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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?

6 of 359 comments (clear)

  1. Spec-Tech-ular. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "According to a recent Wired article, the majority of Americans are becoming increasingly dependant on their gadgets."

    And Japan is what? In the dark ages?

    1. Re:Spec-Tech-ular. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      and europe doesnt like their cell-phopnes at _all_

  2. Pfft by seinman · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Oh, please. This is just more useless drivel written to sell magazines. Just because something makes your life easier or more fun, doesn't mean everyone is "addicted" because they enjoy using it. Are Americans adicted to tooth brushes, too? 99% of us admit to using them at least daily! OH NO!

    1. Re:Pfft by kebes · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I agree. We are not "addicted" to technology or gadgets or music or food or any number of other things that enrich our lives. I have a friend in psychology (actually neuroscience), and he often emphasises that in diagnosis, the difference between "something you like" and "addiction" is "does it disrupt the person's ability to live their life?" If the thing in question makes the person do questionable things, hurt themselves, or otherwise make it difficult for them to live a normal and happy life, then it is addiction (similarly, most psych conditions, like "depression" are analyzed in terms of how much it affects a person's ability to live their life, achieve their goals, etc.).

      All of this to say that you cannot classify our like of technology as an "addiction." Are we selling our first-born children in order to satisfy our lust for new gadgets? Hardly. Is this fixation with technology making it difficult for us to live our lives? No. (In fact the technology sometimes makes our lives easier--hence it is a (partially) pragmatic desire.)

      I find the hyperbole of "we are addicted to X" annoying (where X, these days, is often "video games" or "the internet" or whatever). I don't go into convulsions when I don't read slashdot for a day. I am employable and happy. I certainly wouldn't be stealing TVs and selling them on the black market in order to satisfy my insane lust for slashdot...

    2. Re:Pfft by AKAImBatman · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Is all this technology making us more productive?

      Ah, how I wish I could take you back in a time machine to the late 60's, then the 1920's. On our first stop in the 60's, I'd take you around various companies and show you the massive number of keypunchers, programmers, analysts, and other Managment Information Systems people who keep their companies working. I'd then take you to a company too small for a mainframe and let you witness the poor fellows struggle with mountains of paperwork.

      On our next stop, we'd drop by the 1920's. No automation here. You can literally find hundreds of typists per company, all lined up in rows. Secretaries abound, filing documents left and right. Personal assistents follow company executives around, keeping track of every minor detail. In short, lots of manpower for a return that we can realize today with a few PCs and other electronic gadgets.

      I haven't even gotten into manufacturing, and how technology has changed the world there.

      In short, technology has made us more productive. It doesn't always seem like it with all the technological distractions we now have, but you have to understand that the efficiency of modern technology is what gives us time and energy for those distractions. The greatest challenge today is to find better ways of optimizing business and personal matters. All the low-hanging fruit has already been realized, so we're on to the difficult part of squeezing out efficiency a few percent at a time.

      --
      Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
  3. How about... by Belial6 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    How about electricity, indoor plumbing, toilets in general. Don't forgent anything to do with farming. Plows, harvesters, trucks to ship food. I would say that if all technology disappeard tomorrow, 99% of the population would die. So, yes we are addicted, as most of the world is.