The World Is Outside

Author Ray Bradbury once said, "I don't understand this whole thing about computers and the superhighway. Who wants to be in touch with all of those people?"

He makes a good point.

Too many people, especially the younger ones, think that the Internet is the greatest thing since sliced bread. You need bread to live; you don’t need the Internet.

The Internet is a great resource tool. Email has its place, and porn that should never see the light of day is just a click away.

People spend a great deal of time perfecting their MySpace and Facebook web pages. They constantly email and text message. They have iPhones and BlackBerrys with Internet access. What is so important that people feel the need to be in constant communication?

It’s not that I don’t “get it.” I get it, I just don’t believe it’s the way to live. I’ve seen the world before the Internet and I’ve seen it since. It was a lot better before.

Of course, I’m also a hypocrite. I’ve downloaded an iPod’s worth of MP3s, I email people I don’t feel like talking to in person and yes, I’ve even peeked at a few dirty pictures.

A lot of great things have come from this technological boom, but it’s also responsible for many of the problems the country is experiencing right now.

The job market has suffered from a technological glut. Many things that needed to be done by people are now being done by computers.

There used to be plenty of entry-level clerical, data entry, and filing work. Now that most of these things have been automated, those jobs are disappearing.

Computers have replaced human employees in a variety of tasks. Science fiction writers like Bradbury predicted that this would happen. Sure enough, it did. I know from experience.

I wasn’t replaced by a computer, but many of my co-workers were. They were replaced because of me. They were replaced because I designed and programmed a medical claims auditing system that eliminated their jobs.

When word gets around that you’re the reason their friends were laid off, it doesn’t exactly make life easy in the workplace. I was friends with them too, but it didn’t matter. I did what I was supposed to do.

This is the kind of thing that is happening every day at companies around the world. Once automated computer systems are in place, it only takes a few employees to do the work of many.

Technology can only take us so far. We have to remember that we are smarter than the machines that seem to be taking over. We have to remember that the world is outside and not on a computer screen.

Using technology should improve your life, not make you a slave to it.