Do modern life conveniences stop us from thinking?

[Bakiryu]

I don't know if you guys may have noticed, but I was recently away from the litnet, due to a housework (and my inability to do it properly ) incident. In this time, I was also apart from all television and radio. The only things I had were books and paper.

During this while, for some reason and other. I started THINKING. a lot. the thoughts were like a pounding rush, even through a haze of Advil, nyquil and aleeve. I tried to write them down but I couldn't pin down pen to paper

the more time I spent away from modern life conveniences, the more I thought. And I wondered.....

is all this related? are our inventions somehow manufactured to stop us from thinking? Do tv and the internet brainwash us somehow?

(Yes, it all reeks of a government conspiracy )

All kidding aside,

what do you think?

Do modern life conveniences (in spite of their usefulness) stop us from thinking?

[Savarucci]

(Advil, Nyquil, and Aleive, oh my! I hope you're feeling better.)

I think you're onto something here. I mean, there's no doubt modern conveniences and the like are a distraction. One hundred plus channels on television? Video games? The Wii? The internet? Reality TV? It's just mindless entertainment, entertainment, entertainment! People don't have to think to keep themselves busy anymore, you just press a button and everything comes at you in stunning HD quality. (Do YOU see in HD? :P ) I go to a public high school, and very few of my classmates read for fun. It's so depressing.

Jeez, I sound like Mike Teavee's Oompa Loompa song. XD

You reminded me of Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. One theme is how people don't read or do any brain-related-activities anymore and they rely on mindless entertainment to give them a fake feeling of complacency while they sit around all day and melt into a stupor.

I forgot my point, sorry. >_< But you're right. People need to shut off the idiot boxes once in a while.

[Bakiryu]

(Advil, Nyquil, and Aleive, oh my! I hope you're feeling better.)

I think you're onto something here. I mean, there's no doubt modern conveniences and the like are a distraction. One hundred plus channels on television? Video games? The Wii? The internet? Reality TV? It's just mindless entertainment, entertainment, entertainment! People don't have to think to keep themselves busy anymore, you just press a button and everything comes at you in stunning HD quality. (Do YOU see in HD? :P ) I go to a public high school, and very few of my classmates read for fun. It's so depressing.

Jeez, I sound like Mike Teavee's Oompa Loompa song. XD

You reminded me of Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. One theme is how people don't read or do any brain-related-activities anymore and they rely on mindless entertainment to give them a fake feeling of complacency while they sit around all day and melt into a stupor.

I forgot my point, sorry. >_< But you're right. People need to shut off the idiot boxes once in a while.

Perhaps this thread was influence partly by that, since i just finished reading Fahrenheit 451.

(yes, thank you. I'm not so headachy now.)

[Savarucci]

Perhaps this thread was influence partly by that, since i just finished reading Fahrenheit 451.

(yes, thank you. I'm not so headachy now.)

Oh, that makes sense. XD It's amazing how spot-on his predictions were, especially with the Seashell earbud thing. Thank God we haven't reached the Mechanical Hound stage yet, to my knowledge anyway.

Thoughts like these give you new respect for hermits, low-tech recluses, and people like the Amish, huh?

[Bakiryu]

Oh, that makes sense. XD It's amazing how spot-on his predictions were, especially with the Seashell earbud thing. Thank God we haven't reached the Mechanical Hound stage yet, to my knowledge anyway.

Thoughts like these give you new respect for hermits, low-tech recluses, and people like the Amish, huh?

yes, but they seem a bit extremist sometimes, considering. Back where I'm from, the lifestyle is very similar to the Amish (but for lack of material), not so focused on the media as it is here.

I think that if the government wanted to, we could have manufactured a mechanical hound already, frightening as the thought it. dna tracers are only a step away.

[Koa]

I am often online to avoid thinking. Actually, now I remember that I also used to watch TV with that purpose, but I don't often watch TV these days.
And yes I think far less since I've become internet-addicted many years ago. Well it does stimulate thinking sometimes, but in a different way...

[Big Al]

I can honestly say that I have no idea what you're talking about. I think no matter what I'm doing.

[Bakiryu]

I can honestly say that I have no idea what you're talking about. I think no matter what I'm doing.

yeah, but can you think deeply while you're watching television?

