Technophobia [tek-nuh-FOH-bee-uh]
-Noun
Abnormal fear of or anxiety about the effects of advanced technology.
Related forms:
Technophobe.
Think about it for a second and take a look around you. How many electronic devices do you have sitting around you right now? Think you don't have many, look again. Right now I have more than just a couple, not that I'm a technophile (the antithesis of technophobe), I just like gadgets. Looking around me I have (obviously) the laptop that I'm writing this blog post with, an HDTV, DVD player, Xbox 360, PSP, DS, digital camera, digital watch, LED flashlight and various accessories to go with those devices. Now, think about this, how many of those would have been possible 20 years ago? Maybe one or two of those, if you had the money for them. 15? Maybe a couple more, again if you had deep pockets. 10? Almost all of these devices could have been available, and nearly affordable then. How about even 5 years ago? All but one or two, but that's really not the point I'm trying to make.
Technology by it's very nature changes rapidly. In the last 20 years we've gone from VHS being the dominant video format, with DVD and Blu-ray following. Now, the paradigm is starting to shift away from physical media altogether. Who out there has not downloaded a computer program or a movie or TV show? I know I have and I'd bet money you have too. But some people are not like you and me. Some people hate when new technologies are released. Why? Some people just hate to see their old favorites replaced. Just look at the backlash that happened when CDs supplanted records as the dominate music format. Then again, some people just hate technology.
Which leads me to technophobes, people that hate technology for no logical reason. I just read an interesting article on Time.com about a group of technophobes, well, probably just one technophobe and a bunch of his clueless neighbors. The article had the quaint title of "English villagers send Google snapper packing", quite catchy I think. Anyway, to quote the esteemed gentleman that was so horribly defiled by the evil Google syndicate:
"I was upstairs when I spotted the camera car driving down the lane," villager Paul Jacobs told The Times of London newspaper. "My immediate reaction was anger: How dare anyone take a photograph of my home without my consent?"Upon seeing this car drive down his lane Mr. Jacobs coordinated with his neighbors to block the route of the vehicle. Let me get this straight. This guy sees a car driving down his road. He doesn't like that the car is going to take a picture of his house from a public access road and decides to form a mob with his neighbors. He then blocked the road to prevent a person that was not committing an illegal act from doing what he was hired to do by a reputable company. And this guy thinks he was the hero here. I can just hear him now.
"I saved the lives of all my neighbors...No, wait. That's not right. I saved the reputation of my villiage by...Hang on. I'll get it in a second. I know. I impeded an evil technology from...Never mind. I've got nothing."There have been several arguments brought up against Google implementing its Street View technology in Google Earth. Some have even said that photographing homes will lead to an increase in burglaries. Now I have to say that that idea sounds completely ludicrous to me. How would photographing the front of a building, something that ANYONE with a camera can do, lead to an increase in home invasions? Maybe today's criminals are tech savvy, or maybe just lazy.
"Why, back in the old days criminals used to scope out prospective victims in person. Now they can plan a strategy from the comfort from their own home."Except for one minor detail. Google Street View only shows views of buildings from a street perspective. That's not the idea entry direction for a would-be crook to go. I don't know, I've never robbed anyone before, but wouldn't going in the back (where no one including Google can see) be preferable?
It isn't that the technology or Google itself is bad, in fact, this technology has been around for decades. It's just the fact that this guy is just afraid. He is afraid of change and of new things he does not understand. But, instead of researching the subject and understanding what it's all about he chooses instead to be ignorant. Choosing to be ignorant, and displaying it in public is his right, but he does not have the right to interfere with a company that has broken no laws.
*Disclaimer: In using the phrase "Word Of The Day" I am not stating that I will, in fact, write about a word every day. It just sounded better than "Word Of The Week" or "Word Of The Whenever The Hell I Feel Like Writing About A Word".
No comments:
Post a Comment