Why do so many Americans feel the need to be “extreme” is some aspect of their lives these days? I just finished reading a Sunset magazine article about a family of “unpluggers” – people who remove almost all “technology” from their homes. I put the word technology in quotes, because it is often a bizarre array of items that is excluded or included in the home. In this particular article, the author describes the family’s kitchen as “basic” (trying to promote the idea that having no technology equals simple living), however I can see in the photo that their kitchen includes stainless steel appliances, a very high-end gas stove, granite countertops, etc. This is not basic. This is extravagant compared to most of America. (If you want to see a picture of what “basic” looks like, I could provide that for you, but mine is a little dirty right now….) But since none of the appliances include LCD screens, they deem them as basic. In the photo montage of the home, they also show “other low tech furniture” including a lamp that belonged to the woman’s grandmother. Aside from the stupidity of the phrase “low tech furniture,” I’m pretty sure 50-year-old lamps use the same electricity as 2-year-old lamps. Now, an oil lamp is low tech. This family also uses a rotary dial phone. Ha! What?! Not just a land line or corded phone, but a rotary dial one? Sorry, but that screams hipster to me, not basic. They are also quite proud of their use of only analog clocks, rare use of computers (and mostly while hiding the use from the kids), and no TVs.
I’m not trying to bash these things – maybe make fun of them a little – but not bash them. My point is that they are trying so hard to be cool and Luddite-cutting-edge and extreme that they (and the Sunset authors) don’t seem to see how foolish they look. Technology can either be a help or a hindrance. But when you eliminate it completely from your family’s lives, it can be neither. They’re throwing out the baby with the bath water.
Personally, I think my son has been given an incredible gift by being born in this time period. He has access to knowledge and skills that I couldn’t even fathom as a child. I am also a supporter of the research that advocates that it is the content of media, not the media itself, which can have a negative affect on children.
Technology is not inherently bad. It is how you chose to use or abuse it that creates the positive or negative effect on our lives. Like most other kids born around 2010, my son can efficiently navigate our Kindle Fire to play puzzles and alphabet games, read books, and watch some of his favorite shows. I don’t think that’s a bad thing. We have some limitations on usage (probably fewer limitation than many families) and a lot of limitations on content. In my opinion, we use technology with him appropriately. It’s not the downfall of our existence. We eat dinners together as a family; we play puzzles, games, and instruments together; we read constantly; we play outside almost every day – all the same things the “unplugged” family does and probably in nearly the same amounts.
My point is that I’m the human. I’m the one that chooses how to use the tool. It doesn’t control me, because I make a purposeful choice to be the one in control. So I don’t run away screaming from television, that doesn’t teach my son anything other than fear of the unknown. I teach him that there is a correct and incorrect use of television and many other tools.
I think this same lesson applies to many other aspects of today’s culture where people feel the need to run away and hide rather than stand up and take the control that is our birthright as self-aware humans. I think the most obvious example is gun control. It is our responsibility to behave appropriately regarding such a powerful tool, but the tool doesn’t have to be erased from our lives for us to function. There are compromises that need to be made and rules that need to be enforced, but absolute removal of weapons will not solve the problem, which is a lack of responsible ownership.
I could go on about this forever and attempt to spell out my perfect world scenario, but I won’t, because there are already too many cooks in that kitchen. I just want you to think about what the real roots of the problems in our country are. It’s not the items we possess; it is the way in which we own them.
burningsugarcane 