Technological Pains

Technology can bring along with it a great many conveinces, but as blogger Michael Arrington notes in the Internet age it can also be frustrating at times. Its interesting and an issue we have to cope with.

TechCrunch.com-

A journalist recently complained in a comment on another blog that he sent me multiple e-mails asking for an interview, which went unanswered. But an e-mail that he sent later suggesting some drama between AOL and Yahoo was instantly addressed. he was a little angry about that, which I Understand. But what he doesn’t understand is that when I see an e-mail asking for an interview, my brain says “this is not urgent, deal with it this evening,” whereas the possible breaking news has to be dealt with right away. Of course, when evening comes, new fires have to be put out, which explains the 2,437 e-mail messages in my inbox (it increased from two paragraphs ago in the time I took to write these words) that have to be responded to eventually.

The long-term answer to all of this isn’t that people need to try harder to respond to communications requests. the long-term answer is that someone needs to create a new technology that allows us to us to enjoy our use but not miss important messages. If I knew what the solution was, I’d quit this blog and do it. Someone out there, though, has the beginning of an idea on how we can better manage our electronic communications. And he or she may someday turn that into a product to save us.

MY TAKE: This is interesting. Our communications technology has no doubt evolved, not only in terms of e-mail, but also cell phones, black berry’s, Instant messenger, and the Internet in general. People send a message and since people are now closer than ever and messages can be delivered more rapidly then at anytime in history. Given that fact, we as the sender expect an answer immediately, forgetting the nuances of the every day lives of others.

In other words, the technology making the sending of a message faster has developed so rapidly that we demand a response immediately. It’s the type of home delivery, drive thru culture we have become adapted to.

The theory of Technological determinism, which asserts that developments in technology have an affect on our culture.

Recent technologies and avenues of communication such as e-mail, have brought a great deal of conveniences to people. But it has also created a number of new problems. But we have to remember, that just cause technology can allow us to transmits a message quicker, doesn’t mean that it alleviates the preoccupations and other issues that can cause us to delay or ignore the barrage of messages that seem to inundate each of us everyday.