Analog Thinking in The Ever Expanding Digital Realm

You can't fight technological progress; you literally can't do that. As soon as you try to fight it or start swimming upstream, you realize that if the world were to halt at some point in evolution, we would probably still be wiping our asses with leaves and communicating with each other through pigeons.

Technology is both a blessing and a curse; I find myself somehow addicted to it. I'm on my smartphone all day, consuming and creating content in the digital realm. I'm into blockchain and crypto, and I believe moderation is critical when it comes to technology.

When I was eight years old, we got cable TV in town, and I was counting the days until it was installed. Cable TV meant Cartoon Network "ohne limit" (limitless) for me at that age. TV really captured my attention, and until I had my first PC, I spent a lot of time watching it.

The internet exponentially increased the impact of technology on our lives. During college, I realized its potential while sending emails to secure a job. After quitting the "fax sending" strategy, it hit me: this thing has a future and will connect us. Fifteen years forward, you can have access to food, drugs, escorts, sports bets, parallel economies, and whatever at a push of a button.

Kids these days have TikTok and YouTube, which is both exciting and frightening. A six-year-old girl I know asked me about the new McDonald's in town, wanting to try a beverage she learned about on TikTok. At her age, watching Cartoon Network was the ultimate experience, but now, six-year-olds own smartphones, play games, scroll through social media, and learn from algorithms.

In the past, parents and teachers were responsible for the educational process of young ones, but now we live in a different era. Instant access to information, algorithms, and various narratives play crucial roles. AI is about to hit the stage hard, and things will only get more complicated.

I heard an interesting story on Twitter yesterday about new scams involving AI. Thieves use AI to imitate the voices of loved ones to extort money. Imagine the impact AI can have on the developing brain of a child in the future.

There's a Buddhist saying I find valuable: "Give me a child from birth to seven years old, and I guarantee he will be a monk for the rest of his life." The first seven years of our lives are crucial; our brains are like sponges, and it matters what we feed them.

So, what should parents do? Should they raise their kids the way they were raised? Probably not. Should they let kids get immersed non-stop in technology? I would not advise that either. I know of a case where a young girl would only be still and nice if she had a smartphone in her hands, which is awful, in my opinion.

Parents often prefer handing offsprings noisy and nasty gadgets instead of dedicating time and attention to keep the young ones grounded in real life. The metaverse might be around the corner, but I wouldn't spend days in such a realm. I didn't do that with gaming and won't with anything metaverse-related.

The young ones will grow at the same pace as technology, and at some point, technology will somehow blend with the human race. I don't know if that's good or bad; all I know is that without technology, life expectancy wouldn't be that high these days. On the other hand, technology might be guilty of our extinction. What do you think?

Thanks for your attention,
Adrian