Dependencies on Technological Advances...

So what really are the effects of too many people being stuck on technological advances? Well that's the question that I began asking myself after waking up this morning at my "friends" house trying to get ready for work and she starting OD'ing talking about how f*cked she was and how she wouldn't be able to function because she left her cellphone charger at my house the night before and now her cellphone battery is dead. Now no disrespect to her but I know this broad, like everybody else all she wants her cellphone for is to look up women's health quotes, read Queen Latifah lyrics, or browse through the FML widget...it's not like she's closing multi-million dollar deals or coordinating life or death circumstances. So as somewhat of a traditionalist I couldn't help but to wonder how the substance of people has evolved as the dependencies on technology heightens...not that having some kind of inadequacy in lifestyle change if all the remote control  batteries were gone, cellphones, light switches, or the microwave power cords but just the fact that some people would actually break down and not know how to function without what in reality are just, simple conveniences. So as a IT Proj Mgr I guess by job description I'm just somewhat a little more in tune with the unintended consequences of technology and the implications of innovation thereof, so I guess I feel if people would just be a lil more conscious about the technology they use then subconsciously they wouldn't allow themselves to be so dependent on it neither.

Case in point: For example the new social networking phenomenon that has arisen within the last decade amongst Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, Black planet, etc. Many people jump on these sites, expose as much of if not all of there personal information...schools they've been to, where the work, where they hang out, pictures of friends of family, etc with absolutely no consideration for privacy or solitude of state but then have the nerve to wonder why instances arise for example with
employers checking Myspace accounts to make hiring/firing decisions...only later to try arguing civil liberty violations and freedom of expression discrimination on behalf of their employers . That sounds stupid! Or have people really become that far removed? Nonetheless nowhere can this be shown more prevalent to me as a IT guy then in a article published in CIO.com entitled "Social Networks Leak Your Information, Study Says":

A study out this week from Worcester Polytechnic Institute(WPI) shows that mobile social networks are giving data about users' physical locations to tracking sites and other social networking services. Researchers reported that all 20 sites that were studied leaked some kind of private information to third-party tracking sites.

Basically meaning any thing any and everything you do can be tracked and followed. An enabler for you is equally an enabler for everyone else also. It's amazing to me these days that you really don't even have to find people like yo used to no more...last known addresses, word of mouth, smash a chic in the DMV to get her to look up favors, public records, etc. because nowadays you can damn near find out anything on anybody online and it's all volunteer information because "Facebook is so cool."


Bottom Line: People play themselves over and over and never even know it because they don't understand the sophistication of the technology that they are using so my recommendation is simple: not saying don't do you or even avoid it altogether but 1) just be conscious 2) and don't give out information simply because it asks..fabricate and conceal valuable knowledge of yourself because the people that need to know the right information about you will...oh and 3) just because the site or application has privacy policies and access provisioning doesn't mean that your information can be fully protected and kept confidential. The only sure protection of information, is no information at all therefore no protection is required!