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Accessibility is a big deal for most people. Especially in this day-and-age when we expect pretty much everything that we could possibly want to be able to be ours without much delay. Whether it’s something that can be delivered to our doorstep, or right to a device in our hands, we want to be able to have it more quickly than ever before. But, I’m afraid that it may not just have everything to do with speed anymore. After reading an article a few days ago, I’m afraid that speed is just a part of it, and that it could just be something worse: laziness.

No one likes to hear that they are lazy. It doesn’t sound like a derogatory word, but it can easily be perceived that way. And maybe sometimes it is. When you call yourself lazy, make a revelation of sorts, it can turn your life around and you can adopt healthier lifestyle choices into your daily grind. But, more than ever before, I’m worried that technology is making us lazy, and that isn’t a good thing at all.

The article that I read was created by Stephen Totilo of Kotaku. The article, “Goodbye to the Comic Book Shops That Helped Shape Me,” is a good read (as usual), and it does a great job of outlining why our devices are eliminating the need to actually go to a store to get what we want. His iPad makes it possible for him to actually remove the comic book shop entirely from his life. Here’s one of the most telling sentences of the article:

“But I don't have to go anywhere to get my digital comics.”

He actually points out that downloading the comics to his device doesn’t net him a 20% discount that he would normally see inside the store. Further, he adds that there aren’t any helpful employees at his favorite comic book shop to help him find new books he might be interested in. And yet, despite all of that, he would still choose to download the comics to his iPad. At least he knows why a tablet makes sense in his life.

Because he doesn’t have to go anywhere.

This is just a case-by-case situation, of course, and I have absolutely no idea if Totilo does all sorts of exercises on a daily basis. I’m sure he’s quite healthy. But I think that state of mind is shared by quite a few people out there, and that is why I think technology is indeed making us lazy. Accessibility goes a long way, and I’m not going to sit here and say that I don’t download things that I want, too, but I would never actually use “I don’t have to go anywhere” as an argument.

When I buy things, I always prefer to buy it in person. That has more to do with the fact that I would prefer to actually have what I buy right when I buy it, but it also gives me a chance to get outside, interact with people face-to-face, and get some exercise in a minor way. Getting outside isn’t a bad thing, and getting any kind of exercise is certainly not a bad thing.

I download my comics through the appropriate applications, so I’m not denouncing that in the slightest. But, I only download those comics because I don’t have a way to actually buy physical books. I don’t have a comic book shop anywhere near me. I don’t even have a bookstore that sells comic books around me. It’s a sad thing, really. This reminds me of Wall-E, and that’s not a good thing at all.

Do both. Download some things, but go outside and buy other things. Your health is important, so do what it takes to make sure that you are healthy. That way you can enjoy downloading things or ordering things online for a really, really long time.

Technology making us lazier by the year

Who can remember the days when you had to go to the library to do research for a research paper, had to pick up the morning newspaper to get the latest news, or had to buy a stamp and put a check in an envelope to pay a bill? In the last 50 years technology has undergone an amazing transformation. But with the emergence of the Internet, is our ability to access technology on a daily basis a good thing or a bad thing?

Most people would admit that they love the benefits that the Internet offers. After all, who wants to wait for the mail to come or actually go to the grocery store for milk?

On the Orion, Kelly Chandler writes, "Quite frankly, I don't even have a reason to get out of bed, since the whole world is readily available to me right under my fingertips, and because I never shut off my phone, I'm always connected." Being always connected is certainly a plus. But the Internet also comes with many negative aspects, including not having to get out of bed.

The downside to the Internet is that it literally makes us lazy. The best example of our laziness is inability to communicate face-to-face. The norm typically involves social networking web sites like myspace or facebook. Not only are people obsessed with the number of friends they have, but these sites create huge distractions. Chandler states, "These sites have become distractions to our everyday lives. They keep people from doing what they're supposed to do and have ultimately replaced face-to-face socializing." Not having face-to-face interaction is a huge loss for our social skills.

