My boss at work the other day was putting a sign up on one of the mirrors in the bar where I fill in. He initially put up the word 'Dessert's.' I said 'uh, what is the dessert possessing?' He looked at me and said 'you're right. You want to hear something even more retarded? I originally spelled it 'deserts.' After a laugh, I said, 'holy shit, I know, I can't spell for shit anymore. Or remember phone numbers. And my grammar is going to shit.' Essentially, spell check, grammar check and cell phones have ruined my ability to spell and remember phone numbers because I don't have to do it anymore. Focus: What skills have you lost due to technology? What technological advancements would you like to see because you don't have a particular skill? Is text speak making us all retards?
Technology has probably decreased my desire for face to face social interaction. It doesn't feel bad staying in on a Friday if you're making chit chat with people online. If I want to go out, I can still go out. If I don't feel like moving then it's cool, just open up the laptop and I'm sure someone else felt like doing the same. Plus, it's one of the few acceptable ways to interact without pants. I give it two thumbs up. Now if someone was doing all of their interaction through computers, and I'm sure the internet has led to a number of people doing just this, I'd be a little worried for them.
Yeah, but just be sure to know the area the webcam catches when you're rearranging your position pantsless. I saw lots o double you tee eff thigh during that Hangout. I'm one of those people who is completely dependent on technology to do math. I haven't taken a math class since junior year of high school and have barely had any use for it since. I'm not totally ridiculous about it - I still remember some basics - but if my phone is in my pocket anyway, I'm just going to use its calculator to deal with big numbers or check to see what the total cost is going to be after a sale. Etc
To add onto this... I think a lot of technology has replaced healthy, childhood social interaction. How often do you see a kid at a restaurant playing a psp or an iPod touch? Not speaking or interacting in any way with his family. I guess you could say technology has replaced decent parenting. These kids are always little shits and are rarely polite. (from what I've seen when I worked in restaurants) With this also comes lethargic lifestyles and kids get fat. Personally, I think I've lost a lot of self learning. Meaning, its so much easier to get on wikipedia and just look something up rather than figure it out or go to a library or something. The convenience makes for lazy learning. I've also become hopelessly addicted to using gps rather than learn the intricacies of my city. If I go somewhere even remotely different from my normal places, I get totally lost without gps. Its sad.
My grandma used to write me letters as a kid. Every month or so I'd receive another one with the most beautiful calligraphy. Its how we kept in touch and remained close after I moved away from Los Angeles as a kid. I'd write her back every month. I still ahve all of my letters from her and she has all of hers from me. Shes shown me some of them and its so strange, yet so amazing to have this window on a 12 year old Whathasbeenseen. When was the last time you even went back and read an old email. I've never written a letter to my sister's kids though I have written many an email. I think something is missing there and its kind of sad. There is something to be said about the care it takes to sit down with a piece of paper and give something of yourself more than typing on a screen in the most impersonal fashion possible. Ah, one more thing. I moved to London, UK about a year ago. Most of my getting around has been through Google Maps. If I get lost and I don't have 3G, I'm fucked. That is kind of sad. I've started relying more on landmarks now instead of the phone because street names here are for shit being that if the street curves 4 degrees in either direction the name changes.
I've almost lost the ability to write expository essays. With the internet, I just need to look up the answers to questions and rephrase them. I try very hard not to do this, but every once in awhile I end up doing it anyway.
Phone numbers are a big one for me. I can't remember anyone's phone number anymore, because I never dial them. Actually, I know more work phone numbers than personal ones because I actually have to dial them on my desk phone. Most of the rest of the things that I use technology as a crutch for are things I had problems with anyway, e.g. remembering lists of things, or navigating. So, rather than making me stupid, it has helped me overcome my previous ingrained stupidity. Spell check, actually, has helped correct a lot of my (already pretty decent) spelling. I think that's a visual thing - I might remember phone numbers more if our phones didn't hide them behind contact names, since I typically remember the corrections that spell check makes.
