With regards to the issues raised in class about technology perpetuating people's lives & the likelihood of it causing many to become lazy & fat in the near future, I feel that this is definitely a possibility considering the fact that there have been various reports to reflect the gradual occurence of such a phenomenon.
According to the OECD's "Communications Outlook 2007", the number of couch potatoes are rising, with US taking the couch potato crown as households there goggle at TVs for an eye-straining average of 8hrs and 11mins each day. And in 15 of the 18 countries where these data were collected, broadcast-TV viewing increased from 1997 to 2005. That is to say, people are spending far more time keeping themselves entertained on TV, which probably results in lesser time allocated for exercising or other activities that stimulate movement or brain activity. And now that tech-savvy veterans are incorporating 3D elements to TV production for further visual enhancements and satisfaction, we could probably expect a further downward spiral in the near future. Needless to say, the exponential growth in the gaming fraternity coupled with internet usage of various networking sites are likely to fuel the projected vision of humans ending up as lazy and fat.
Also, an interesting point that was brought up during class was that this likely phenomenon could be a result of dietary changes brought about by societal changes and technology improvement. With people equating time to money, there is a tendency for them to compromise on their diet(e.g consuming more fast food) such that they spend lesser time on eating and more time on work. furthermore, advancements in technology have also speed up fast-food making process, thus further enticing people to consume it to save even more time. Eventually, people could be caught in a vicious cycle where the world gets more competitive, allocating more time to work would mean higher productivity, which means that various aspects including diet has to sacrifice a fair bit, thereby further inducing fast-food chains to develop an even faster food-making process and the cycle repeats.
That aside, modern transportation networks such as trains, buses, taxis and cars have also contributed to highly-probable sloth-like behaviour as they help save time for more time to be spent competing in the working environment.
Which all boils down to the point of saving time. Why do we humans need to save so much time for? Because time is money and every second counts. In a world where everyone is fighting to earn their keep to sustain a family or to satisfy insatiable wants, money is a necessity. Technology here is just a tool to help maximise an individual's ability(that is to say if they spend the time that they had saved wisely) of fulfilling the above stated.
Therefore, users of technology have to be clear-headed and not let technology lead the way they live. Instead, they should use technology to their advantage and maximise the benefits received from the appropriate utility of it. Also, we must acknowlege the fact that technology does drive people to aspire to greater heights, not just causing people to develop laidback behaviour. Many innovators of our time(Bill Gates and his team, Steve Job, creators of Google etc) were and are spurred on by new technology, wanting to better every new gadget.Inherently, technology opens us up to wider opportunities for the gaining of more knowledge.
Hence, it is rather true that technology is easy & people are hard. this is because everyone's jumping onto the bandwagon of constant improvisation of technology and it just gets easier all the time given the solid foundation that has already been laid. What is difficult is the minds of people(pretty unpredictable) and how they ultimately decide to do with technology so close to them. By making informed and rational decisions, not only does it benefit ourselves, it does good to the masses as well.
On a side note, the first class was a good start, with not only an introduction to Technology and World Change, but also to how class participation on each individual's part can help contribute to a pool of ideas which we can further delve into.
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