Features 25
The day that
Albert Einstein
once feared has
unquestionably
landed in
abundance and
certainly hasn’t
departed.
In fact, I’m
certain that it
won’t in the
near future.
We live in a society where ‘technology’
is seen as more important than building
our skills and intelligence. To put
this into perspective, it goes a little
something like this…
We don’t cut up or cook our dinner
from scratch anymore because through
technology we have a, ‘Thermomix’
which does it for us. A ‘Refidex’ isn’t
in anyone’s car let alone vocabulary
anymore, because through technology
our phone reads the directions through
our Bluetooth systems for us.
Very few of us remember how to spell
let alone write with a ‘Staedtler’ or
‘Faber Castel’ pencil anymore, because
it’s easier to pull your phone out of
your pocket and whip that message
up in 10 seconds… Unless you’re still
whipping out your Nokia 6120, I’d allow
ten minutes.
We don’t kick a football with our
children anymore, yet we’re happy to
hand them a smartphone and take them
to the park, engross ourselves so much
in Pokémon Go, that we haven’t stopped
to think of the importance of valuable
life skills that we aren’t teaching our
children, or learning ourselves. Because
sometimes ‘it’s easier’ to let them play
on a phone.
Picking up what I’m
putting down?
I’m not against technology and I certainly
can’t stand tall and say that I don’t use
it… I’d be walking away with my head
down and my tail between my legs if I
made such a statement. But I do think
that some apps are more valuable than
others and as a student studying at
university, I’ll admit it’s hard not to rely
on the ’10 apps that will drive you
to the download button’, and the
amount of apps and technology that we
have available, allowing us to coordinate
activities, download class content,
simplify work and ace our studies from
our fingertips. But to Einstein’s disgust
(as well as my own), I believe that it ‘has
become appallingly obvious that our
technology has exceeded our humanity’.
Interaction, knowledge, morale,
productivity and accomplishment didn’t
derive from technology or a mobile app.
So why are we throwing away some of
our most valuable traits to stick our head
in a phone screen?
Technology and SOME apps are great,
and many businesses and enterprises of
larger scale couldn’t operate successfully
for a day without. Yet, as a student,
the technology and apps we choose to
consume ourselves with are a total waste
of space and time.
To put it simply…
Time
wasters:
Time
savers:
Pokémon Go
USQ Student App
Angry Birds
Class Timetable
Words with
Friends
Homework App
Any gaming or
animated apps.
Any organisational
and time
management apps!
I’m not saying don’t keep up with
the times or to start living like we're
back in the 50s. But, I encourage you
to think outside the box. Remove the
useless phone apps, stop relying so
heavily on technology and open your
eyes to the real world. Get a job, study,
travel, support your local industries,
be productive and try your hardest to
succeed. Create real accomplishment,
accomplishment that allows you to do
something great and be applauded for
your achievement.
Let’s prevent raising ‘a generation
of idiots’.