I don’t even have to think anymore.
She helps me form my opinions and even helps organize my schedule. I don’t need to know how to spell, add, multiply, or subtract. It’s all done for me.
I can seem relevant and important because google tells me what to say. But my real thoughts, ideas, and perspectives that need to be uncovered and honed become hidden. It’s the path of least resistance, the path to becoming invisible.
SENSE OF SELF WORTH
I love meeting people who have a strong sense of who they are. They have a strong sense of purpose and make decisions based on what matters to them. They aren't so easily swayed by popular culture and what other people think about them. My biggest concern about technology is that it can weaken our sense of inner resolve. So many people post on social media with hopes of being liked by others. They tie their worth to changing opinions and outside variable outside of their control.
As a keynote speaker, I've met thousands of people who follow the crowd instead of believing in themselves. In so many ways, they are dampening their potential. It all comes down to this; you cannot feel good by needing other people to approve of you. Placing your sense of happiness on external conditions will always leave you drained.
Technology is getting smaller and smaller; it’s nearly invisible. You can’t see it, but it’s shaping who we are, how we make decisions, and how we interact. Is it possible that the more technology-reliant we are, the less purposeful and mission-driven we are? Absolutely.
If you formulate your decisions, ideas, or values based on shouting at your google mini, how many likes you get on Facebook or GPS suggestions, you fade away from yourself. How can we formulate our ideas when they are told to us?
ATTENTION SPANS
Technology is enticing, alienating and addictive. Studies suggest our attention spans have dropped to the point that goldfish can pay attention better than humans. Because of its addictive nature, we keep going back to our technology platforms, but our attention spans are taking a hit.
INFORMATION SECURITY
And how did Google know that I secretly wish to vacation in Spain?
Because Google is also watching us, it’s recording our activities and reporting back to us what we already know. This invisible technology validates us by only telling us what we want to hear. It memorizes our likes and reinforces our biases. It even connects us with people who believe in the same things to insulate ourselves from the rest of the world with a circle of people just like us.
Anyone who doesn’t reinforce my life perspective may be invisible to me and me invisible to them.
Who I am, what I believe is irrelevant. Eventually, your invisibility will gnaw at you and point to your restlessness, and google can’t help.
Is technology teaching us to retreat into a digital world? Aren’t we much more visible in person? Covid 19 has shown us how much we need human connection. Many of us can't wait for the day when we can hug a stranger.
Smartphones insulate and captivate many of us in our own world, but the real problem lies deep beneath this.
Technology makes life easy. The results we seek on our iPhones always push us to the path of least resistance. Instant gratification is the name of the game. I want the quickest, easiest, least expensive way to get what I want. If you can’t give it to me, the search engine will send me to your competitor.
Collectively, decisions made based on what’s quick, cheap, and easily accessible are poor decisions. It seems fine in the short run but long term, what’s easy isn’t usually what’s best.
Gradually, we see the connection between hard work and results in waste away. It looks like progress comes from a lucky find, not tenacity. I don’t need to take the initiative when I can use technology to formulate my ideas.
Look at it this way. Anything meaningful and worthwhile in your life took effort: your family, your career, your degree, your house. You worked hard for it all.
This is why it’s meaningful. If it was easy, we might take it all for granted. If it were easy, the life-shaping lessons you learned along the way would be lost.
When it comes to technology, we are becoming invisibleunless you use it to help develop who we are.
As technology sweeps jobs out from underneath us, we feel scattered and torn. Now we don’t know what to think.
MAKE DECISIONS BASED ON WHAT MATTERS
Don’t make decisions based on quick, available, and cheap; instead, make decisions based on what matters to you.
As long as your skills and worth are tied to external approval(i e- Facebook likes), you will always be vulnerable. A certain tension builds when you know you need a digital detox.
How Technology makes other people invisible
Last year, I met up with a friend for coffee. As soon as we found our table, even before I drizzled cream into my coffee, she pulled out her phone. The device consumed her attention for over ten minutes. I thought it must be important; maybe something happened with her children? Gradually her grunts and laughs revealed she searched Facebook to see how many “ likes” her recent post garnered for her. She also felt compelled to respond to her fan’s comments.
Does she realize the real conversation is right in front of her?