An Al-Jazeera documentary about a tech addict who goes to an adult summer camp in NoCal where cell-phones, laptops, internet, etc. are banned. Good to think about what we put into our minds as well as our bodies.

[www.youtube.com]

A lot of the high-powered Silicon Valley types are sending their kids to no technolgy schools.

[www.nytimes.com]

It's what I would do if I had kids. I would want them to be able to think and reason, not just push buttons.

Orangutans can use IPads.

It's pretty interesting that it costs a fortune to get your kids a no technology education. I guess that teaching without it is now considered a rare skill. I was teaching when computers were introduced to the classroom. Couldn't stand it because it felt like slavery. Thanks for the article.

I have done it both ways: with and without the computer.

I greatly prefer without, but most courses these days are with.

Last term I had the option to use no technology and I sure as heck took it.

I have done experiments on long-term outcomes and they are much better without the technology.

With the computer it's easy come, easy go--not as much sticks.

But usually administration wants technology because in general the short-term pass rates are higher. Though the long-term outcomes are abysmal.

Short-term gain, long-term pain.

Blech!

is it also true that some people can't do multiplication without their calculator
because they were made to depend on their machines?

or even read cursive because they just read off the computer?

bizzaro

Yes, they have lost the ability to write. Sometimes I see students holding pencils with confusion. They don't really know what to do with them.

They also lose their ability for abstract thought. If you give a kid a calculator in grade 1, they will never be able to do long division, let alone trig substitution in calculus 2 or radius of convergence of power series, stuff like that. They hit a wall.

I would want my hypothetical kids to be able to understand some of the great beauties of the universe. For that you need three semesters of calculus minimum.

Kids don't get the foundation these days. It's like an entire generation has been written off, except for the rich ones.

If l had kids l would want them to greatly limit computer use and certainly no mobile phones/iphones/laptops allowed and very limited t.v' viewing, and certainly no vaccines. Lucky l don't have kids because l would be fighting the school system and vaccination laws all the time, so lucky l can focus on helping the world instead of just my kids....time much better spent.

Teach them the old fashioned way. The technology addiction is GREATLY disturbing. Unfortunately the schools now require the kids to have cordless tablet computers, but l would never agree to such an arrangement. I would never want my kids in the school system dumbing them down and teaching dubious habits, l would rather teach them myself. I would want my kids into sprouting, meditation/spirituality and to be great thinkers. I would never want my kids to be straight A students in the school system, that is such a disturbing trend and desire for people with sheep mentalities, and now the school system is so dumbed down that many people in senior high school get straight A's because the education is made easier to pass and get high marks....so meaningless and silly because these future slaves have no ability to think for themselves. We have been taught by the system how to think and not to think for ourselves because the system teaches us how to think like slaves.

You see so many students who achieve very high marks and they want to become doctors or chemists working with drugs. To make that the sole purpose of your working life shows such a lack of wisdom and dumbed down robots of the system. Yet the slaves see these students with high marks as very clever, LOL. People have really dubious ideas on what intelligence is.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/18/2015 02:11AM by The Sproutarian Man.

It's great to see a topic about this. The majority of people do seem to be addicted to technology, and it is indeed very detrimental.  Here's part of a post I made on another forum on this topic:

Quote

You may say you don't have the time, but if you really sit down and think about how you spend your day, most people find that their problem isn't a lack of time, their problem is that they don't use the time they DO have efficiently. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average American spends 2.8 hours a day watching television. How much time do you spend aimlessly surfing the web everyday or similar time wasters? We all have the same 24 hours in a day, yet some people accomplish a lot everyday while others accomplish almost nothing. If you're not accomplishing everything you want to, it's not the number of hours in a day that are holding you back...it's you.

There are so many distractions around today, things that can keep you occupied for hours but not actually accomplishing anything. TV, games, web surfing, social media, texting - the list is nearly endless. All of this technology and instant communication seems great at first glance, but they are rewiring our brains to make us dependent on instant gratification and outside stimulation. Remove the distractions, simplify your life, and learn to be happy just with yourself, and so many of our modern-day ills would disappear.

People truly are becoming dependent on instant gratification and outside stimulation, and that is a horrible fate. You'll see people pulling out their smartphones or going on the internet the instant they get bored, but that is robbing them of their ability to entertain themselves and think for themselves. You'll also see people pulling out their phones and playing with them as an excuse to not make conversation with strangers...just how disconnected have we become? As we become more and more connected in the digital world, we are moving farther away from each other in the real world. This dependence on immediate gratification and outside stimulation is also very detrimental spiritually.

Quote

Good to think about what we put into our minds as well as our bodies

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So true. What we put in our bodies is extremely important, but what we put in our minds can be even more so. By watching tv or listening to the radio or mainstream music, we are allowing others to pollute our minds with filth. Just by being on the internet we are frequently exposing our minds to filth through advertisements and the like.


The solution to all of this is to simplify our lives, ditch the technology as much as possible, and return to a more natural way of life. Rise with the sun (or before), grow your own food, and go out in nature and sit in the sun - preferably nude. Learn to recognize edible weeds and make them a part of your diet. Sungaze in the morning and evening, and gaze at the moon at night. Sleep outside under the stars one night a week (to start ). There are lots of things we can do to start taking back our lives and our power, but people have to be willing to take the first step.


Edit: I think this thread should be moved to another place, preferably the main forum. It has ALOT to do with health. Obviously it has to do with mental health; that it has to do with spiritual health is readily apparent to those who understand it; and it also has quite a bit to do with physical health. Think about it.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/21/2015 05:18AM by Living Food.

We are all exposed to mental garbage everyday, and much of this garbage finds its way into our subconcious, where it subtly alters our thinking and decision-making. Watching television and listening to the radio and mainstream music WILL pollute your mind and fill your subconscious with all sorts of undesirable thoughts. Just walking down the street we are exposed to advertisements and symbolism that pollutes our mind. All of these things are dark vibrations and they will lower our vibration if we aren't careful, so what we need to do is counteract the bad with the good. Being kind, compassionate, selfless and loving others unconditionally will keep our energy fields strong and vibrant, but if you continue to watch tv and listen to mainstream music it will be an uphill battle for you. The dark vibrations from these things will bring about such behaviors as materialism, ego, jealousy, lying, and hurting others. These two things (tv and most music) are extremely devastating spiritually and they NEED to be gotten rid of. You can get away with a little social media or texting, but tv and mainstream music have to go because they are powerful indoctrination devices and WILL keep you trapped in the illusion and the darkness.

Most people wouldn't be willing to leave the system completely behind, but what we can do is try to balance things out. Drastically reduce your use of digital technologies across the board, and at the same time greatly increase the time you spend out in nature. Have "technology fasts" on a regular basis where you use no digital technology whatsoever except for what may be required for your job, starting with a single day and working your way up to longer periods of time.

Many posters here are aware of the benefits of periodic fasts from food, but we can benefit from many other types of fasts too. Technology fasts, fasts from speaking, fasts from sexual activity, fasts from complaining, fasts from saying anything unpleasant towards others...why not incorporate all of these into your life? And this list is just the tip of the iceberg. We can all probably think of a few things that we do even though we know we shouldn't; why not decide not to do them for a day or a few days?

People are ruled by their habits and by unconscious thought processes they're unaware of, but you can start to take back your mind and life by denying the bad and nurturing the good.