As Chandler stated, staying connected through the Internet can be very positive. After all, it does allow us to stay on top of important news without having to wait for the newspaper or the evening news. While this is certainly something to applaud, it also has its negative impacts. Newspapers are in a crisis right now because people are more interested in getting their news online. Many papers are going out of business. In Denver, Colorado one of the nation's most recognized newspapers, the Rocky Mountain News, went out of business only a few weeks ago.

The loss of the Rocky affects its employees (two hundred people are now out of work in a worsening economy), its readers, and the business that had the opportunity to advertise their products to the demographic that the Rockyreached. The demise of newspapers like the Rocky is a huge negative affect of the Internet, even though it is more convenient to go online for up-to-date news.

Modern technology has both good and bad consequences. We won't know what the results will be for quite some time, but it will be interesting to see what will come from technology like the Internet. In another 50 years will we still be considered a lazy society?

Sniper Flash Game Browser Games 2012

Browser Games 2012

Facts and Knowledge about the effects of Free time due to Technology on us

I often hear the following lament: If someone or something sabotaged and destroyed our infrastructure, no one would be equipped to survive. We are too lazy and technology has made us that way.

There’s no question that we’ve become far more dependent on technology. It makes our lives easier. You could even argue that technology has made us complacent; that we’ve come to depend on it to solve our problems. But does complacency equal laziness?

Well let’s take a step back and evaluate the goals of technological innovation. Many of the technological advances of the last century were designed primarily as time-saving devices. Washing machines, dishwashers, and microwaves (to name but a few) all exist to help us save time (and take it from someone who has lived without these; they can save hours in the course of a single week). But what are we doing with all that extra time?

According to the Department of Labor, the average American spends 2.7 hours a day watching television. There go all those hours we saved (and then some!) using time-saving technologies. Here is a mental image of what these time-saving devices have given us: zombiefied Americans staring blankly at their TV screens.

America's favorite pastime (2.7 hrs/day)

Let’s not blame technology for this. Technologies can’t make decisions for us (as much as people would like them to). What we do with the free time that technology has given us is entirely up to us. That we have decided to spend that time unproductively indoors is no fault of technology’s (if it’s any indication of just how unproductive we’ve become, those same statistics linked above say that the average 15-19 year-old spends 6 minutes per weekend day reading [presumably this does not count online content]).

Think about what you want from technology. Perhaps you’d like to be free from performing certain menial tasks. Maybe you want time to write that novel you’ve been dreaming about, but instead you veg out in front of your television set every day after work. Remember only this: that is entirely your choice.

So I ask again: does technology make us lazy? No. We’ve made ourselves lazy.

In today’s society technology makes life a neccesity

In today’s society technology makes life a neccesity. Let’s face it, technology has made our lives easier. However some people would see this as making lives lazy. You can perceive it both ways actually. What I mean by this is that yes, technology has most definitely made our lives easier today than people had it 10 years ago or more. But yes it can also make people lazy. If you rely on technology for everything and it causes you to not lift a finger to do anything, then that is just laziness. Use technology to an extent and do not let it cause you to let it shut you down socially and break your hard work ethic.

Most people use some aspects of technology as ways to socialize. This does make lives easy as far as making friends and meeting people. But do not let it stop there. Actually meet people in person and get out in the world. There is so much out there that you cannot experience from your computer or video game consoles. Yes technology makes work easier, but do not cause that to lose your hard work ethics that you were raised with and certainly do not let that cause you to not instill these ethics in our children whom are our future leaders of the world.

What I ask you is, what do you think that technology does to us as a society. Does it cause us to be lazy people? Does it cause us to be a world in which relies on technology alone, a technology that can be shut down or disrupted and then where will we be as a society if we do not have any skills. For example if people rely on computers for calculating and counting, then they went out and we didn’t know how to figure this out without them. Where would we be? Technology is constantly advancing, and the news and other media advertisers such as magazines and television commercials advertise for technology every day. Use technology as it is intended, which is to make life easier and to have fun, but not to be lazy.