'Internet Age' has increased accessibility but also accelerated life's pace, researcher says:
The myriad ways in which technology has fueled the ever-accelerating pace of life in the 21st century was the topic of a virtual presentation by The Ohio State University Center for Historical Research.
In the presentation, "Pace in the Internet Age," Stephen Kern, Humanities Distinguished Professor in the Department of History, outlined the pros and cons of having 24-hour access to a seemingly limitless supply of information at one's fingertips.
One upside is that technological advancements enable people of all socioeconomic backgrounds to prepare for life-altering circumstances such as weather emergencies, Kern said.
"The ability to predict the future increases by one day in terms of predicting a hurricane every decade using computer models," Kern said. "In 1920, they looked at almanacks, which was just superstition. You knew when it was raining when your head was wet. They didn't have this knowledge. We have this knowledge (now), and anyone has this knowledge. You know what's going to happen – a hurricane's coming in three days."
Kern noted that certain human inventions have created a paradox: Technological advancements have resulted in more accurate weather forecasting, but the carbon footprint necessary to manufacture and power some forms of technology can have a harmful effect on the environment.
"Technology creates all kinds of environmental problems," he said, "and they're also making it possible to manage them."
Another benefit of advanced technology is the ability to diagnose and treat medical conditions earlier and more effectively, especially rare diseases such as Tay-Sachs and Huntington's, Kern said.
"We didn't know a lot about them (in past decades). There are certain tests now that we have with these diseases," he said. "Rich and poor have access to that. It's a good thing."
I think that many people will agree that the pace of life has increased over the last few decades, but is that all due to technology? Or could it be the more ruthless world of business where people are being worked far harder and longer to create bigger profits for the company, and not necessarily benefiting the work force? Much more recently the push back from the workforce for better working conditions (off the clock means not having to respond, being able to take breaks when needed, and the desire for more flexible working arrangements to suit individuals rather than bosses) is perhaps also a sign that the pendulum is beginning to swing the other way?
(Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Thursday April 07 2022, @05:04PM (13 children)
Technology has certainly its share in the increased pace.
When sending a letter, you knew that it would take days to arrive, and then even if that person answered immediately, the answer would again take the same amount of time to get back to you. Given that this time was already long, the pressure to answer immediately was also lower, as the time you took was a lower fraction of the total time. Moreover, it didn't matter whether you submitted the letter five hours before the letterbox was emptied, or five minutes before that time; the letter would arrive at the exact same time in both cases.
Today, messages will arrive almost instantly, and people tend to carry their receiving device with them, thus the time until they actually see the message will likely be low. Which means any delay in the answer is almost completely caused by the recipient of the original message, which increases the pressure to answer quickly.
Of course the more people answer quickly, the more it comes to be expected that people answer quickly, which increases the effect, but technology was still the root cause.
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 07 2022, @05:26PM (5 children)
You may have missed the "instant message" step before email? The era of a fax machine in every office wasn't all that long ago and it basically got rid of the delay of postal mail. Once long distance phone calling was cheap, the popularity of fax took off. I used to spend a fair amount of time composing messages in wordprocessing, printing them out, and then faxing to different parts of the world.
The fax had the advantage of a very easy learning curve. Only a few buttons and dialing a phone number, which everyone already knew how to do.
Email still requires some computer skills beyond using a fax and a paper filing cabinet.
(Score: 2) by RS3 on Thursday April 07 2022, @05:43PM (4 children)
Yes. Got rid of the postal delay, and the unreliability, which sadly is getting worse and worse.
Early 90s I needed to print some things I wanted to look nice, but I didn't have a nice laser printer (had dot-matrix, "daisy-wheel"). So I saved my document to a floppy, took it to a local Kinko's, and the print out was all messed up- formatting, fonts, etc. I learned about printers all being different, having the correct printer driver, WYSIWYG, TrueType, etc.
Even that wasn't foolproof, but I learned to add fax software (already had modems) to the PC. It becomes a printer driver, and now your wordprocessor is truly WYSIWYG.
In those days some fax machines used that awful thermal paper- maybe some still do?. At least letters, resumes, etc., all printed out exactly how I wanted them to. They can be copied to nicer paper if someone cares.
Now .pdf is easy to export to, and fairly good at looking correct at the recipient end, but it's not a guarantee. Besides, many people want things like resumes in .docx format (ugh). So far I've had good luck with LibreOffice Writer.
I've used the direct-to-fax printing as recent as a few years ago. I'm not sure if I can do that now, as I don't have landline.
Cell phones have modems, so maybe a USB cable and software could send a fax through a cell phone?
(Score: 2) by mhajicek on Thursday April 07 2022, @06:13PM (1 child)
I've used online fax services a couple of times. Upload a PDF and they fax it for you.
