Yesterday, May 5th, was national holiday of Korea, so-called Children's Day. I was in subway, on my way to Kwang Hwa Moon. In the train, the surprising thing that I observed was that many of the parents sitting in the train were looking at their smart phones, instead of their kids. While some of the kids sitting next to their parents tried to talk to them, others were looking at their parents’ smart phones with silence. The train was not as loud as it used to be in couple of years ago, where parents were holding balloons instead of smart phones, talking joyfully with their children.
At the same time, I noticed that I was keep holding my iPhone since I came out from my house. The “Digital Slavery,” a term that was introduced long ago, has not been so serious as it is nowadays. However, it is now a “digital era,” and smart phones could be essential parts of our lives. Therefore, it is almost impossible to tell others to not to use smart phones. Instead, we would have to come up with some ways to control our use of smart phones and balance our real and digital lives to stay away from “digital slavery.”
Fortune, America's second longest-running business magazine, suggested 5 tips that can keep us away from “digital slavery.”
Although these tips are not ultimate solutions, they still can be effective. However, I’m a bit skeptical with the second tip that a bad tech habit can be controlled by using another tech. It sounds as if the author is urging us to become a tech-dependent person. Still, other tips could be useful and are easy to remember. Apply them to your everyday life and see if there is anything that changes.
I exactly know a family like this! Also, it's sad that kids learn from computers in their early ages as well. I heared that there are more than one computer in each classrom! I think the teachers' roles are important to use these tech effectively.
ReplyDeleteTrue, we've become more vulnerable to become digital slaves and it's not only the subway we see this problem, it's everywhere! When I go to cafe, I see couples and newly-weds looking at their smart phones and the only time they start to talk is when they want to show off their new applications. I look at them with pity and anger but at the same time with sadness. I doubt if it's the right way to face the new age of technology.
ReplyDeleteI agree with this idea, too. It seems to me that it looks like we can't live without digital machines. So many people spend their most of time on smartphones or computers. But I think we also got many advantages from them. Thanks to them, we can get much information as quickly as we need. The best example can be the application of bus system in smartphones. As
ReplyDeletefor the first tip,it would be really good and importand thing as long as we can see and contact people in person. But for people far away from each other technology helps them to keep in touch with them. Depending on the appropriate fime we spend on them or the purpose of using it,I think it can be good or bad. As you all said, if we educate children not to be controlled by technology but to control it, then it will be no problem.