Technology... in particular, electronics

In opening my discussion of electronics, I can't do anything better than ask you to watch The Story of Electronics which is a terrific video that Annie Leonard created.  She has done the research and made a short video that compiles her concerns and suggested improvements to our current system.  In case you do not care to watch the video, I will list a few of the concerns that Annie gives:

• Electronics are often made with toxic chemicals that harm primarily the factory workers building the product and then the workers tearing apart the product to "recycle" it.
• The manufacturers are not bearing the responsibility of the pollution and waste caused by production and disposal.  Because of this, electronics are designed to become obsolete quickly because this is what creates maximum profit.
• The products are cheap because the costs come to foreign workers getting ill, the rivers where the pollution shows up, the air getting polluted, etc.
• It is more expensive to repair products than to buy new ones.

She has ideas about how to prevent a lot of these problems.  The biggest would be to hold companies accountable for the problems their product causes including workers' health, pollution, and product waste.  If this was the case, she believes that companies would work to produce products with greater longevity because this would be cheaper than cleaning up all of the current problems.  I think that this seems reasonable.

I'm not against technology or electronics, but, like Annie, I do not like the current system that we have.  I agree that companies should be held accountable, but I also would love to see individuals' attitudes change as well.  The companies only make money by creating newer versions of products because people buy them!  It seems to me like any time a new big product is released, people are ready to buy it even if they already own a comparable functioning device.  Why is this?

I think that people like new things, especially if it's the latest and greatest.  The status that comes with these products certainly might be tempting as well.  However, this attitude is a great way to never feel satisfied and to spend more money than one should.

The electronics in our lives are a 6-year old laptop, a 3-year old refurbished desktop with dual-screen monitors, a 5-year old digital camera, our cellphones that we will only replace if they manage to break, and Matthew's 3-year old MP3 player, and the printer that we bought used.  There are some accompanying devices as well, of course.  We have chargers, cords, cables, speakers, etc.  What we try to do is remain satisfied with what we have.  When we do buy electronics (or anything, really), we make it a top priority to buy used or refurbished.  If we buy something new, we look into buying a long-lasting product from a responsible company.  I also promise that we do not feel like we are in want!

Now that I have talked about the costs of technology at large-scale, I also want to recommend that people consider the time they spend using these devices.  I've heard from many sources that when technology began to have a role in our society, people predicted that it would free our time so that we could work less and spend more time bonding with family and friends, pursuing our interests, reflecting, and being involved in our communities.  While certainly technology has made some things faster and better, we actually are working more, and when we're not working, I would argue that we spend a lot of time doing activities that are not terribly fulfilling.  In my opinion (and it is just that, not fact), video games, television, Facebook, MP3 players, online games, and even blogging have their times and places, but we just don't know when to shut these things off and just live the life we have in the real world with real people! 

Also, maybe I'm old and out-of-touch, but it truly bothers me when I am having a conversation with someone and he/she tries to stay in the conversation with me while simultaneously carry on a texting conversation with someone else.  I just want to shout, "Helloooo!  I'm right here trying to have a conversation with yooouuu!"  I just feel like technology ends up fragmenting our lives and disconnecting us sometimes even more than it helps connect us.

Throughout college, I became addicted to constantly checking email, Facebook, and other sites.  Sometimes I found myself clicking through my set of tabs in Firefox (and later Chrome) just watching them and seeing if something new happened.  Gah!  How unfulfilling, and what a waste of time!!  This year I finally figured out a way to stop this vicious cycle that was eating my time and sanity.  I learned that hibernating my laptop throughout the day makes it so that I will only have the laptop going when I'm truly using it.  I am so happy with this new system because I feel free from this silly thing.

The laptop was my addiction, but I think that similar ideas can help you too if you find that you are leashed to your technology!  Perhaps you can shut off your phone during times spent with family and friends so that you can give them your full attention?  Maybe only use your MP3 player or I-pod when you are running alone and not with your friends?  Maybe limit your time playing online games to a certain amount per day?  Maybe have a time of day where you shut off all of the devices and enjoy other activities in life?

I want to end by saying that I think that technology can be used to enrich lives, but I know that it's tempting for me to use it in a way that ends up absorbing my life.  By limiting my purchases and time spent with my electronics, I feel like I am honestly improving my quality of life rather than just keeping myself from indulging.