Sunday May 27, 2012

JAPAN NEWS AND DISCUSSION

We're living in the age of being connected or reachable 24 hours a day by one device or another. Is this a good thing?

Have Your Say Sep. 21, 2011 - 06:40AM JST ( 16 )

Order by Time Order by Popularity

16 Comments

3

kansaifunSep. 21, 2011 - 08:33AM JST

Not a good thing when I wouldn't touch the people constantly e-mailing or calling me with a 10 foot pole in the first place....
2

MariaSep. 21, 2011 - 08:34AM JST

Is it a good thing? Only if you want to be connected / reachable, and if the connection / contact is optional. It is still possible to live with out these devices - the day it stops being the case is the day we should run screaming to the caves!
0

tkoind2Sep. 21, 2011 - 09:14AM JST

I would challenge the notion that we aer "connected." We are certainly tied to devices and able to access data, send messages etc... but I think we are far less "connected" to other people than at any time in our history. We are more isolated today than ever before and the fabric of society and social structures have been replaced by texting etc... People no longer connect in person or make as much time for each other in the real world. More and more young people are cyber hermits contacting the world without actually contacting anyone in person. This is tragic.

The second issue is balance. With so much connectivity it is hard to escape work, have private time or even focus on what is going on where you are. We are a distracted culture half paying attention to here and now and tapped into what our devices are doing more than what we ourselves are doing.

It is sad and it is unhealthy. Above all it is killing the ability for people to have real human contact.
0

The Munya TimesSep. 21, 2011 - 09:34AM JST

We're living in the age of being connected or reachable 24 hours

No, we are fully dependent on them. Someone switches the electricity off and freezers melt down leaving us without food, water pumps in mansion houses stop working leaving us without water supply for drinking and flushing the toilet and plaque breaks out as the sewage pumps halt working too.

No communication, dark cities with exploding crime rate, no police, no gas station can pump the gas in your car. And every small segment of our life is affected even what we don't even think of now. I could write hundreds of pages. It's not like 200 years ago. If there are no small gadgets, no electric devices, no electricity, then there is no life. If electricity halts only the self supplying native tribes in Africa, Siberia etc survives who never heard about it.
1

pawatanSep. 21, 2011 - 11:07AM JST

Sure it's a good thing. You're not required to keep connected, you can live like you did 50 years ago. But if you want to be always available, always connected - you can be.
2

tokyokawasakiSep. 21, 2011 - 11:24AM JST

Technology has helped us stay connected electronically, that is true.

Yet the sad fact is that it has also made us disconnect physically (we meet people less face-to-face) we are also becoming more and more isolated from friends and family - which is sad and depressing.
-1

JapanGalSep. 21, 2011 - 11:31AM JST

I am deeply connected to Angry Birds, as I bought it, and I cannot escape from it.

Would be nice to get away.

This whole country is wired so you cannot disconnect even way up in the mountains. The wa is always interrupted by a bell tone telling you someone or another is missing.
3

zichiSep. 21, 2011 - 12:06PM JST

When I go out and leave our home I'm not connected to anything. This is not about being connected to the power but digitally connected.

When I'm out I have no devices other than the times when I'm going to make photography and then I have my camera.

I do not use cell/mobiles phones and have not for more than 5 years. I don't use iPads or laptop or whatever. Outside, I'm free of devices.
3

It"S MESep. 21, 2011 - 12:12PM JST

I am with Zichi.

There is my e-mail, google+, etc accounts where you can leave a message 24/7 or leave one on my answering machine. Used to be a slave to the cel, laptop, etc but only because my work/company demanded it.

What can be so important that people need to hold of me right now? Very little, IME & IMO.
3

Shaolin7Sep. 21, 2011 - 12:55PM JST

I'm with the two posters above, zichi and It''s ME, and echo the sentiments of tkoind2. I suppose I can see the convenience, but again...what is so important that I need to be 'on call' or have a constant stream of updates on what other people are doing, seeing, eating, etc....? It's a rather sad indictment on the state of our lives, and society currently.
0

Jamie in JapanSep. 21, 2011 - 02:39PM JST

It's great to have that option, yes :)
0

FoxieSep. 21, 2011 - 06:59PM JST

If I am not available today, then call tomorrow. Nothing I can change anyway. I used to live in a country where it was maybe possible to make a phone call once a week though an operator. I lived with that and I can live with it now too.
0

USNinJapan2Sep. 21, 2011 - 07:46PM JST

One is only connected 24/7 by choice. I don't think actually being connected 24/7 is such a good thing but the capability to be definitely is. Like the old addage says, everything in moderation.
0

LagunaSep. 21, 2011 - 11:22PM JST

My company required me to buy a cellphone, so I did. I leave it at home in the drawer.
2

HimajinSep. 22, 2011 - 12:14PM JST

I started carrying a cell phone when FIL's condition became grave, about 10 years ago, so that the hospital could reach me at any time. I still have one, but sometimes I think I'd like to chuck it ;-D The technology isn't bad, the expectations it creates are.

I was the head of a large volunteer organization beginning in 1990 or so (retired 1997). As I was going to have to communicate with people all over Japan and the US, I got a fax machine. Before then, when I was in a regional post we communicated mostly by letters and phone calls when necessary. People waited a few days for a letter.....ask me a question, I'd think about it/research it (depending) and I'd send a letter back. Well, get a fax machine and before long I was getting phone calls in the evening 'Did you get my fax this morning?'

With only a land line, people would call, and if your weren't home, they'd call again 5-6 hours later. Cell phone? Hell, if I don't answer right away, people will call back every three minutes until I pick up. A blessing and a curse, I guess. Just because you CAN call me 24 hours a day doesn't mean you SHOULD.
1

ZybsterSep. 22, 2011 - 12:23PM JST

Have never owned a cell phone and never "missed" it. My computer is always on and I talk to people and answer mails when I have the time. My answering machine is always on and I call people when I have the time. When I go out, I'm out and unavailable. If I need to contact somebody, I can always find a way to do it, in or out. If you need to contact me, you'll also find a way, if you need to. If you don't need, why bother me?