Wil Wheaton on the Benefits of Diconnectivity.

[wolven7]

'...Do you know the actual phone numbers of the people you call regularly? Or is that just saved in your cell phone? When you’re online, do you actually know your passwords, or are they auto-saved as well? Do you have a roadmap in your car, or a Thomas Guide? What would you do if you got lost without a cell phone or a GPS device? Have you ever stopped to think about how dependent we actually are on technology, and what we’d do if we suddenly lost it one day?'

He's absolutely correct, by the way.

There have been a few recent studies that show that the use of electronic storage devices makes people more likely to forget simple things like telephone numbers, directions, addresses, etc. Unfortunately, I can't seem to find them, at the moment. Read Wil's post, though.

Good stuff.

Hi.

Comments

[momentai.livejournal.com]

...Will Wheaton is 35? That sounds weird.

[wolven.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's a strange thing to think. Also that ST:TNG is 20 years old.

[mendori.livejournal.com]

.... and to add to the weirdness.

I had the HUGEST crush on him when TNG was still on the air during its first run.

[wolven.livejournal.com]

Yeah. I know a lot of people who did.

[momentai.livejournal.com]

Also? Patrick Stewart looks exactly the same now as he did in 1987.
Fuck Dick Clark. Stewart is the real Hollywood Robot.

And to not be a total non sequitor anymore, the only one I am guilty of is no longer bothering to remember phone numbers. I have felt the consequence of that when my battery has died or my phone simply wasn't with me, but I have yet to start carrying an address book again. I mean do have phone number's written down...just on my hard drive.

[wolven.livejournal.com]

Yeah, Stewart's amazing.

I think if you go through and just actually dial at least one of them, once a week, it'd help.

[(Anonymous)]

In order.
Yes - I have a very good memory for arbitrary number strings.
Yes - I know my passwords because I DONT AUTOSAVE LIKE A DUMBASS.
Yes - I have a road map in my car. I have two actually. One for the entire US, one for the state of GA.
I'd get out and ask for directions, because I am a woman, not a man.
Yes - I have thought about that. That's why I know how to fletch arrows, shoot a bow well enough to kill things with it, and make an effort to actually BUY REAL BOOKS.

[mendori.livejournal.com]

DAMN IT. MY POST.

[wolven.livejournal.com]

Got it.

[wolven.livejournal.com]

Precisely.

[not-hothead-yet.livejournal.com]

I know some of the numbers but due to technology being a sometimes "trendy" thing, a lot of people change their number when they get the latest cool phone.
I know my passwords because I have about four of them with numeric components an not. If one doesn't work, I try another. I dont' consider most of my info all that insanely private that I worry TOO Much about passwords.

Of course I have a road map. I hate how long it takes to get online via phone in order to googlemaps something. Screw dat. And being female, I have no problem asking someone for directions.

Dependant upon technology? I suppose, but so? I happen to LIKE the fact that I don't have to try to memorize something as sporadic as phone numbers. Its nice to free up brain space for more important endeavors. I have many files on my computer specifically for remembering things like addresses, nicknames, relations, dates, engagements etc.

Thank GAHD I don't have to try to keep all that straight in my head. I know from experience I would fail miserably over and over.

Technology poses a serious equalizing force for the organizationally challenged like myself. So I don't have a problem with it and i'm not going to sit her like some faint luddite saying "oh gee remember when we all used sticky notes to remember anything? Wasn't that great! Gee the good ole days..."
FUgdat.

[wolven.livejournal.com]

See, but I think that memorisation of phone numbers helps too exercise other memory functions, as well. My capacity to memorise small facts of any kind is increased every time i remember anything at all. As an aid, technology is great, but I think that we remove our ability for improvement, when we become reliant on it, for everything.

One of the points of the study that I can't find is that there are people who cannot memorise functions and number strings, cannot perform pattern recognition behaviour, nearly as well, because they've relegated all of the little operations that exercise that to automated systems.

Again, I love technology, but I think that our total reliance on it, as a species, is making us a bit stupid.

[cailement.livejournal.com]

Yep, my favorite is getting myself lost in Atlanta (mostly when the highway is too backed up to just sit there and I think, hmmm, I wonder if it would be quicker to take this exit I've never tried before?) no maps, no cell phone, just trying to stay not very lost. Because of it I've found a way to avoid 75/85 traffic, the back way to buckhead, and a really crack-ass backwards way from here to decatur.

[wolven.livejournal.com]

That can be really fun, sometimes, with enough gas, and a general idea.

[cailement.livejournal.com]

And speaking of phone numbers, I had to get some info from Rosie a few weeks ago. But she wasn't answering and I needed that info (of course I don't remember what it was now, only that I needed it then). So I called her mother. Mine, I do not have Rosie's parent's house number in my phone. I just dialed it. For the first time in probably 6 years. Booyaka.

But yeah. tech is good, nice and convienient, but it's also good to know how to "X, Y, Z"

[wolven.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I can still do that, with some numbers, from childhood. Strange.