Are we all over stimulated.

Akrasia

Less than a hundred years ago we had no radio.
Before this, people in rural communities spent most of their time in silence or with only background noises, left with their own thoughts.

When radio became available, people could listen to music and radio plays and entertain themselves as they worked and during the long dark evenings.

The Sony Walkman was invented in 1980. Now for the first time, people could bring their music everywhere they went. They could listen to music or books on tape while they exercised outdoors, while travelling on busses or just to pass the time when they're away from home.

The first proper smartphones were released around 2003 (yes I know there were smartphones before but they only really became useable when 3G became widespread) and the first Iphone was released in 2007 (marking the start of properly useful smartphones that included WIFI and a decent supply of apps)

So for less than 100 years, people have had electronic media, but in the last 7 years, this has massively exploded so that now, it is possible to go the entire day hooked up to some electronic device or even multiple devices simultaniously.

I can listen to lectures and do assignments in my MOOC. I can read any news article printed anywhere in the world, listen to audiobooks, podcasts, watch youtube, play games, check boards.ie whenever I like.

Other than the time I spend directly interacting with people, sleeping or playing sports (and only those sports that don't facilitate the use of earphones) I am pretty much constantly hooked up to a computer or a phone or watching tv or listeing to the radio.

The genie is out of the bottle. The potential inherent in these technologies is simply staggering/ It can improve the lives of billions of people around the world, but what are the downsides?

What is gonna happen long term? Will all this high level stimulation allow us to live richer more action packed lives? Will it cause us cognitive issues in the long term? Will we become dependent on it? Will we learn how to control it?

Nemeses

I believe you've drank too much red bull again...

Bipolar Joe

MrVestek

Yeah I think we're just a little bit overstOHHHH LOOK AT THE SHINEY THING!

EVERYONE COME LOOK AT THIS SHINEY THING!

catallus

Shiny thing?! Nice.....

Akrasia

MrVestek wrote: »

Yeah I think we're just a little bit overstOHHHH LOOK AT THE SHINEY THING!

EVERYONE COME LOOK AT THIS SHINEY THING!

OOh, I wonder what it is, Oh, Wikipedia says it's tinfoil. I wonder how tinfoil is made? Hey, that's interesting, you can use tinfoil to make hats to keep government mind control waves out....

celica00

i think you are right and you have a good point. There is probably not many users around in this section who would agree, it seems like you have some deeper thoughts about this.

I think something important goes missing.

best and most common example i observe: instead of listening to your own thoughts or feelings or problem that comes up, you (or people) tend to turn on the tv instead or do other stuff with the new electronics.
the time of self-reflection goes missing, which is a bad thing in my opinion as it wont help people to mentally grow.

castletownman

Can't think for ourselves anymore.

Can't engage in intellectual debate anymore, without someone checking their smartphone for the answer.

Far less social interaction anymore (may have it's uses when commuting on buses and other public transport)

It could be argued that there's a link between the increase in childhood obesity and the a rise in the use of hand-held technology

The prevalence and importance of technology is too damn high!

Maximus Alexander

I think the uptake on things like smartphones shows that we all want to be stimulated. People sat around in silence 150 years ago because they had no other option. We have these massive brains that make things that are simple for most of the animal kingdom, like giving birth, mortally dangerous. We might as well put them to use.

God I hate the idea of having to sit around with nothing to occupy me but my thoughts. My mind would not be a great place to have to live uninterrupted.

catallus

It is scary to see some people not able to be by themselves with no outside interference for even a quarter of an hour; I'm not saying they're mentally deficient or anything like that, I know a few smart people who get very fidgety if they are by themselves with nothing to do for any amount of time; personally I think it is just a symptom of modern life and a few hours in a sensory deprivation tank wouldn't do them any harm.

MrVestek

Akrasia wrote: »

OOh, I wonder what it is, Oh, Wikipedia says it's tinfoil. I wonder how tinfoil is made? Hey, that's interesting, you can use tinfoil to make hats to keep government mind control waves out....

It can also be used to make a boat when used in a tub of lighter than air gasses.

Speaking of gasses I just let out a whopper of a fart quite a while ago.

Ohh speaking of old farts I wonder how OP is doing these days...

I am pie

WTF is a MOOC....

celica00

Maximus Alexander wrote: »

God I hate the idea of having to sit around with nothing to occupy me but my thoughts. My mind would not be a great place to have to live uninterrupted.

thats exactly what I meant.
If you allow me to use you as an example now

But is it not sad that people wont want to find out more about themselfs, find an inner kinda peace by listening to themselfs every now and then?
you could also just give gratitude and thanks if you are bored (instead of reading useless posts on some network), because that will make you feel so much better.
i also think that this effects our children badly at some point.

