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Are Americans Addicted to Technology?

Posted by Zonk on from the i-actually-need-the-high-speed-internets-though dept.

jomammy writes "According to a recent Wired article, the majority of Americans are becoming increasingly dependant on their gadgets. High speed internet seems to be the one most determined to be a 'necessity'. A third of the country is said to pay more than $200.00 a month for their addiction, where 4 out of 10 pay between $100.00 and $150.00 a month. Other items in this list of 'gadgets' include, mp3 players, dvd players, laptops, handhelds, etc." How addicted are we? How addicted are you?

2 of 359 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Pfft by rolfwind · · Score: 3, Informative
    What a strange way to think of life. Is life all about being "productive"? I'd have thought the gadgets are supposed to make our lives better, however you wish to define better. Making it more productive makes it sound as if the only purpose to being alive is work and produce a product. Is that really what you think it's all about?


    What a strange way of extrapolating productive.

    I didn't only mean work, I simply meant "Yielding favorable or useful results; constructive."

    It need not be work-related.

    Is excercise machine X (gadget) more productive (toward losing weight, staying healthy) than the simple and humble jumprope and stretching exercises/yoga/pilates/your_choice? The former being an expensive gadget and the other can be very, very cheap.

    IMHO, the cheap-o version is better in most cases.

    The purpose of gadgets should be making lives easier, but most of the time, the majority seem to exist for the purpose of being sold, with little regard to the end user - consider the UI and other factors.
  2. Re:Pfft by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    Is excercise machine X (gadget) more productive (toward losing weight, staying healthy) than the simple and humble jumprope and stretching exercises/yoga/pilates/your_choice? The former being an expensive gadget and the other can be very, very cheap.

    IMHO, the cheap-o version is better in most cases.

    As a former fat guy who is now decently non-fat and knows a couple people in the same condition, your HO is wrong in at least three cases that I know of. The feedback given by Machine X in the form of calories burnt or miles traveled is a very effective motivator. Excercise is tedious. Attaching an ever-increasing number to it is extremely psychologically helpful, and all Machine X's that I've seen do that for you. Many of them also decrease joint pain over the non-gadget version of the excercise, and if you've never excercised day after day as a 300 pound guy, it tends to be really, really tough on the joints.

    I spent 1000 bucks on the fancy excercise equipment, and I'd do it again in a hearbeat, so please, if you have fat friends who would rather not be, don't give them that advice unless they're very, very poor.