I'm the same way with phone numbers, I don't remember them anymore. The most shameful example is not knowing my wife's cell number off the top of my head. I'll probably take the time to memorize that now that I've admitted it. I know that I *can* still memorize things, I still do so all the time, it's that I no longer have to remember quite the same type of data anymore. Aside from potentially taking away people's mental faculties, technology also takes away excuses. For example, forgetting a commitment; a meeting, a date, a doctor's appointment, etc. I no longer give people slack on this issue. Google Calendar is too easy, not to mention free and only one among many such services, for me to let people off the hook anymore. Because even if you legitimately forgot, you still were such a disrespectful slackass that you couldn't be bothered to take the four seconds to set a reminder for yourself even knowing how much of a useless flake you are. Drives me nuts. My calendar not only remembers commitments, I use it like post-it notes to remind me to do random tasks I don't want to forget. Like calling my insurance company about an allergist referral or when to pay my bills that aren't set on auto-pay. Speaking of which, technology has made people smarter and dumber about finances. The tools are better and the information is more available, but some people are bad at managing a bank account and remembering that they have auto-pay options setup. Thus, the charge hits when they have insufficient money and the fees pile up. On the flip side, technology makes it extremely easy for me to set up auto-pay to my credit card and then pay that off from my checking account in a way that avoids ever worrying about having enough money on any particular day vs. two days from now.
Before GPS I was very bad with directions but could make do. Once I got GPS to rely on I became like an Alzheimer case. For a while I was using it to get to work, where I go everyday. I've been weening myself off of it slowly, but I couldn't find my way out of a wet paper bag with a knife right now. Seriously, people look at me like some sort of magician because I can calculate loan payments by hand.
All through middle and high school we had a "checking account" at the school store. There would be money in the account at the beginning of the year and if you needed pens or something you had to write a check and, at the end of every month, you were required to balance your checkbook. So, for years afterwards I would take my monthly statement, sit down with my checks (they used to send your actual checks back to you) and a pen and calculator and balance my checkbook. Now that I can check my balance whenever and wherever I feel like it and see every transaction almost immediately I couldn't balance a checkbook to save my life.
This is kind of technology related, but in the "can't remember phone numbers" theme. Tag numbers or license plates. Most of you are too young to remember this, but back in the 70's and 80's, every driver knew their license plate number, for various reasons. For instance, at gas stations, you didn't (couldn't) pump your own gas. And, your local "filling station" would send you monthly bills. So, when self-service pumps starting appearing, you would walk inside to the counter, give the guy your tag number, and he'd fill out the ticket. Also, at hotels, when you checked in, you would give your car tag, to keep from getting towed. I think hotels that still do this just do make /model/ state, now days. It's driving me crazy - I can't think of other reasons I had to know it, but when I started driving, I knew my mom, my dad and my sister's license plate numbers. Now, I have no freaking clue what my tag is. I think it has two Q's in it, though.
Through the magic of money popping out of a hole in the wall (ATMs) I absolutely spend more than i would otherwise. Pre- cash machine life meant you had go to the bank during their limited hours of operation to withdraw cash, and in order to avoid dealing with the asinine "bankers hours" schedule, you needed to attempt to figure what you would spend over the next several days to a week. If you ran out of cash it had better be during banking hours. Now - Jacksons any damn time I feel like it.
Technology has made the following skills decline: -Spelling: I have become way to reliant upon spell check either on my mobile, PC etc, although working in a law firm I have to double check everything, spell check just makes you lazy, I don't care about correcting documents as I go along and just wait until the end to check grammar and spelling etc. -Dates, contact numbers, addresses: I can no longer remember peoples birthdays (only close friends and girlfriend), I only know my house number for parents house, my own mobile and local taxi number so when hammered can at least get home. I only know my own post code and don't even know my work address, because wait I can google addresses, check Facebook for birthdays and phone numbers (or they are likely stored on my phone). -Handwriting: Since graduating from Uni, I never write anything with a pen apart from a to-do list. Everything is typed at work, etc so when I write a to-do list it looks like hyroglifics. -Map reading / sign reading: I don't even read signs when driving now, just plug Tom-Tom in and get directions. -Basic Math/percentages etc: Instead of wasting brain power, I will always use a calculator for anything, even simple shit it just saves time.
