Is technology making us lazy? Are smartphones good for us? Are all ...

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Hello Steemians!

Did you ever ask yourself what is really the purpose of human existence?

No, I'm not going off topic but I want to see everyone thinking outside the box for a few minutes. Every generation has its own view on things and their own evolving process with things. Is our point living a peaceful & safe life or is it for human race the most important thing produce the highest technological achievements in science? We came a long way, so far, in fact, we can't go back.This last "modern ERA" seems to be going a little out of hand. I "know" a smart guy & his words were...

******

Not everything is bad, right?

Is technology making us lazy?

YES & NO

It depends on how you look at it. Technology cant makes us lazy or there would not be so much new technology coming in every damn day. New this... New that... It all feels build for the future as things are becoming more & more complex. And a human 100 years from now will see us as caveman back in the day. We should kinda know all this does not lead to a fulfilling life and true happiness but it does give us an inside on how the universe works and more interesting questions are being answered. Some people are not just dreaming, they are putting in the work and effort to achieve the desired goals to make the "futuristic future". If your one of them, good for you & good for us!

We improved substantially over the last years. Talking in general.

Not all areas are really a heavy check mark material if you ask me...

Massive amount of entertainment at one place.

For sure some people out there can confirm this...

I'm feeling like the perfect dude to be your "test bunny"! I had periods of not even owning a phone ( WHAT is a SMARTPHONE :) to being online 24/7. Not that I'm well aware of all the high-tech stuff, but who really is? But I do know my life had changed in every one of these periods. From being outside all the time & enjoying the world for what it is, to being at home most of the time doing the routine...

IT SUCKS BIG TIME!

We need to have a healthy balance of both! And we move to our second topic:)

Are smartphones making us less social?

If your interested in human behevior look around sometimes. I see a lot of this...

I see happy faces, do you see happy faces? Isn't it weird how much time we spend staring at our hand?I know some people who still use 15 years old cellphones. Why you might ask?

It's nice to have all the worlds knowledge at one place, right?

Yes, but not all the time. How many times it happens that you're out with friends and everyone is checking on their phone and there is no real "Hanging-Out". Only God knows how many notifications sounds are released every day & we have to check on every single one...

Being around people, but are we really there?

Being without a phone in today's age is kinda weird, for example, if you ask someone for their number & they reply with: "Sorry, I don't have a phone", one could think this person is not giving us the phone number for a reason...

Unhealthy Obsession

It is virtually impossible to be bored using a smartphone if you have the smallest idea what to do with it then you're good. People now use phones for FREE TIME spending, WTF folks, what are we doing!?! How about finding a hobby or any other form of fun. In fact, 62% of recently polled Brits said they hate how much time they spend on their phones.

FACTS

According to new research from the University of Derby. Dr. Zaheer Hussain, lecturer in Psychology at Derby, co-authored what is believed to be the UK’s first research study into smartphone addiction and its related psychological characteristics, which clearly shows that the more you use a smartphone, the higher the risk of becoming addicted.
He said: “The study informs us about smartphone overuse and the impact on psychological well-being. We now use smartphones on a daily basis and for various tasks so being aware of the psychological effects is very important. “There are various smartphone apps such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Candy Crush, as well as Skype and email that make smartphone use psychologically more attractive and can lead to addiction.” The results of the study revealed that 13% of participants were classified as being addicted, with the average user spending 3.6 hours per day on the device. The research also advises that prospective buyers of smartphones should be pre-warned of the potential addictive properties of new technology. The psychological characteristics of smartphone addiction are particularly interesting, Dr. Hussain explains: “Higher scores of narcissism (excessive interest or admiration of oneself and one’s physical appearance) and levels of neuroticism (negative personality traits including moodiness, jealousy, envy, and loneliness) were linked to smartphone addiction. “A significant positive relationship was found between narcissism and addiction to the phones, suggesting that the more narcissistic a person is, the more likely they are to be addicted to their smartphone. When the participants were asked if they used their phone in banned areas, 35% answered yes.” Social networking sites were the most popularly used apps (87%), followed by instant messaging apps (52%) and then news apps (51%). Relationships were also noted in the research as, despite 46.8% of participants speaking positively of improved social relations, 23.5% admitted their smartphones create communication issues within ‘real life’. Professor James Elander, Head of the Centre for Psychological Research at the University of Derby, said: “This study is a very timely one with much potential impact, and the findings show that users should be more aware of how they are using their smartphones and of the potential risks of excessive use. “This is also a great example of the applied psychological research being conducted at the University of Derby, where our emphasis is on socially relevant research with the potential for practical applications to improve health and wellbeing.” The research paper, titled: ‘Smartphone Use, Addiction, Narcissism, and Personality: A Mixed Methods Investigation’ has recently been published in the International Journal of Cyber Behaviour, Psychology, and Learning (IJCBPL).

