Fighting Rapid Change

Changes occur is almost every aspect of life as we age. Day to day, year to year. The whole world is changing around us. But there's one change which has impacted the world massively. A change which has erupted over the past years. The changing of technology.

I guess it's a common thing for adults to dwell over. How things have moved so fast in such little time but I really think it's sad to see. It seems so weird to me that, at the age of 5 I was watching videos, playing with toys and listening to cassettes and nowadays, 5 year olds are using iPads, playing video games and watching YouTube. It sounds so pathetic, but things are changing so quickly and I'm not overly sure I like it that much.

Phones are another thing. I think I was 11 when I first got a phone. It was some crappy Vodafone flip phone but, at the time, it was all I needed. I was 11, all I needed it for was to ring people or occasionally text them. I was a child, too busy off playing in the park with my friends to need anything better. Saying that, there probably wasn't the option to have a better phone at the time. Smartphones weren't really in.

And I look at people now, some only two years younger than me. I see how different they are to how I was at that age. It scares me, it really does. How can technology change that much in a few years? It's all moving at such a fast rate, but why? And more importantly, when will it stop?

I don't know whether it's the fear or the nostalgia in me but I don't like it. Sure, you could argue that 'if you don't like modern technology then why do have social network accounts?' But I think it's all about social acceptance. Yes I know some people who haven't got a things like Facebook or Twitter or Instagram but, typically, they are people seen as the 'social outcasts'. Sometimes we don't do things for ourselves but to secure the acceptance of others in society. And also, despite what I say or anyone says for that matter, things aren't going to revert back to how they were.

No matter how much I long to still be in the days of videos, cassettes and flip phones, it will never happen. People see change as advancements, wanting to get the newest thing, to be trendy. But what as wrong in the past? Ok, I agree that technology is a wonderful thing. How you can talk to someone on the other side of the world instantly, how you can get in touch with old friends with a few searches. It's all amazing.

I guess my generation are the only ones who say that. Any older tend to believe it's all bad, too modern and any younger don't know any different. In many ways, That's what I'm thankful for. That, yes maybe technology is changing rapidly but at least I've known different. Don't get me wrong, I love some aspects of technology and they make some tasks so much easier to do but I don't really think that's its all necessary.

But there's so many negatives, with children especially. They are loosing a childhood. Technology may be changing at such a rate that it will be different by the time they reach the age of 10 but it will still be there. With global warming how it is, and rapid industrialisation due to forever gorwing populations, why are we not enjoying the outdoors while we still can?

In some ways, maybe it's just the newest addiction. Other generations had their addictions that would keep them occupied too. But, at the same time, it's taking over. At least in the past, the trends have been less powerful and controlling. With technology and social media it's completely different.

I realise how much this posts makes me sound like an old woman but I guess I'm torn. Tor pm between wanting to fit in and wanting to be my own person, between accepting the change and fighting back against it.

Books is another aspect which gets me. In my media class at school, it is commented on frequently how things are changing. My teacher picked up the modernisation of books the other day. He said, and I quote "why would anyone want to have books when we can own hundreds on a single kindle which we can take anywhere and read". This hurt me. I really don't know what it is about books that I love so much but I just do. There's something about owning books which I love. I guess it's one of the ways I'm desperately trying to cling to the past, trying not to give in to the pressures of technological change.

Over the summer I was in town a fair bit and one day I was waiting for a friend so I had some time to kill. I had my book of the time with me so I sat on a bench and read. The amount of looks I got of strangers was surreal. People looked at me as if I was mad or doing something I shouldn't. It's adults which are most against all these changes but it's also them who get weirded out when you aren't giving in to the changes.

I'm going to keep living in my own world. A world where I can read books and watch videos without being questioned. Where I can use aspects of old and new together while trying avoid getting sucked in to the bottomless void that technology is engulfing us with. I really hope that it slows down soon. I hope that it becomes socially acceptable not to move with the times. But, most of all, I hope someone, someday realises how robotic technology is making us and has the urge to question how we let this happen.

--- Aimee ---