The God of Technology: Destroyer of civility, morals, and personal relationships.
Once upon a time, there was an American family. Dan and his wife Alice had two beautiful children named Nancy and Joey. This family woke up every morning to the smell of a freshly made breakfast. They would all sit around the table and talk about the day ahead. Alice would pack up lunch and whisk the kids off to school with hugs and kisses. During the school day, children would read the assigned homework, and while some cheating occurred, it really wasn’t a problem. At the workplace Dan would walk in and have stimulating discussions about news and politics with his co-workers. He might draw up a professional looking memo for the boss, and at the end of the day the family would sit down to a home-cooked meal prepared by Alice. The family sat around and discussed the day and enjoyed each other’s company.
Let’s now take a trip to the modern household filled with technology…
Alice screams up the stairs that the kids should get out of bed or they will be late for the bus. The kids slowly get around and trudge downstairs. They were up very late the night before playing video games. They come into the kitchen to try to find something to eat. Joey grabs a pop-tart and Nancy doesn’t eat breakfast. Alice and Dan have already left for work. They both work long hours these days in order to pay off their second mortgage and the mounting credit card bills. Meanwhile, at school, Joey sits in the principal’s office awaiting discipline. Joey plagiarized his essay on Hamlet off of the internet. Nancy wrote her own paper, but she had not read the book. She thought it was too long and wanted to go to the mall with her friends. So instead of reading, she got on Spark Notes and found a summary. She didn’t get caught, but she had still compromised her honesty. At work, Dan punches in and heads to his cubicle. He doesn’t know much more than the names of his co-workers. They used to conduct meetings but now every thing it done by conference call. He drops the boss a quick informal email and receives a text message from Alice reading: “Sry, will b home L8. Pick smthing up 4 the kids 2 eat. Thx.” Alice leaves work to run and grab the kids from school and takes them to their various activities. She runs several errands ranging from picking up the dry cleaning to getting the dog groomed. She comes home and the kids and Dan have already eaten. She grabs a cold piece of fried chicken from Popeye’s and heads to the computer to do some more work. Exhausted from the day she heads up to bed and lays down. Dan is already asleep. The kids have been in bed for an hour. She wonders what happened to her family as she swallows a sleeping pill and slips into an artificial sleep.
This first family seems much happier even though they don’t have instant entertainment, fast food, instant messaging, and computers. The second family seems to never even communicate. Their busy lives have taken control and they are no longer able to function as a family. This illustration may seem extreme, but is it really that unbelievable?
Once upon a time, there was an American family. Dan and his wife Alice had two beautiful children named Nancy and Joey. This family woke up every morning to the smell of a freshly made breakfast. They would all sit around the table and talk about the day ahead. Alice would pack up lunch and whisk the kids off to school with hugs and kisses. During the school day, children would read the assigned homework, and while some cheating occurred, it really wasn’t a problem. At the workplace Dan would walk in and have stimulating discussions about news and politics with his co-workers. He might draw up a professional looking memo for the boss, and at the end of the day the family would sit down to a home-cooked meal prepared by Alice. The family sat around and discussed the day and enjoyed each other’s company.
Let’s now take a trip to the modern household filled with technology…
Alice screams up the stairs that the kids should get out of bed or they will be late for the bus. The kids slowly get around and trudge downstairs. They were up very late the night before playing video games. They come into the kitchen to try to find something to eat. Joey grabs a pop-tart and Nancy doesn’t eat breakfast. Alice and Dan have already left for work. They both work long hours these days in order to pay off their second mortgage and the mounting credit card bills. Meanwhile, at school, Joey sits in the principal’s office awaiting discipline. Joey plagiarized his essay on Hamlet off of the internet. Nancy wrote her own paper, but she had not read the book. She thought it was too long and wanted to go to the mall with her friends. So instead of reading, she got on Spark Notes and found a summary. She didn’t get caught, but she had still compromised her honesty. At work, Dan punches in and heads to his cubicle. He doesn’t know much more than the names of his co-workers. They used to conduct meetings but now every thing it done by conference call. He drops the boss a quick informal email and receives a text message from Alice reading: “Sry, will b home L8. Pick smthing up 4 the kids 2 eat. Thx.” Alice leaves work to run and grab the kids from school and takes them to their various activities. She runs several errands ranging from picking up the dry cleaning to getting the dog groomed. She comes home and the kids and Dan have already eaten. She grabs a cold piece of fried chicken from Popeye’s and heads to the computer to do some more work. Exhausted from the day she heads up to bed and lays down. Dan is already asleep. The kids have been in bed for an hour. She wonders what happened to her family as she swallows a sleeping pill and slips into an artificial sleep.
This first family seems much happier even though they don’t have instant entertainment, fast food, instant messaging, and computers. The second family seems to never even communicate. Their busy lives have taken control and they are no longer able to function as a family. This illustration may seem extreme, but is it really that unbelievable?
posted by Tyler Brown @ 9:41 PM
2 Comments:
At 8:21 AM,
Alexis Dollar said…
no objections, I just wanted to comment on the stories. They were easy to read and make a valid point. Although, I would question the perfect serenity of the first family, they do serve their purpose. Good job.
At 1:10 PM,
Unknown said…
Here is how the first story should have gone.
Once upon a time, there was an American Family. Dan and his wife, Alice, had two children named Nancy and Joey. The family woke up every morning just as every family has since the dawn of time, in a state of dishevelment with a looming list of things to do. Nancy prepared the cereal for the family to eat while they all got ready for school or work and then yelled at them that the food was getting soggy. The kids and Dan were swept off to their days while Alice was left at home to cook and clean. She hoped that she would do a good job so that Dan wouldn’t beat her like he did on most nights. Arriving at school, Joey almost immediately left with his friends. He didn’t care much for school. He would much rather be walking around town. Nancy stayed and went to the bathroom. She started smoking because her friends told her she looked cool and it would make her thin. She didn’t much care for school because she knew she wasn’t going to college. She was expected to immediately marry. At work, Dan talked to his colleague but didn’t much care for them. He often complained that he hadn’t had any sex since his kids were born. He never brought up his drinking problem, though. Later that evening everyone came back for dinner and had meaningless conversation filled with the usual “how was work/school?” Clearly Joey lied. Once the kids were in their rooms they had to pretend to not hear Dan’s yelling.
Anyway, you seem to idealize the situations of our parents and grandparents. Life was not what “Leave it to Beaver” suggests it was. The first family seems happier in your story because you went out of your way to make believe that they had no problems. Sure, the current mother and wife may have to work, but she doesn’t have to scrub the floors with a brush or clean her own over. She doesn’t even have to cook. The husband may not know his coworkers, but he has the luxury of working from home. And guess what, children have always cheated and had attitude problems. Those aren’t new occurrences. You need to get in touch with reality.
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