Stop Staring At Your Screens...

In the January 2013 issue of The Informative Report (http://theinformativereport.com/2013/01/personal-robots-to-assist-the-elderly-people-in-an-australian-university), Professor Rajiv Khosla talks about a study he’s doing in Australia that uses personal robots to assist the elderly.  Some of the robots even sing Hey Jude.

This study concentrates primarily on the issues of emotional well-being, not technology.  But the whole idea of technology replacing humans is a little disturbing. Not because there’s anything inherently wrong with a robot that surfs the Internet, checks your e-mail or orders your groceries. It just raises the question of whether or not we’re trying to replace ourselves with technology.  When my father had to go into an assisted care facility, the quality of his care was wholly dependent on his being watched over and continually reevaluated and reassessed.  No robot can do for your mom or dad what a good elderly care provider can do-analyze an elderly person’s mental acuity and physical stability.  When I read this report, I kept seeing a giant dollar bill resting on a computer chip that was being passed from one person to another in an endless line…

How do you care for actual human beings without any humanity?  Have we conned ourselves into believing that human interaction doesn’t count, so now we’re developing robots to do what we ourselves are supposed do?  Is the messy business of elder care just too much trouble for our selfish little lives, where we stare into screens instead of life?  Do you need to stare into your smartphone to look at the event you’re actually attending?

Has technology finally outstripped sanity? Many years ago Einstein said that he was afraid that, with all the new technology coming to the forefront, we were in danger of raising generations of button-pushing idiots.

 There’s a general social depersonalization going on that has grabbed hold of the next generations with a death grip. The profusion of young people on a date sitting in a restaurant but not talking to each other is startling.  Their heads are down while they stare intently at their mobile devices. Is that  considered a date in today’s society?  The answer is obviously, and frighteningly, yes…

It’s pretty well documented that social interplay helps to prevent and/or delay diseases like Alzheimer’s, dementia, aphasia and all the rest.  My father would have told the robot to drop dead because, even though he was the biggest pain in the ass in the world, he craved interacting with other human beings, not machines.  Don’t most people?  I personally don’t think there’s anything wrong with technology-I’ve got multiple computers, smartphones, music recording equipment, cameras, cable TV boxes, etc. etc. in my house.   But come on kids and caregivers, stop staring at your screens…