Roger Harty: Technology And Its Effect On Our Lives

Posted by

 

rsz_roger_hartyI WAS walking down Castle Street, Tralee, the other day when I heard out of my left ear “How’s everything going?”

I was just about to turn around and reply “just great” when I suddenly realised it was a man on a mobile phone and he wasn’t talking to me at all!

I’m sure had I replied to the man he would have thought that I was living on another planet.

It’s worth examining this more closely. If the above interaction happened 30 years ago you could be perfectly sure of replying “just great” 100% of the time and be sure of always getting it right – the reason being is that 30 years ago mobile phones, as such, didn’t exist so the above type of interaction would have been impossible.

I remember distinctly the very first time I saw a man talking on a mobile phone while cycling on a bike and I thought it was hilarious.

My main point here is that the changes that have taken place in technology have caused a huge change in the way that we interact as human beings.

In other words, what was acceptable and normal behaviour 30 years ago may not be acceptable in this day and age.

How about if we were to explore the last highlighted sentence and change it slightly.

What was not acceptable 30 years ago should still not be acceptable now.

Where am I coming from with this. Good manners and proper etiquette are just as important in this world today as they were 30 years ago. I’m sure most people would agree with that.

Let me give an example – supposing you were at the checkout desk at a supermarket. Do you think it is appropriate to be talking on your phone as you are paying your bill?

What kind of message is that giving to the assistant who is trying to help you. They are human beings and do you ever consider that you are now treating them like you would a computer as if they are only there to tot up the account.

If this continues and the assistant is being treated like a computer, then it won’t take long before the assistant acts like a computer.

In other words, the human emotional interaction that would have happened on a daily basis 30 years ago is going to be lost to society unless some sort of action is taken.

To put it plainly, this is rudeness in its most basic form (ignoring another human being). I know you will have people reading this who will say ‘the customer is always right’ –  and I agree – but I also say that rudeness is ‘Never’ acceptable.

What I will say is that technology has come into our lives at a very rapid pace and its effects on how we live together on this planet should be closely and carefully and quickly examined.

We cannot change the progress of technology (if we tried we may as well try to stop the waves out in Banna beach!) but we can set  standards for living in the modern world.

Have you ever seen a book for ‘Acceptable behaviour and etiquette with modern technology’?

In particular, I am talking about the influence of modern mobile phones (smart phones! and such devices, asking questions such as :

Do you think it is appropriate to have your phone on while talking to a friend?

If so and your phone rings is it appropriate to answer the phone or should you request permission of your friend to answer it.?

If the answer is yes should you stay on the phone for 1 minute or 15 minutes?

What effect does your conversation have on your friend, i.e. are you more interested in the conversation you are having on the phone than the conversation that you were having with your friend who is next to you?

Once the phone conversation has ended (note I would suggest 1 minute max) should you put your phone on silent or switch it off all together?

My own suggestion would be to switch it off, make a quick but nevertheless important apology to your friend and go back to the original but real conversation with your friend who is standing beside you.

Otherwise you are in danger of turning your friend into a fiend!

Side note

• Long ago we had Smart people and dull phones.

Nowadays, we have Smartphones and dull people.

Next week I am going to write more on Technology and it’s effects on our lives!

• Roger Harty is a life coach and can be contacted on 087-6128336, on twitter at @Innerjoyz1 or by email rogharty@gmail.com

Comments are closed.

image