Hongkiat.com: 5 Ways “Tech Addiction” Is Changing Human Behaviour

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5 Ways “Tech Addiction” Is Changing Human Behaviour Posted: 07 May 2012 06:21 AM PDT Despite using science and technology to better our lives, we are the real slaves to technology. We indulge in the need to always have something electronic in our hands – a tool that connects us to the Internet, our games or to our social networks. We’re bypassing the real world to get a digital quick-fix; our work, play and plans for stress release seem to depend on a broadband connection. (Image source: Jackaloo) It’s only a matter of time before the same need compels today’s generations to act, react, think and behave so much differently from the pre-connected generations, for instance… 1. A new kind of danger on the road Have you ever found yourself checking your smartphone for updates while still behind the wheel? I do; when I stop at a red light, queue up at a drive-thru, or while waiting to pick someone up. It’s a silly thing to do, I admit, but I’d never do the same when the vehicle I’m driving is moving, but that’s just me. While we’re on the subject, drivers on the road are getting younger and younger; and the cars are getting bigger and more powerful. In many countries in the world, a 16-year-old who can barely hold his beer can legally go behind the wheel and speed 50 mph down the highway. Add the lethal dose of an addiction to their phones, a sense of reckless abandonment, and you have a recipe for disaster. The Impact Well, so many people are actually doing texting while driving, and getting into accidents that there is now a call by the National Transportation Safety Board (in the US) to ban texting or the use of electronic devices while driving a vehicle. Watch the news report and the video embedded in the link to get an inside view of how dangerous this phenomenon is. 2. The digital divide – at home Individuals at every stage of their lives are now (over) exposed to technological gadgets. iPads are unashamedly used to babysit or pacify rowdy children from as young as 4 years old. Its easy-to-use interface, and colourful, entertaining and engaging apps attract the attention of these little ones, who reciprocate with the need of a constant feed of entertainment, day and night. Try taking the iPad away from the kid and you’ll see what I mean. It’s no wonder that the iPad can easily be classified as a toy for this reason. Now, fast forward this situation to a decade from now. You see adults sitting around a table in a Wi-Fi-enabled café. Chances are they are not going to be talking to each other, not in the real world at least. At home, fights and arguments will occur a lot more often between spouses due to a lack of communication, and it’s not going to get any better when this generation have kids of their own. (Image source: Cyber Sociology) Come to think of it, all of this is already happening right now. Technology has slowly eased its way into our lives and formed glass walls between individuals who can communicate with each other but instead chose not to. As a result, well, you might want to read this and this. The Impact The good news is much of the world still operates on a non-virtual basis; the bad news is we are prepping the younger generation to function better online than off. You may view this as a good thing, with the world getting smaller and tech tools getting more powerful and everything, but our youths are not retaining general knowledge in their heads (you can thank Google for that), there is no need to be grammatically correct in textspeak (you can thank the 140 char limit for that) and well, social networks – they open up a new can of worms. 3. Searching for the ‘Like’ button offline Ever wonder why social networking sites are so popular? My theory is that we have the burning desire to be the ‘popular kid’. In school, the unwritten goal was to have loads of friends, being able to share our ‘deep’ thoughts, have followers, and to a childish extent, show off the assets that we have – a pretty face, the latest tech gadget, a nice ride etc. Sound familiar? Social networking sites are apparent, virtual replacements of this. You have the friend’s list or followers; you get to post status updates or quotes, as well as pictures depicting fragments of your life or the things you encounter. It’s like high school all over again, without the classes, of course. The one thing that this virtual counterpart does better than the conservative way is the spreading of information which is as easy as clicking ‘Share’. The impact These systems have made it so easy to post these bits and pieces of your life online that if you stumble upon anything worthy of posting, you’d drop everything and do it. See a car accident, it goes online, see a dog begging for food with its master, shared, see someone trying to jump off a building, posted. Suddenly, even in the real world, you’re a surfer. You don’t stop to help the victim get out of the car, actually drop some coins into the beggar’s cup, or call the police to come stop the hapless jumper. Nope, it’s all about accommodating these urges to have the post of the day. 4. All things short and sweet Our attention spans are getting shorter and shorter. Personally, I can no longer sit through a full movie, which would explain why I haven’t been to the cinema for the longest time… but that’s not the point. The point is I can no longer concentrate on a single task at hand. That does not automatically mean that I am a multi-tasker, or that I am good at it. It just means that I have too many things, at home, at work, at school that needed my attention. Again, that’s not the point. The fact that I can’t concentrate on one single task for a long enough period, is a source for worry. And I’m not the only one with the problem. And that is the point. We are turning into digital goldfish! While we’re on the subject of ‘short’ things, let’s talk about short fuses. This is my most hated icon of all time… …because it indicates that I have to act like a grown up and wait. Patience is a virtue, one that this generation finds hard to pursue. And can you blame us? We read news all around the clock, not only on a finite batch of papers that contains news that happened 24 hours ago. True, those articles contain more details which are confirmed and checked through but when it comes to getting the news first, it’s Twitter for us. Straight from the horses’ mouth, 140 chars, and easy to spread and share. The impact "So4those of u who weren’t payg attntn, 1)our attntn spans r gettg shortr, 2)we hv short fuses 3) we prefr 2absorb reli short bits of info." – 136 chars and you can read this. 5. Argh, matey! Read this the other day: an "A" student was failed by his English teacher for choosing to distinguish piracy from stealing in an essay. Not sure what to make of it, really, I’m no expert in Internet ethics. But try image Googling "piracy vs stealing" and you will be given a visual guide to the core of the debate. The gist of it was that while stealing removes the original item – like how shoplifting works – piracy makes a copy of the original item but leaves only with the copy. It’s an attempt to differentiate between the two but I’m not sure if it drives the point home. Not that the differentiation matters. Everyone is making copies of things they didn’t pay for: movie torrents, mp3 songs, e-books, and college assignments. It’s a worldwide phenomenon and even though their lips may say it is not right to do so, their actions speak otherwise. If piracy is stealing, then the world is filled with thieves. The impact If you think that you don’t want to side with the major film or music studios, or major book publishers, that’s your choice. But I’d like to remind you that sometimes it isn’t about the money. It’s about the credit and the acknowledgement of all the hard work one puts into something: an invention, a piece of work, an article, a music score, an infographic, a template, a theme, heck, even the idea behind the "piracy vs stealing" image has to come from someone. But when the item is shared, copied, reused, repackaged, submitted or sold by someone other than the creator, it just doesn’t feel right. Pretty much like how a classmate blatantly takes your assignment and passes it up as his own, then gets an A for it (or an award), wouldn’t the feeling make you feel sick to your stomach as well? On the long run, this would spell an end to originality and creativity, because if somebody else is going to take the credit, why would anyone come up anything new anymore? Conclusion Despite the gloomy outlook painted in this article, I’m sure that the technology that keeps us connected to the Internet has done much good for our lives. However, do remember who is in control and act like it. When your digital devices are taking up too much of your life, you know it’s time to switch it off and enjoy life unplugged. Related posts: 7 Great Ways to Get Your Resume Noticed Freelancers: 3 Ways to Motivate Yourself When You’re Running Low 6 Ways to Unleash Creativity in the Workplace 10 Ways To Tighten Up Your Gmail Security

