopholes for this type of person to access services and to pay bills etc.
This is one reason I am so against having to pay extra for not using direct debit, as this disadvantages and is a great cost to those who are on limited income and those that are trying to control their outgoings so has to balance when a bill is paid etc.
Also the talk of doing away with cheques is a worry, these large utility companies seem to have no concern for individuals and only take notice when large numbers of people go to another company, although with direct debits there is no choice between them.

Has technology taken over our lives?

Whay a stupid question, look from the begining of time, since the stone age technology has been a major part of our lives.
Thats why we have a huge brain, or some of us anyway.

Nah we dont need technology.....get rid of them life saving drugs lol

Not one iota. Fortunately, BBC has a channel for knowing the opinions of the readers, since BBC enjoys the unique position of reaching every nook and corner of the globe in various languages, it has to be respected and honoured for permitting the readers as to what they think, though some are venting lies, anger and abuses. For the past two days the American channels are getting on the goat of President OBama for being a Muslim, every question was framed; is he a Muslim, what was he doing in Indonesia, what madrassa he attended, is he a loyal President, does he and his wife attend the church on Sunday, the affiliation of the Church and its pastor. Pure and simple intolerance. He is trying to do his best to get as much good for USA as possible but for the strings. Did any one go into the embezzlers, crooks, financial institutes, insurance companies who devoured Trillions of dollars from the hard earned savings of the middle class Americans. Look at their names, and it will tell a lot. Listen to Naom Chomsky, Naoma Klien and the other learned, the medical doctors who spoke out against the practices of pharma companies, the arms industries, Hanz Blick and Albaraadi who warned there are no WMDs yet US invaded to destroy Iraq and stir up Shai- Sunni strife. Count Folk Bernadotte' s report of 1948 to the UNO. Invasion of Afghanistan has no legitimacy, the rising issue of minorities in EU and Great Britain essentially directed towards home grown Muslims of second and third generation. These are issues which are raising the emotional temperature of the world. Certainly BBC is aware, and can serve humanity immensely by asking its learned staff to explain and expose the realities before they are scrambled in the pan of interest groups. Reluctance and digging out the facts are time consuming and as a Physicist I do not have the pizzazz of journalistic skills.

The good that has come out of HYS is the indifference of quite a lot towards facts and lack of knowledge, and a frame of mind that is propelled by hatred and poor taste.

Should ask the North Koreans this question, oh yea they can`t excess the www.

Has new technology taken over our lives?

That would depend on the technology.
In motor vehicles it is expensive, and short lived. You can no longer repare, you have to replace, and since most parts for modern vehicles are expensive, vehicles become obsolete over a shorter time. No more future classics.

As far as comunication goes, it can be a good thing. On the other hand, when there are incompetants in places like Dr's surgeries who have no idea of the meaning of the words Private and Confidential, it isn't so good. The same can be said of several local authorities.

Technology is rather like the curates egg. Good in parts.

It definitely has, I nearly knocked over a pedestrian this evening who was more interested in reading her text messages than looking where she was going as she crossed a busy main road. Of course its her right to do this and the text message was no doubt more important than her safety.

What there is is a trash overload. Take science, for example. I used to browse many of the peer-reviewed journals and write online articles for a wider audience, but when the government challenged publishers to increase open access the exact opposite happened - the government paid them so that institutions could gain access from grants and the public and freelance professionals like me were cut-out. The publishers ended up profiting from taxpayers whilst science became more removed from the tax-payer! Now I find it very hard to do my research. This is just one example of what has gone wrong with the Internet - it has gone from being an open source of quality information to a closed-source where everyone has to pay for everything. I find it particularly ironic that the WWW was created by scientists to diffuse scientific information, and now all the fat-cats and governmental institutions assume ownership of the Net. Technology was beginning to change peoples' lives for the better, but now capitalism is choking progress.

If you consider simple telephones and stuff like that "technology" then yes, this is one of the symbols of deteriorating quality of life in the early 21st century...