The spacelike surfaces of time foliations can have a cusp at the surface of discontinuity. - P. Hajicek
(Score: 2) by RS3 on Thursday April 07 2022, @09:26PM
Yes, there are several, and they're great, but most (all?) are not free, and they often require a membership / monthly payment.
I'm talking about using the modem in the cell phone, through USB, to send directly through the phone, or from a PC (or Mac), just like using a landline modem.
I haven't tried with many phones, but the few I've tried, when plugged in to USB in a PC (or Mac) appear as a COM: port modem. You can run terminal software (putty, etc), do ATI and other AT Hayes modem commands, and you'll see the modem. It might even work as is- I haven't tried it yet.
Here's some software for this: https://www.getfaxing.com/2016/05/02/can-i-use-my-mobile-cell-phone-as-a-fax-modem-to-send-a-fax/ [getfaxing.com]
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Phoenix666 on Friday April 08 2022, @05:18PM (1 child)
I like email. Its immediacy and speed are great. But I must say that I have never enjoyed receiving emails as much as I did letters. Letters were a special event. Writing them was fun, too. I have saved old letters from family, friends, girlfriends. I have never intentionally saved emails from anyone.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by RS3 on Friday April 08 2022, @06:15PM
Yes, a physical card / letter is so rare it's become enjoyable and special. In job-search classes / books / etc. they tell you to send a paper letter because they're so rare it'll make you stand out.
That said, I was never good at keeping in touch with people through letters. But I was terrible at writing in general. Somehow learning to touch-type helped me learn to write more gooder. That was both serious and a joke. I know my writing isn't great, but it's far better than many years ago.
Here's a pondering: which is better for a letter to an acquaintance: a typed, printed, and hand-signed paper letter, or an email?
(Score: 3, Interesting) by looorg on Thursday April 07 2022, @09:11PM
No doubt. But is it better? In some aspects yes it is better. But in others it just seems a worse. Perhaps I'm just getting old but I'm starting to hate a lot of the "new" things, so much so that I don't bother to use them. Email, while I do really like it, I check like twice per day at most. Once in the morning and once in the afternoon/evening. That is it. It's not even given that I'll respond to it either. SMS/phonemessages/chat/whatever you like to call it. Same deal really. I'm not one of those people that as soon as I hear the *pling* I check. I'll check when I get around to it, same as with calls. If I'm even at the or have the phone with me I'll check. If it's someone I know I might answer, unknown numbers can fuck off unless it's the work phone. Answering quickly is within a day or so unless it's friends and we are planning to do something that they. Quick for work is within the work day.
It's not that I want to go back to the week or so give or take roundtrip for mail. But this instant thing is bullshit. I'll answer when I can, I don't drop everything just cause the program or phone went *pling* (that said I think I turned it off so I don't even notice, and I sure as hell don't allow the email software to check the mailserver every X minute if there is something new. Mail is fetched when I click the button.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by MIRV888 on Friday April 08 2022, @03:34AM (5 children)
“We should do away with the absolutely specious notion that everybody has to earn a living. It is a fact today that one in ten thousand of us can make a technological breakthrough capable of supporting all the rest. The youth of today are absolutely right in recognizing this nonsense of earning a living. We keep inventing jobs because of this false idea that everybody has to be employed at some kind of drudgery because, according to Malthusian Darwinian theory he must justify his right to exist. So we have inspectors of inspectors and people making instruments for inspectors to inspect inspectors. The true business of people should be to go back to school and think about whatever it was they were thinking about before somebody came along and told them they had to earn a living.”
― Buckminster Fuller
(Score: 3, Insightful) by maxwell demon on Friday April 08 2022, @12:37PM (4 children)
You omitted the information when he said it. A web search revealed [wikiquote.org] that it's from March 1970. That's over half a century ago.
The fact that this quote is as relevant today as it was back then is quite telling about our lack of advancement as society.
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Friday April 08 2022, @05:23PM (3 children)
If we didn't have those pressures, though, would we really excel or would we turn into the land of the lotus eaters? Would we be happier as a species if we suffered from excess instead of want? It seems to me the most miserable bastards on Earth are the very poor and the very rich.
And if we think about it, we enjoy not needing anyone for anything, but it is awfully nice to feel needed. In fact feeling needed is essential.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by MIRV888 on Friday April 08 2022, @07:30PM (1 child)
Almost no one gets to do what they are truly passionate about. If given the opportunity, I think most people would gravitate to that pursuit.
It is possible we could turn in to a WALL-E civilization though.
(Score: 2) by MIRV888 on Sunday April 17 2022, @05:29AM
'Almost no one gets to do what they are truly passionate about.'
This is the heart of the issue. I got that lucky. It appears my kid is going to have the same luck.
