Recently I read a blog post on Bayside Patch where
the writer mentioned that many of us have become addicted to the online
world. There were some very valid points that the author brought up.
That said there are also ways that being online has given us free time
as opposed to taking away time.
We
have become an information society where information is both available
and demanded quicker. The killing of Osama Bin Laden and the death of
Whitney Houston broke on Twitter before anywhere else. It used to be if
you needed to do research you went to the library. Now you can do your
research online. I can remember having to wait for the news to get
weather and sports or dialing 976-1212 or 976-1313 which if I remember
was a local call for charging purposes and the information I was looking
for could be at the end. Today you can set alerts on your smartphone
for the weather as well as the score of your favorite teams. If we are
not, we all should be lifelong learners. Google “opencourseware” and see
all the free college courses available online. YouTube is a good source
of educational videos as well.
It
used to be that unless you ordered from mail order catalogues you had
to spend time getting in your car and going to the store to buy what you
were looking for. In this day of $4 a gallon gas, you can order going
online any hour of the day from your home. You’re saving gas and driving
time plus a lot of times the price is less than when you go to a store.
Banking
online is also a growing trend. You can pay your bills online
automatically saving the time of writing a check to the same payee every
month for the same amount. Paying bills online is faster and less
expensive (think stamps). You no longer have to write the same checks
every month.
Text
messaging has become a big thing with the younger generation. My sons do
not want me leaving voice mail messages. They want me to leave text
messages instead. Texts are quicker to read then listening to a
voicemail. Grandparents have gotten on Facebook partially because that
is how they find out what their grandchildren are up to. Our phone books
and calendars are online. The list goes on.
Being
online can be a saver of time and money from the standpoint of business
travel. There is less of a need to travel for business meetings in many
cases. Meetings can be done via Skype, Google+ hangouts or another
online medium. Time and money spent travelling are saved because these
meetings can occur online. This can give some businesspeople more family
time.
Newspapers have
fallen victim to the online world. The New Orleans Times Picayune will
start publishing 3 days a week and will no longer be a daily paper. The
news is more current online then the published version. Declining
newspaper circulations are also saving trees as less paper is needed to
reach the declining circulation.
I
mentioned Skype earlier. If you are unfamiliar with Skype, it enables
you to have a video conference with another Skype user anytime, anywhere
without a time limit for free. Not only does it have business uses but
people are using it to keep in touch with out of town friends and
family. It is touching to see grandparents talk about and seeing them
have a conversation on Skype with their out of town grandchildren. I
know of a family who lives in New York who did a Passover Seder with
family in Australia using Skype. The telephone company used to say,
“Long distance: the next best thing to being there.” In today’s word,
Skype may be the next best thing to being there.
While
our online activity can be a distraction, it also can save time as
well. Yes we have become addicted to the online world but so much is
going on in today’s world that occurs there. I think we all have seen
people together in a public place keeping busy on their phone rather
than interacting. Is it necessary? Personally I can remember growing
up playing in the park and playgrounds with friends and enjoying being
outdoors. I am concerned when instead of enjoying our parks and
playgrounds, young people are indoors playing games on their Wii, Xbox
or another video game console. For those who feel the need to check
their email or texts while connecting during dinner maybe a compromise
is in order. Perhaps check to see if the call, message or email is
something of a truly urgent nature. If not, it can wait. If it truly is
urgent and by this I mean an emergency then yes take the call, answer
the text or whatever. Otherwise use the time to connect with friends and
loved ones.
If you are interested in learning how to better use your technology and save some time of your own call me at (917) 572-3468.
Computer Concierge NY LLC provides
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