I was running outside all day (im 25 now) and having fun with other kids, and now?
u sit in front of some device, playing farmville or stalking stars on twitter....

Akrasia

Maximus Alexander wrote: »

I think the uptake on things like smartphones shows that we all want to be stimulated. People sat around in silence 150 years ago because they had no other option. We have these massive brains that make things that are simple for most of the animal kingdom, like giving birth, mortally dangerous. We might as well put them to use.

God I hate the idea of having to sit around with nothing to occupy me but my thoughts. My mind would not be a great place to have to live uninterrupted.

I completely agree with you. That's a very lonely experience. I went to visit my wife's uncle a few days after the big storm recently. He lives on the top of a mountain by himself. Normally he's grand cause he has internet access and a computer and and tv and radio, but for a week he was out of power and he said he almost went mad just sitting in the dark by himself.

It's great to sit on a beach and marvel at the ocean, or to go for a walk and smell the roses, but only because it's different, a novelty that in itself is stimulating to your mind.
On the other hand, it's awfull to sit in a hospital waiting room for hours or to wait at a bus stop every day for hours. It seems like time that is wasted.

I have read so many more books since I got my smart phone a few years ago. I don't have time to sit down and physically read them cause of family committments, but I can listen to them as audiobooks when I'm doing the house work or whatever.

Maximus Alexander

celica00 wrote: »

thats exactly what I meant.
If you allow me to use you as an example now

But is it not sad that people wont want to find out more about themselfs, find an inner kinda peace by listening to themselfs every now and then?
you could also just give gratitude and thanks if you are bored (instead of reading useless posts on some network), because that will make you feel so much better.
i also think that this effects our children badly at some point.

I was running outside all day (im 25 now) and having fun with other kids, and now?
u sit in front of some device, playing farmville or stalking stars on twitter....

I don't find inner peace by listening to myself though, I find inner turmoil and existential terror. That way madness lies.

I spend as much time with friends, family and my other half as possible - get out and do nice things at every available opportunity. But you're always going to have those endless bus journeys or hours in the evening when nobody is around, and what better to be doing than listening to a podcast, or having some music on while you're out running, or learning something new, or chatting to people in discussions like this, or playing some engaging game, or, or, or... I can't see this as a bad thing.

Akrasia

I am pie wrote: »

WTF is a MOOC....

Massive Open Online Course

Basically free online courses like Coursera or Udacity where you can participate in classes run by some of the best universities in the world

celica00

Maximus Alexander wrote: »

I don't find inner peace by listening to myself though, I find inner turmoil and existential terror. That way madness lies.

I spend as much time with friends, family and my other half as possible - get out and do nice things at every available opportunity. But you're always going to have those endless bus journeys or hours in the evening when nobody is around, and what better to be doing than listening to a podcast, or having some music on while you're out running, or learning something new, or chatting to people in discussions like this, or playing some engaging game, or, or, or... I can't see this as a bad thing.

that makes sense and sounds good

Thankfully a good few of us, still can find a balance between "listening" and all the devices.
Good to read

Baze

If the world was plunged into darkness tomorrow with no means of a renewable energy source at our disposal, it sure would be an anti-climax to all we've come accustomed to, that's for sure.

I do have some LPs in the attic and a wind up Scooby Doo van with a gramophone needle on the bottom, so I'll be grand.

Temptamperu

I feel sorry for insomniacs before the advent of late night TV. As an insomniac in this day and age I have a wealth of stuff that stops the voices in my head.

I am pie

Akrasia wrote: »

Massive Open Online Course

Basically free online courses like Coursera or Udacity where you can participate in classes run by some of the best universities in the world

right, an online course or distance learning.

There's one more for the needless acronym pile.

burnhardlanger

My OH nephews are in a sorry state.
They are three and five.

They are addicted to phones on the game, I mean thoroughly engrossed with them.
If a bomb went off outside, it wouldn't snap them out of their trance like state.
They get upset when the battery dies, like a crack addict in need of a fix. Depressing stuff.

Whenever we visit, there is no hello. The only greeting is "Can I have your phone?"

I can only imagine the damage it's doing but not my place to say anything.
It boils down to lazy parenting, it keeps them quiet for a couple of hours but the long term neurological damage is potentially crippling.

ScumLord

I don't know about that, it's not like people had time to be sitting around twiddling their thumbs in the past. Everything took longer to do without our gadgets and electricity. Washing clothes by hand probably took the better part of a day, going down to the shops in a hurry depended on the mood of your mule, cooking something meant digging it out of the garden or killing it.

If you go back further to stone age people that were on a more level pegging with the other animals around them, they had to be on alert at all times. They had to highly alert to food opportunities at all times, they could get eaten in their sleep, they had to be aware of the seasons and preparing for hard times.

