Some people prefer to live with less technology in their lives. Can you understand the desire to live a simpler life?

April 17, 2017 5:17am CST
I sometimes wonder how much more productive my life would be without screen time. Internet, computers, smartphones and Netflix included in screen time. Life is definately easier with technology. But does it make us happy?
7 people like this
11 responses
@Meramar (2695)
17 Apr 17
Technology can help us in many ways through our lifes if we use it well. The matter is that many persons don't know how to use it wisely and lose a lot of time with it. Definitly, I could imagine living without technology and would be happier. During my childhood, I used my bicycle instead of mobile phone and I wished my children would too.
4 people like this
17 Apr 17
I was born in the 1970's. I spent a lot of time in front of the TV as a child. But I also spent as much time climbing trees and bird watching with Dads binoculars.
1 person likes this
@Meramar (2695)
17 Apr 17
@ncwdianne During the decades of the 70th and the 80th, we lived more and experienced more. Now, we educate a screen and typing based generation which doesn't know anything about real life.
1 person likes this
• Nanjing, China
17 Apr 17
I can see that less time spent using technology could be more productive, but at the same time technology has also allowed us to be more productive by assisting us in our day-to-day tasks. As long as the technology used is for the greater good I think the positives would outweigh the negatives.
2 people like this
@Meramar (2695)
17 Apr 17
Technology has to be used with intelligence to find the right place and the way to use it well. It's not always easy to recognize the limit until where it's helpful and where it starts to be a lose of time. Young people just use it to get in touch with the rest of the world but don't see or recognize the person beside.
2 people like this
@Meramar (2695)
17 Apr 17
@definitelynotaziz That's right, parents "should" monitor their children. The problem starts where the parents are more absorbed with technology than their children. Very often, more than we wished, we are not giving the right sample to the kids. It's the same as when parents are telling to their kids "Don't smoke, it's bad for your health!" smoking one themselves at the same time, meanwhile they try to give a lesson to the children. Are we really serious enough to educate our children?
1 person likes this
• Nanjing, China
17 Apr 17
@Meramar Very true. I feel that along with the rapid advancements in technology parents nowadays need to monitor their kids more on the use of everyday devices at a young age so they don't get too absorbed to it.
1 person likes this
@scheng1 (24650)
• Singapore
17 Apr 17
I have to work with computer. I cannot imagine work without computer. But when it comes to personal life, I prefer to have very limited contact with computer. The best holiday is always the ones without any internet.
1 person likes this
@Shavkat (137221)
• Philippines
17 Apr 17
I agree. It is considered the basic necessity nowadays.
2 people like this
• Groveland, Florida
18 Apr 17
There are two sides to this coin. I believe technology is a wonderful aspect of the human condition and I hope it only continues to evolve. Technology, we must understand, is not an evolutionary fluke or a condition aberrant from nature, but merely a natural aspect of human development. Our technology is no less natural than a beehive or the leaves of the trees. Nature intended for us to develop technology in order for life on this planet to continue after the planet itself no longer can. Birds fly south for the winter because of natural mandate. We develop technology due to nature's recognition of potential global catastrophe (loss of the dinosaurs). But we are also a natural aspect of nature as it has always been. I've long found hikers and outdoorsy folks weird when they consider themselves something outside of the nature around them. I've actually seen hikers collect their bodily wastes and take them with them in order to prevent contamination of the environment. The bears do it out there all the time. Get over yourself. So many claim we're becoming zombies and dependent on our technology because they see people so focused on their smart phones. But people have been doing this with books, newspapers and scrolls for who-knows-how-long now. But it's good to know how to fish, hunt, garden, sew a button, recognize poisonous plants and play in the mud. I have a smart phone in my pocket but I always have a jeweler's loupe, too. You know, for rocks, bugs and whatever. I have wifi in my home but my home is in a rural area. Science Fiction such as Star Trek and others provide a glimpse into a good balance of tech and nature. These people rely on their high-tech devices but they would if they were employing sticks and rocks in the Bronze Age. They accept their reality for what it is. Life is easier with technology, but we should see the technology as tools to live better lives while retaining the value of what the past has to offer. The past offers so much more, but the future is what is coming.
1 person likes this
@zoega_59 (59)
• Haninge, Sweden
17 Apr 17
I live a quite simple life. OK, I have a computer, which I do not use much. It is good when your shall pay the bills or if you are looking for any special. I have also a mobile that I very seldom use. There are so many other things that are more important for me
1 person likes this
@sabtraversa (12963)
• Italy
17 Apr 17
"The desire of living a simpler life without technology" yet "life is definitely easier with technology". Simple and easy are synonyms! How much more productive life would be without technology? Having to write down letters, waiting for the postman, having to gather water from springs, take care of a garden for food. What you save not watching screens you spend in obtaining basic necessities.
1 person likes this
@shivamani10 (11038)
• Hyderabad, India
17 Apr 17
Surely not 100 per cent.
@CoolPeace (1566)
• Miami, Florida
18 Apr 17
I think many will be reading newspapers, books, and enjoying outdoor more.
@diosabella (4789)
17 Apr 17
I love technology but sometimes it gets in my way to finish the things that I want to do too.
• Algeria
17 Apr 17
yes i agree with you.. life is so easy with technology but its not enjoayble at all.. i prefer to use technology and stay away from it from time to time.. i don't like to relay on the technology in everyting.. i like to stay away from it sometimes to give my mind break.
1 person likes this