https://www.derby.ac.uk/newsevents/news/archive/news-archive/smartphones-are-addictive--reveals-first-uk-study-from-the-university-of-derby.php

Are social networks in fact ANTI-social?

"The more social media we have, the more we think we're connecting, yet we are really disconnecting from each other." — JR

@steemit is kinda my first real "social network experience". Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and stuff were never on my radar, they are great for promotional purposes but do everyone really need an account on every network? I have a Facebook account to maybe check on some people from time to time, but not posting anything or even did I try to interact with people & I'm an outgoing person in "real life". So it never really got to me too much would be right to say. This graph below is the true value of Facebook, lolz.

@steemit got me hooked!

Of course, I would be a lair if said that money isn't a great motivation around here. But first of all, I was super surprised in my first week here, people were actually so cool and everyone gave me a warm welcome. Great stuff, thank you all. More time went by, and here we are. Posting every day & just trying to be a part of the community that gave my life so much positivity and light. So how can it be a bad thing?

@steemit is not just a social network

It's much more. An income for so many people, a promotion tool & just a great place. It's fun to be a part of it. You can earn and learn at the same time. Plus get connected with awesome people around the world. I love it, when I see Steemians enjoying their money, travel around, eat good and living with no financial worries while doing what they love... @steemsaid...

Is all this taking us in the wrong direction?

"Humans must merge with machines or become irrelevant in AI age." — Elon Musk

Billionaire Elon Musk is known for his futuristic ideas and his latest suggestion might just save us from being irrelevant as artificial intelligence (AI) grows more prominent. The Tesla and SpaceX CEO said on Monday that humans need to merge with machines to become a sort of cyborg. "Over time I think we will probably see a closer merger of biological intelligence and digital intelligence," Musk told an audience at the World Government Summit in Dubai, where he also launched Tesla in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). "It's mostly about the bandwidth, the speed of the connection between your brain and the digital version of yourself, particularly output." Musk explained what he meant by saying that computers can communicate at "a trillion bits per second", while humans, whose main communication method is typing with their fingers via a mobile device, can do about 10 bits per second. In an age when AI threatens to become widespread, humans would be useless, so there's a need to merge with machines, according to Musk. "Some high bandwidth interface to the brain will be something that helps achieve a symbiosis between human and machine intelligence and maybe solves the control problem and the usefulness problem," Musk explained. The technologist's proposal would see a new layer of a brain able to access information quickly and tap into artificial intelligence. It's not the first time Musk has spoken about the need for humans to evolve, but it's a constant theme of his talks on how society can deal with the disruptive threat of AI. During his talk, Musk touched upon his fear of "deep AI" which goes beyond driverless cars to what he called "artificial general intelligence". This he described as AI that is "smarter than the smartest human on earth" and called it a "dangerous situation". While this might be some way off, the Tesla boss said the more immediate threat is how AI, particularly autonomous cars, which his own firm is developing, will displace jobs. He said the disruption to people whose job it is to drive will take place over the next 20 years, after which 12 to 15 percent of the global workforce will be unemployed. "The most near-term impact from a technology standpoint is autonomous cars … That is going to happen much faster than people realize and it's going to be a great convenience," Musk said. "But there are many people whose jobs are to drive. In fact, I think it might be the single largest employer of people ... Driving in various forms. So we need to figure out new roles for what do those people do, but it will be very disruptive and very quick."

https://www.cnbc.com/2017/02/13/elon-musk-humans-merge-machines-cyborg-artificial-intelligence-robots.html

A crazy man or is he up to something?

My opinion is, it all connects and makes sense if you think it through. It would suck losing a job to some AI d$%khead. If we become "cyborgs" do we still stay obsessed with things that make our life "great" & fulfilling, lolz?

Guys, sorry if I complicated things, I'm lost myself now, lolz... Let me know what Yall think!