Does technology make your life easier or complicated?

Both.

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Easier when it works but it doesn’t always work.

It makes a lot of things easier for me. I couldn’t do my job without assistive technology.

Easier. I love the DVR. Annoying sometimes like being expected to be always available for people to contact.

IMHO, it makes “us” lazier and eats up free time.

Much, much easier.

Oh so much easier, I couldn’t live without Microsoft Office 2010!

Much easier. I remember rotary dial, landline phones, for example. Typewriters. Ugh, if you made a mistake (though that little issue made Mike (”Wool Hat”) Nesmith of the Monkees a very rich heir)! Manual SLR cameras,which are awesome, but the digital point and shoots made taking photos easier.

And as for the use o technology taking people away from each other and from F2F time, you can always shut the little buggers off and actually go visit your loved one, friend or family member. Technology doesn’t take away anyone’s agency to maintain a personal relationship personally.

@Rubrica Are they paying you for that ad?

@seazen Absolutely not… but if you don’t want to take my word for it, I’m sure that the new, improved edition of Excel 2010 has the perfect formula to calculate the answer! :D

That was funny. Following.

Personally, I find it makes my life easier in a complicated way. Before the Internet and cellphones came along, I was always impatiently seeking information or trying to get in touch with people that may not be home. (Considering how rarely I call people, if I do call, it’s generally something important and time-sensitive rather than just a craving for social contact.) And my handwriting has always been bad enough that I had many school teachers tell me to type my papers. Technology made that possible with things like Wikipedia, Google, cellphones, full-featured word processors, and inexpensive printers.

But it complicates my life in that I find technology rather intuitive and often find myself having to explain it to people that actually have to think about what button to press next to do what I consider to be even the simplest tasks. Of course, that has netted me a lot of new friends and made geeks like me more respected, and I honestly enjoy helping people, so it’s not entirely a bad thing. Just don’t call me for tech support when I’m trying to enjoy some private time with my wife; that’s what e-mail and Q&A sites are for!

I’ve seen it make life easier in a lazy and alienating kind of way, for the most part. For example, my bf’s kids came to stay over at the new house last weekend and did nothing much but lie in front of the xbox and take turns “plugging in” to the point they didn’t hear each other. There were three kids and no one blinked an eye the girl was walking around singing aloud with her iTunes thing, one boy was constantly texting and also wearing ear plug speakers and the third glazed to the xbox. My mom thought it was remarkable they didn’t snarl at one another to “shut up” or “get away from me!” but I figured it was because they were each so “plugged in” that it was comfortable and usual to tune each other out. My bf stayed in the living room with them… sleeping the day away.

In a different decade, a partner and I would have spent the day with the kids having driven to some neat little town, set up a picnic or bbq, played some board games, gone scavenger/treasure hunting in the woods or area nearby, swimming at a lake or river and then at home for the evening settled down to some movies. This is the greatest impact I see of technology, where it re creates a family dynamic to revolve around secluded concentration.

I love that I can bank, shop, chat, etc on my computer. I can see how it could keep someone content enough to not get out and do something each day, but for me it is convenient and fun.

Well applied technology makes life better than it would be without it, but poorly applied technology can be more harmful than the lack of it.

@zophu Technology allows us to screw more things up and to screw them up faster than ever before :D

I have found the more technology we have, the harder it is to actually reach a person, much less talk to a live person during normal business hours in their office. During the course of a business day, I have ot deal with insurance companies where it is almost impossible to reach a live person for help without going through at least 30 prompts to find out the person that I need to talk to “is either away from their desk or assiting another client. However, if I will leave my name, taxpayer ID, my NPI number, my telephone number and a brief message of why I am calling, they will get back to me at their earliest convience.” This entire process ususally takes about 25 to 30 minutes. The absolute worst offender for this situtation is AT&T here in Dallas. It is impossible to call the telephone company, without reciting your personal info at least 20 times and being passed from person to person. I have to schedule several hours out of my day to do business with the telephone company /cable/internet. I also place a large number of advertising in local publications. I generally spend 5,000 to 10,000 per month. Or at least I try to. Again, it is impossible to talk to a live person, and they always will call me back when it’s convienent for them. That is usually 2 or 3 days later, and then I am too busy to talk. I have gotten to the point that if business’ do not answer their phone during normal business hours, I do not do bussiness with them. Of course advertising publications wonder why ads are down. Maybe they should try answering their phones. Gone are the days, you could call someone with a problem and get it sovled within a day or two. You can’t even call a cardiologist office or hardly any doctors office and talk to a live person. Then I spend about 2 hours a day just answering emails. Ok, sorry, I could vent for another hour or so, but I won’t. :-D I won’t mention the time that I have to spend on a daily basis just to keep our 7 computers up and running. Fix the glitches in the software that we have paid dearly for. Oh and the password debacle. Insurance company and banks make us change our passwords every 30 to 60 days. When you work in medicine, that alone entails about 2 to 3 hours per month. Not to even mention all of the CPT coding that changes on a daily basis. NO, my job was so much easier when we didn’t have all of this technology. I long for days gone by, when life and work was truely so much simpler. Then there is ever growing identity theft problem due to technology. The goverment is absolutely adament about all doctors offices going to electronic medical records. Does the goverment REALLY think that the data is safe? I’m here to tell you that the data is absolutely NOT SAFE. Hospital records are being hacked as I type this. And I guess if you don’t mind everyone in the world having access to your personal history, SS number, etc. This includes, your current employer and anyone they appoint to moniter your health and personal life as well as prospective employers, plus any doctors office you go to, has the ability to get your current records,including lab tests, drugs you are currently taking plus any drugs you have had for the past 5 years. Every doctor you have seen for the past 5 years.