I believe a great many people would pursue their interests.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 09 2022, @06:49PM
People WANT to be useful. People do NOT want to be exploited. Fix the brittle system where wages and job accessibility lock people in and out of jobs and that problem will go away. It'll take time for society to shift, and much like racism it'll be a long process.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by bzipitidoo on Thursday April 07 2022, @05:10PM (5 children)
This is one of those woolly topics that at the root comes down to who gets to pass on their genes and/or ideologies, and who doesn't. Making life's pace faster and faster serves to leave behind anyone who can't or won't keep up. Doesn't have tyo be that way. We have more power than ever before to decide what our lives are like. Some among us throw that power away. Actually don't want to be free, would really rather follow a "strong" master. Others are suckered into believing they don't have any power. Many play a game of straining for more, always more, and it forces others to play along or be left out.
With the huge increases in productivity, all of us ought to have plenty of leisure time, but somehow, we don't.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 07 2022, @05:23PM
(Score: 3, Insightful) by acid andy on Thursday April 07 2022, @08:39PM (1 child)
As I'm sure you know, rising living costs and stagnating wages can explain that.
Master of the science of the art of the science of art.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 08 2022, @02:25AM
No that's just a cover-up. 150 years ago you had to work 50 hours a week to provide for a family, either in the fields or in a factory. The wife did at least as much work in the home, cooking, cleaning, canning, sewing etc. The kids didn't laze around either, a couple of hours of chores each day was normal. Now, machines do virtually all of that work. Agriculture used to be 70% of labor. Now it is 1%. Digging ditches, a backhoe can outdig 50 men easily. Same with almost every other task. So why are we still working 50 hours a week?
Look at it as time expended to provide things. Food then probably 10 hours labor per person per week. Now with modern farming, about 10 minutes. Building a house hasn't changed as much, but averaged over the life of a house is tiny anyway. Clothes, used to be a major expense, now the material is woven by machines and clothing manufacture is so fast and cheap they are practically disposable.
So where is all the extra labor being used up? David Graeber had a theory. I am sure he was right.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday April 07 2022, @11:48PM (1 child)
Did the huge increases in productivity also affect the value of leisure time? Just as a thought experiment, suppose your time at work were worth ten times what you've been paid before. Would you be at least tempted to work longer than you normally do in a given week?
Suddenly 40 years of work (let's suppose which represents a typical lifetime of labor) can be done in 4 years. And if you work 60 hours a week instead of 40, you can compress it further to 3 years of work. That's a lot of leisure time you've just freed up, assuming you don't want to work further for more stuff.
It's a greatly exaggerated example, but my point here is that when productivity increases, the value of your work and the amount you're paid for it increases as well. (People who cite that wages don't track productivity, at least in the US, are neglecting other benefits. The sum of all wages and benefits do track productivity well.) So we would expect that as a worker, there would be incentive to work more as one gets paid more for that work.
(Score: 2) by cmdrklarg on Friday April 08 2022, @04:34PM
Depends on how much longer. If overtime was paid at 10x then I'd be strongly tempted. It's only 1.5x, so it is not tempting at all. Definitely not when one is salaried and exempt, thus paid 0x for overtime (which is unfortunately the rule rather than the exception).
YMMV of course.
Answer now is don't give in; aim for a new tomorrow.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 07 2022, @07:10PM
> a seemingly limitless supply
Now if only the masses would actually do any searching to bother accessing it, and put the mental effort into processing it, instead of just relying on their 'Socials' for any braineings.
(Score: 0, Disagree) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 07 2022, @08:08PM (5 children)
Can we stop posting stupid stories that explain what already is obvious to anyone with an IQ higher than a rock? And all the China stories that they have discovered something... It's starting to get green here.
(Score: 1, Offtopic) by Snotnose on Thursday April 07 2022, @09:13PM (2 children)
$diety I hate moderating anonymous cowards, but this one just said exactly what I was going to say under my own name. So they get an upvote, I get, um what do I get? A fully paid vacation in a Ukraine resort?
I just passed a drug test. My dealer has some explaining to do.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 07 2022, @09:16PM
You get to take a long walk off a short pier.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Friday April 08 2022, @04:53PM
Many people get hangry when they're $diety. Eat a snack, digest, then post.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 5, Touché) by janrinok on Friday April 08 2022, @05:15AM
Just as soon as you submit them - that is YOUR responsibility on this site.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Friday April 08 2022, @04:56PM
Speak for yourself. Here, conversation is the thing. Fluff articles often bring out the wittiest, drollest comments.
There is also the reality that there are days when there are no earth-shattering announcements in math/science/tech and we must make do with lighter topics.
If you have good articles, stories in your back pocket those would be the good opportunities to submit them to the community.
Washington DC delenda est.