Technology Is Draining Me
The double-edged sword
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I have always cherished technology and embraced it as a futuristic element of modern life. From my beloved iPad to comparison websites, technology often comes in handy with my daily grind.
A while back I wrote a thorough article about the benefits of having an iPad:
But lately, I have been getting nervous about our over reliance on tech. In the News yesterday they spoke about relaxing the laws related to flying drones. Whereas traditionally drones had to be flown within plain sight of the controller, new rules are going to make it possible for drones to have much more range.
Will I be going about my business and dodging low flying drones which are delivering Amazon packages or prescription medication?
More to the point…
What happens when they go wrong or run out of power?
Will they come crashing to the ground suddenly or landing in grandma’s shopping trolley?
One thing is for sure, technological advances are increasing in pace and stretching our understanding of what is possible.
Too much of a good thing?
For me, there are plenty of things that are already getting on my nerves. For example:
- No longer being able to speak to a customer services person — instead being forced to speak to a robot or type in a chat bar with an AI character.
- Having to prove I am not a robot when logging in, by checking off pictures that contain traffic lights or zebra crossings.
- Witnessing railway workers being made redundant and replaced by ticket machines.
- Constantly being bombarded with fake Jennifer Aniston bots following and then DMing me in Instagram.
- Getting half way through a transaction and losing Wifi signal, then not knowing whether to start again or not. Obviously never pressing the dreaded REFRESH.
- Not being able to unable to open a work document due to a stupid error or having to reply to someone and remind them that they haven’t actually included the aforementioned ‘attachment.’
I could probably go on for days.
So yes, you can probably tell that technology is starting to grate on me. All of the checks and balances mean that some processes which are supposed to be sped up by tech are in fact taking longer.
As for the dreaded AI… Don’t even get me started on that. The thought of a load of AI-generated Donald Trumps telling me I am stupid frightens me.
In A Nutshell
Although it can be argued that technology is becoming helpful in so many ways, such as medical advances, pollution reduction and communications, there are many aspects that annoy me.
I worry that technology is making us less social and even less human.
Are we going to have everything automated in future? Will we even feel the need to leave the house when we have robots doing our shopping and taking over our jobs?
Obviously there are two sides to every coin and I would love to hear your thought on this subject.
Are you finding technology draining too?