I'll probably contradict/show myself up here, but I cannot stand the decline in spelling and grammar that has occurred in recent years. Maybe the massive use of text/e-mail as a primary source of communication is just high-lighting what was already a problem, but it pains me to receive a text, e-mail or even read a Facebook status where it looks like the author has repeatedly slammed a brick into a keyboard and then just hit 'send'. Really? Do you just mash the keys and hope that what you intend to get across is what actually appears? Proof-read, you fuck wit. It takes no effort on your part, but a hell of a lot on mine to understand that "Jelly makes at the pub for nine, bring hammer blankets!" actually means "See you at the pub at nine, bring that dvd please!". I'm not talking about dyslexics, or even the younger generation-I'm talking people in their 50's who whilst articulate in real life, spell like they're one shot of vodka away from being in a coma. I'm not perfect when it comes to grammar and spelling, but I make sure I try my fucking hardest to articulate what I'm saying as clearly and precisely as possible. One of the things I am strangely proud of is that at no point in my life (I'm 35) have I ever used that acronym that stands for 'Laughing Out Loud'. I've learned to accept it from others, but the thought of ever using it myself makes me want to murder my own face with a sweaty horse cock.
I never remember phone numbers because it seems like my friends are getting new phones every couple of months. Seriously, it seems like every few weeks I get a new text/email saying "This is ____________, and this is my new number!" Then I have to go and delete the old one. Sometimes they still have their old phone as well, which just adds to clutter in my phone. Sheesh. (I've had the same phone number since 2003.)
I don't really think having a cell phone and easy internet access has affected me negatively all that much. I can't remember phone numbers but I could never remember phone numbers. The only difference is that all the phone number I need are now in one place (and backed up) instead of scattered around on bits of paper. Lists are the same way; I used to write grocery or to-do lists on pieces of paper and lose them. My phone hasn't hurt my memory it just makes it easier to compensate. I'm generally a pretty good speller (4th grade school spelling bee runner up right here buddy) and spell check hasn't hurt that too much. In fact, because in a technical field with a lot of jargon that Word often thinks is misspelled, I tend to ignore the little red squiggly line even when a work is legitimately wrong. edit: It was pointed out to me via rep that my last line says "work" instead of "word". I guess my proofreading skills have been hurt by technology.
I'm slowly losing my navigation skills. I love maps and love finding ways to get from point A to point B quickest. I used to have to learn an area and look at some maps and figure things out. My GPS has made all of that almost useless. Just plug in where you're going and it'll get you there. I will say that having been good at directions prior to the tech is still helpful as the GPS sometimes doesn't show the quickest or easiest way or on occasion gets it wrong. I at least know my abilities aren't 100% useless...yet.
I just helped my mom install Rosetta stone on her new mac computer. My mom is retarded with technology and I've never used a mac. She's obviously trying to learn a new language and when she handed me the phone for the support the Indian guy spoke fluent English with an unintelligible accent. I can't tell you how he talked unless you see me in real life and I imitate him. I thought he was trying to say file when he was saying five. What he was saying isn't a word. He spoke very fast and would not slow down. Turns out I just needed to grab something from Rosetta stone's website and trash the other installations my mom made before I got there.
Calculators. Every time I go to pay a bill in this country, someone whips out a calculator. Restaurants, shops, even the damned grocery store. I am utterly baffled by the refusal to use basic math skills. A fucking cab driver used one to figure out my change. I can think of maybe six times when I've had to use the one on my phone. It's bad enough I get a receipt for a cab ride, a donut and a sandwich, we have to bring technology into this as well?
In my case, penmanship. But since that has several deceased members of the Sisters of St. Joseph spinning in their graves, I'm pretty okay with it.