Something New and Revolutionary from Google!

I use Google services, pervasively. Gmail is my email client of choice, along with its built-in contacts database. Google Calendar is what I use for my personal as well as professional calendar. YouTube and Google Maps, most all of us have interacted with. Others include: Google Docs and Google Reader. These “cloud-based” services that Google offers syncs perfectly with my smartphone. All of these services Google provides for free. They are like a perpetual Santa Claus.

So it’s no surprise to most of us if Google comes out with something new:

HT GetSatisfaction.com

Alternate Reality

45% of kids say they feel more comfortable online than offline. The reason? “It’s easier to be who you want to be, because nobody knows you and if you don’t like the situation, you can just exit and it’s over.”

Children's Ministry Magazine May/June 2011 pg. 20 Group Publishing

It’s a Book! (video)

Funny. I don’t think we are quite in danger of losing books, yet. However, the more our children interact with “screens” rather than “paper”, I wonder if this will be more applicable in the coming future?

In Hayward, WI, each middle and high school student is getting either an iPad or a MacBook laptop computer this next school year. Emerging technology is cool (the students are really excited), but I see the students using these devices more for personal use (i.e. Facebook and YouTube video watching) than for educational reasons. I could be wrong. In fact, I would be pleased if I were wrong. I’ll let you know!

via iblogo
source YouTube

History of Computing (infographic)

via MattMcKee.me

Abstaining from Technology?

I’ve been thinking about these kinds of things a lot lately:

I just read this article about a mom who decided that she and her 3 teenagers were going to take a 6 month break from technology. ”My concern,” she says, “was that we had ceased to function as a family. We were just a collection of individuals who were very connected outwards – to friends, business, school and sources of entertainment and information. But we simply weren’t connecting with one another in real space and time in any sort of authentic way.”

I am convinced that these sort of sabbaticals, whether a day, a month or a half year, are becoming increasingly important parts of living a healthy life. The other thing that struck me is the connection she makes between boredom and creativity:

“Anni, Bill and Sussy confronted boredom – something that they were previously unfamiliar with because of their endless access to online entertainment. They found out that it made them resourceful. Indeed, their mother thinks boredom is fundamentally important in terms of creativity: ‘If nothing’s wrong, you’re never motivated to change, to move out of that comfort zone.'”

Wondering your thoughts about the connection of constant stimulus and creativity?

Courtesy of iblogo

Technology and Us (and our kids)

The television. Also known as: the TV. Love it or hate it, the TV has been an influential force in the last hundred years. From its early, crude transmitted silhouette images, to black and white with no sound, and then eventually sound, and later into color and recently high definition sets that hang on the wall, the TV has radically impacted the transmission of information and entertainment. Only since the Internet has a technology had a remarkable impact on the advancement and development of technology.

But how to use such a technology wisely? With all the negative and disturbing images coming across the screen of a television, how do we as people (and parents) protect ourselves (and our kids) from “seeing” and “hearing” things that help or hurt us. This same question of wisdom can also be applied to the use of the Internet (or anything for that matter).

How do we use technology wisely? And particularly as a person who follows Jesus and wants to live out the kingdom of God in this world… what does it practically look like to use such resources wisely?

A recent post @ Engadget revealed that kids watch too much TV (shocker, I know!). What is it about TV and technology that seems to enable parents to use it to “babysit” their children. I know for me, it is “easier” to parent when my kids are watching a movie in the other room. Even with other “screens” available (i.e. iPod Touches, iPads, iPhones, Blackberrys, tablets, laptops, advertisement screens at Walmart next to displays, etc.), we (and my kids) are bombarded with technology and information.

I’m not saying technology is bad or inherently evil. It isn’t. It’s how we use them, how we implicitly regulate them, that makes its use good or bad.

So, how do we wisely use technology?

I wonder if the answer to that question lies in what each person thinks about the use of free time or the attention (or inattention) to human interaction (going out with friends, spending face-to-face time with your kids, etc.). And maybe moderation. I’m reminded that with anything, be it food, sports, drinks, video games, or gardening, one can go to the extreme of spending all of their time (free or borrowed) on things that throw every other thing in their life off balance. The opposite of moderation would be excessiveness.

So, what is excessive when it comes to technology (or anything else for that matter)?

The Internet (infographic)

I am always amazed at the “vastness” and implicit impact the internet (and its subsidiaries) are having on humanity and our behavior. Check out this “info graphic” below (thanks Imago):