Getting started with Amazon Cloud Drive Posted: 07 May 2012 01:41 AM PDT Amazon Cloud Drive has released its first desktop app, only a few days after the announcement of Google Drive. As you may already know, Amazon has been giving 5GB of free storage since a year ago, but there’s no app available to make Cloud Drive easier to use from the desktop unlike many other cloud storage apps that allow you to access and edit files directly from your file folder. The game has now changed. Amazon has released its desktop app, available for Mac and PC. There are only limited actions that can be done with the app, but it will surely make it easier for its users. This article will guide you to get yourself familiar with the new Amazon Cloud Drive App and its limitations. Recommended Reading: Amazon S3 – The Beginner’s Guide Register Cloud Drive To try this out, first and foremost, go to the Amazon Cloud Drive website to register for an account. Get Cloud Drive’s App Go to the Amazon Cloud Drive App download page to download the app for your Mac or PC, click on the link Get the Desktop App. After the download is complete, open the file and proceed to install. If you are on Mac, drag the file to your Application folder as instructed. If Cloud Drive is not active yet, open your Launchpad and launch Amazon Cloud Drive. You will be prompted to sign in with your Amazon account, enter your details and click Sign in. After you signed in, there will be 4 quick tour windows, just click Next or Skip Tour. Using Cloud Drive’s app After installation, you will see the Amazon Cloud Drive icon at the system tray or menu bar, click on it to open your Cloud Drive. Unlike Dropbox or Google Drive, there will be no desktop folder for Amazon Cloud Drive. You can only open Cloud Drive via web browsers. To open your Cloud Drive, simply select Open Cloud Drive Website. Opening the link will direct you to the Cloud Drive website. Since this is your first installation, you will see four default folders created with no files in it. Uploading a file to Cloud Drive There are 2 ways you can upload a file to your Cloud Drive. Drag and drop a file to the Cloud Drive icon. An upload will start and you will get a popup notification. Once the upload is complete, you will see a ‘check’ icon next to your Cloud Drive icon. Click on the Cloud Drive icon to check on your upload status. Alternatively, you can upload a file with right click then select the option Upload to Cloud Drive. Access your file from Cloud Drive To access your files from Cloud Drive, you will need to go to the Cloud Drive website where links can be found in the drop-down menu of your Cloud Drive icon. While some cloud storage, like Dropbox and Google Drive allow you to access your file directly from file folder and edit any files by simply opening it with relevant software, with Amazon Cloud Drive, you need to download the files first before you can open an edit. However if your files are images, you can preview directly from the Cloud Drive website. Click on the item and the preview gallery will open, with options to download or delete. Managing files in Cloud Drive By default, all uploaded files will be placed in one folder named ‘Uploads’. To move these files to different folder, select files by checking the box next to the file name, click drop-down menu More Actions and select Move items to. Now select to which folder you want to move the files to, and click Move items. To create a new folder in your Cloud Drive, simply click on New Folder. To change file view between list and thumbnail, click on your choice at the top right corner of the page. Conclusion Overall, There is only limited access to your Amazon Cloud Drive App since file folder integration is not provided. All changes, access and downloads must be done over the Web. In other words, you will require high bandwidth to play around with Cloud Drive since you can’t edit files offline then upload it when you get connected to the Internet. Have you given it a shot? Let us know what you think of it. Related posts: How to Get The Most Out of Google Drive Cloud Hosting: How Does it Really Work? How to Create New Folders in Windows by Drag & Drop [Quicktip] How to Clear Messages Chat History [Quicktip]

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