[B-Mental]

Personally, TV is a big waste of time. I use my internet like others use TV, but I write, and interact with people. I love the radio, but its always on low in the background.

[Lily Adams]

Personally, TV is a big waste of time. I use my internet like others use TV, but I write, and interact with people. I love the radio, but its always on low in the background.

Exactly! But I do like some TV shows, but not much. I hate reality shows and the normal mind fodder. And the radio part. I don't listen to the radio. Probably because there's usually nothing on the radio that I like. I do, however listen to music, but I like to think I listen to music which is mentally stimulating. Which I'm sure is true since my life has been turned upside down since a certain discovery.

I use the internet for communication because I'm complete loser and outcast in the "real world" and I go to Wikipedia almost everyday. I love learning and I love thinking. But I confess that I use it for YouTube and some other stuff, too. Everbody needs Time Out For Fun. It helps me at least with my brain. A rested brain really helps. Of course I don't use YouTube for "stupid things" all the time, either.

We had a similar discussion in class when we read the short story by Ray Bradbury "There Will Come Soft Rains". (one of my favorites) I quoted one of my heroes by saying "It seems now a days that we're all turning into infants in cribs reaching for electronic trinkets".

And then my teacher asked if this had anything to do with DEVO and I said yes.

I'm just afraid people will forget about books...it's a scary thought.

Jeez, I sound like Mike Teavee's Oompa Loompa song. XD

You should. (That's my favorite, by the way. )

I was going to mention Fahrenheit 451, too, but you already did.


Thanks for a being a guinea pig, Baki. What a cool experiment.

[Shea]

We have a tv, but not cable. When I tell my coworkers that (since I work in IT), they give me the most incredulous look. Sometimes I get in the mood to just "veg" so I pop in a movie, but most of the time I pick up a book.

One of the biggest hurdles that I had to face as a teacher was the poor grammar and spelling problems that my students had. I blame it on texting and instant messaging. A few students even insisted (though I think they were just purposefully being idiots, except that they were in different classes) that they had teachers that taught them that "I" didn't need to be capitalized when referring to themselves. These 15 year olds could barely distinguish the difference between nouns and verbs and their highest priority was waiting for the bell to ring so that they could walk around with wires out of their ears like all their friends.

I wish that Farenheit 451 was part of the curriculum. I felt like I was teaching a generation from that book.

[Pensive]

Do modern life conveniences stop us from thinking?

Depends. If I really want to think, nothing can stop me from that but there are a few thoughts which I want to keep away from myself, and in such a case these things (plus some hobbies which were in ancient times common too) quite help me, and I thank them for that.

[Koa]

Personally, TV is a big waste of time. I use my internet like others use TV, but I write, and interact with people. I love the radio, but its always on low in the background.

Same here. Lots of people go home after work and spend their night in front of the telly, I spend it online. At least it's interactive... As a result, I find it really hard to watch TV, because I can't multitask! It's either a show/film I'm really into, or I get bored...

[Big Al]

yeah, but can you think deeply while you're watching television?

As deeply as I can when I'm reading a book.

[Dori]

We have a tv, but not cable. When I tell my coworkers that (since I work in IT), they give me the most incredulous look. Sometimes I get in the mood to just "veg" so I pop in a movie, but most of the time I pick up a book.

One of the biggest hurdles that I had to face as a teacher was the poor grammar and spelling problems that my students had. I blame it on texting and instant messaging. A few students even insisted (though I think they were just purposefully being idiots, except that they were in different classes) that they had teachers that taught them that "I" didn't need to be capitalized when referring to themselves. These 15 year olds could barely distinguish the difference between nouns and verbs and their highest priority was waiting for the bell to ring so that they could walk around with wires out of their ears like all their friends.

I wish that Farenheit 451 was part of the curriculum. I felt like I was teaching a generation from that book.

Firstly, I also have tv without cable. We have a satellite dish, but we use that for internet.

Secondly, I'm not so sure it's the electronic devices themselves that are the bane of good spelling and grammer, but the lazyness that results from the usage of said devices. I think "modern conveniences" make people more lazy, and as a result makes them less likely to think (in the sense you described).

And finally, even though I haven't read Farenheit 451, I know it is a part of the curriculum at my high school. We are reading it at the end of the school year, after we study Hamlet and some poets.