Grown Up Digital - Part 1

          The digital world is something very recent and the perception people are having are very different depending on cultures, possibilities and traditions. After reading the first part of “Grown Up Digital” I found some interesting numbers about the percentage of people using cellphones, or other digital devices. It is very fascinating and scary at the same time how all these changes are affecting us. A century ago it was unthinkable to stay and work from home instead of going to the office, or having a meeting by a webcam, instead of having it in person. What we have in front of us, physically present is not what matters anymore. We are using technologies to make it comfortable for us no matter where we go. A question I had while reading this was if we are ever going to relay on technology to do the work for us, and in a way we already did. Computers, cellphones, tablets are all devices that we can already command easily in a way to help us do our work.

          After getting used to this wave of technology that came over the last couple of decades, the most recent generations are already in a mind set that life is not possible without these devices. We acknowledge them as parts of us, as extensions of our bodies, and necessities for our most basic activities. After taking this conclusion, each one of us want to make those devices clearly ours, we want to personalize them. It is rare nowadays to see a phone without a case, or a laptop without anytime of cover or sleeve. Those things were created with the purpose of protecting the devices but most of the people sees them as ways to personalize and customize them. More than esthetics, we also customize them to make them more comfortable for us. After making this conclusion I had some interesting thoughts on it. Besides the fact that we have a cellphone that we can use to help us to find information or to call someone, we still customize it to make it more comfortable. How helpful is that in long term plan? Will the human being get used to relay on technology too much that we are going to reach a point in time that we don’t know how to solve our own problems when facing some type of adversity?

          Today we can easily look at information online and relay on the fact that it is still going to be there when we need it next time, instead of learning it and memorizing it? How does all this influences humans’ capacities?