Call to be De-wired

I heartily recommend the series of 'anti-technology' articles by Tony Long, being published on Wired News. So far there have been three installments: Dark Underbelly of Technology, You Know What? Just Shut Up and Eat, Sleep, Work, Consume, Die.

I don't go along with everything Tony says. After all, this is the Wired News copy editor who declared in 2000 that "e-mail" must be hyphenated (I notice they've dropped this convention since then), and in 2004 declared that "internet" no longer deserved a capital letter since it's just another medium like radio or television (then why is it still the internet: why don't we talk about things 'on internet' just as they are 'on television'?)

Tony's new series seeks to shine light on the ways technology affects our lives for the worse instead of for the better. Not exactly preaching to the choir on Wired News. In fact, the negative replies to his commentary range from the disagreeable to the histronic. Since I agree with most of what he's saying, I just have to wonder how much of the corporate kool-aid these people have been drinking. Some want to remind everyone that the world was much worse before technology came along (Well duh! Anyone who thinks they would be happier living 100 or 500 years ago is looking at the 'good old days' with rose-colored glasses). But the main point of this series is not that technology is T3H 3V1L, but that our society's fixations with productivity, consumerism, career, instant gratification etc. are.

Check it out, and make sure to read the feedback. It's worth it.