It could have been a highly stressful time to live where you literally have no time to think of anything other than where your next meal is coming from.

Technology could be just filling the gap in our animal need to be on alert at all times. It's not that we have gotten better or worse it's just that all we've achieved with our technology has left us too much spare time. If you weren't playing with your phone you'd be doing something, I don't think there's ever been a time in human history were the majority of people have had too much leisure time.

Akrasia

Temptamperu wrote: »

I feel sorry for insomniacs before the advent of late night TV. As an insomniac in this day and age I have a wealth of stuff that stops the voices in my head.

Your X5 steam mop stops voices in your head?

I didn't hear that part in the 'But wait, there's more!'

Akrasia

I am pie wrote: »

right, an online course or distance learning.

It's a bit like a MMORPG but for AaCE*
*Adult and Continuing Education

Adamantium

We want the danger and excitement. We create our problems in order to fix them and feel good. Yet we never fix with what was really broken, only what what is above the surface. Maybe, We can't fix the human condition need to struggle and acheive, only give into it and accept it, not smother it with endless mental masturbation.

Existential crises weren't exactly useful when a bear was chasing you through the forest.

The parallels between the late Ancient Roman Empire and are too similar.
I'm afraid a few centuries or maybe 7-8 decades will see it through

Honestly the internet and technology adheres to the mantra
"absolute communication, absolute isolation"

The most saddening thing is that we stopped looking up at the stars, and started looking into our phones, endless dvd boxsets, Netflix and smaller screens, the horizon faded away.

Our universe was opened up for a few short years and then the blinds were shut again. I think it scared us to realise how alone we are and so we ran back to tech/entertainment in a big way. My completely non scientific contribution to the thread

intellectual dosser

This is the Information Revolution

Life will find a way.

The Diabolical Monocle

oh the thoughts of living in the days of Peig.


Diseases and early deaths were actually a blessing come to think of it.

Fvck that.

Dyr

Akrasia wrote: »

Less than a hundred years ago we had no radio.
Before this, people in rural communities spent most of their time in silence or with only background noises, left with their own thoughts.

So just a whole lot of background noises then

Diemos

castletownman wrote: »

Can't think for ourselves anymore.

Can't engage in intellectual debate anymore, without someone checking their smartphone for the answer.

Far less social interaction anymore (may have it's uses when commuting on buses and other public transport)

It could be argued that there's a link between the increase in childhood obesity and the a rise in the use of hand-held technology

The prevalence and importance of technology is too damn high!

I really hope you are being sarcastic.......

MrVestek

Baze wrote: »

If the world was plunged into darkness tomorrow with no means of a renewable energy source at our disposal, it sure would be an anti-climax to all we've come accustomed to, that's for sure.

I do have some LPs in the attic and a wind up Scooby Doo van with a gramophone needle on the bottom, so I'll be grand.

Isn't that called the 'Vinyl killer' for a reason?

Baze

MrVestek wrote: »

Isn't that called the 'Vinyl killer' for a reason?

Yes!

Ha, I was sure nobody would have a clue what I was talking about there

ScumLord

Adamantium wrote: »

The parallels between the late Ancient Roman Empire and are too similar.
I'm afraid a few centuries or maybe 7-8 decades will see it through

I don't think it is, while the gap between the super rich and poor in the world today might seem similar it's fundamentally different in many ways, at least that's the case in Europe. If you compare Rome's Europe to modern Europe we're living in a utopian society, next to no slavery, human rights, electricity, there's enough cheap stuff that even the poorest people can afford technology that would have looked like magic to people in Roman times.

The most saddening thing is that we stopped looking up at the stars,

While the average man can't see the stars due to light pollution they know a hell of a lot more about the stars. The only difference now is we're looking at the stars in a more managed and productive way. We not using them as a setting for our own fantastic stories but telling the actual stories of the stars.


Humanity is currently more productive than it's ever been, more sympathetic to the needs of more people, more open, more equal and it's improving daily. For the past 2000 years of human history war has been a common and natural state for us to be in. While there are still wars today it seems apparent the big nations have developed their war machines into redundancy. They're so powerful they can't be used practically to vanquish an enemy without taking everyone else out in the process.

mickrock

The constant need for stimulation becomes addictive and can cause people to become more jittery and on edge. This has gotten a lot worse over the last 10 to 15 years.

I think it's important to have the ability to periodically be able to connect with inner stillness and peace. It's good to be able to be comfortable in your own company not doing anything.

In the short term lots of stimulation seems very exciting but in the longer term it's just very draining and not really satisfying.

Akrasia

Bambi wrote: »

So just a whole lot of background noises then

Yeah, cows and pigs etc

Stavros Murphy

Under-stimulated is over-rated.

FudgeBrownie

All of these developments just mean we like things faster now, i.e. information via the web, music at the touch of a button and so on. But we get used to this and future generations grow up with it more so, therefore there's nothing wrong with it in my eyes.

Mint Aero

Akrasia wrote: »

Less than a hundred years ago we had no radio.
Before this, people in rural communities spent most of their time in silence or with only background noises, left with their own thoughts.

As opposed to sitting in silence staring at Facebook for hours? No they didn't, they went to each others houses, played cards, told stories of their sexual exploits and played the fiddle in the fiddling circle.

donegal__road

I was in a newly refurbished bar in a neighbouring town last Monday, and there were no less than 11 large screens positioned around the walls so that no matter where you turned, you were looking at a screen.. and even at that, half the pub were sitting staring into their phones.

It has definitely reached saturation point.

Aethan Dor

Both sides of this argument are agreeable !

On the 'For' side I'm concerned about its effect on kids, my own and all kids in general. It reminds me of how my mother always gave out to me for playing my Sega Megadrive too much even though I was always very outdoorsy and I'd scoff at her as I'd only play it for a couple hours before bed but seriously look at kids now, I see a lot of young kids/relatives always glued to an iPad/iPhone/Games console, it can't be good. Even though he's 17 now my little Bro would always annoy us with the 'can I have your phone' plea ever since there were games on them !

On the 'against' side though when you are responsible and can control your use and access versus being physically active and healthy then I see no problem and it's of course amazing that you can look up almost anything in the blink of an eye !

Legs.Eleven

Mmmm. Stimulation.

Sir Arthur Daley

All these fancy coffees and lattes and americanos and espressos are making us over stimulated.

Dempsey

The same thing was probably said about the printing press, books & newspapers

Butterface

It seems to have happened so quickly. I only got my first smart phone last year and now I take it out even when I'm on a ten minute bus journey to check the news or whatever.

My browser constantly has several tabs open, and I jump between what I'm reading for college, Facebook, Boards, Youtube and various articles I've followed links to.. half the time I don't even feel like I'm processing the information properly.

wil

Akrasia wrote: »

Are we all over stimulated. ?

I'm browsing AH, watching TV, listening to music, thinking about a recent conversation, and I can still hear cars outside.
So I suspect not.

JerCotter7

First real smartphone was the N95. Forget the iphone. That baby was something special. The dual sliding was the coolest thing ever.

Stained Class

Tis funny the way things go.

My Dad was born on a farm in the '30s. No electric, running water, WiFi, etc.

People visited each other then. walked acrosed the fields to their neighbours to socalise.

It was known as 'Rambling'.

They played cards, told storys, talked of local issues, warmed themselves by the fire.

We had a power-cut during the storms & didn't have the means to make a cup of Tea!

I was out the next day to buy a Camping stove. Better use in a power cut than a Laptop!

Joe Doe

don't forget ghost stories around the fireplace too...


For better or worse technological super-advancement will within 10-30yrs see most of the following: inter-planetary settlements, off-the shelve stem cell purchasing*, bio-upgrades, drone wars, pandemics, super-city-urbanisation, global governance, widespread gm, quadrillions of nfc & wifi signaling at +tb speeds & multi-band Ghz freqs; nanotech building controls, boi-tech-immortality, neuro-data downloading, and the 'aul trans-evolution of the species.

*(some Rich fella in Bermuda in the news today claims to have reversed ageing via this)

// Bear in mind TV's have only been around since the 50's, printing 5/600yrs, and the humble wheel since 3k bc.

Maximus Alexander

Joe Doe wrote: »

boi-tech-immortality

I'll be so annoyed if this becomes a reality some time in the decade after I die. Well, I won't be annoyed obviously, but I would be if I could.

Alf Veedersane

The focus is on electronics but no mention of books (well, I didn't read beyond the first page)

And I don't see how the principle isn't the same.

Maximus Alexander

Alf Veedersane wrote: »

The focus is on electronics but no mention of books (well, I didn't read beyond the first page)

And I don't see how the principle isn't the same.

Because for some reason:

• Reading books all the time = Good
• Reading on electronic devices all the time = Bad.

Akrasia

Alf Veedersane wrote: »

The focus is on electronics but no mention of books (well, I didn't read beyond the first page)

And I don't see how the principle isn't the same.

Well one difference is that you can't read a book while walking, cycling, driving, jogging, doing the housework, doing gardening, walking the dog etc etc

The point of the thread is that it's only recently that it's possible that a human can spend 100% of his/her waking life listening or consuming media of one sort or another.