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From: martin@netcom.com (Martin Hall)
Newsgroups: comp.society
Subject: Re: Too Much Computer is bad
Message-ID: <949@limbo.Intuitive.Com>
Date: 5 Jul 90 17:08:26 GMT
Sender: taylor@limbo.Intuitive.Com
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Approved: taylor@Limbo.Intuitive.Com

Joseph Polvino writes:

> In every work environment, there are a handful of people who hoard
> programs.  In the Macintosh realm, desktop accessories (DAs) are the
> most traded.  Do you really need 20 init files?  Do you really need that
> memory-resident program that pops up with the ASCII table when you can
> print one up and stick it next to your monitor?  Do you REALLY need your
> Macintosh to say, "Nice night for a walk" whenever you eject a disk?

I understand, and for the most part agree with the above. But it does
not seem to speak to the comment, "Too Much Computer is Bad".  Though it
does seem to say quite a bit about wasting resources.

> The most blatently counterproductive software product I've seen on the
> market is a program which displays a message on the screen such as "Out
> to lunch" or "At meeting - back at 2:00" to name a few.  These programs
> are probably loads of fun to have, and the time customizing the
> parameters for it wastes more time and money than simply writing a
> post-it and slapping it on your screen!  

I will have to agree here....I have even caught myself wanting to type a
ToDo list into the computer when a handwritten one on the back of an
envelope might suffice.  What we should look at it is, why do we act
this way.  A good question to discuss might be the why are compters so 
seductive that people behave in this manner...

Well, I think that it is both good and bad.  Another example is e-mail.
If you have e-mail within a company, it often times becomes to easy to
send a message rather than speak to someone in person.  I have found
that people will be a lot more confrontative of others over e-mail
(sometimes by accident) and not realize the bad feelings that are being
produced at the other end.  This is why people use :-), :-( ,etc. to
connote sarcasm and sadness.  The technology is promoting a type of
isolationism, that if allowed to continue unchecked, can cause ordinary
relationships to deteriorate that otherwise would not.

I am very much a proponent of people carefully understanding why they
use technology.  I think it is potentially dangerous when companies
buy a computer "because they can do their work better", with no
understanding of why they are doing it.  I thnink people should have a
reasonable understanding of why they are using some piece of technology.
If not society will end up turning into a group of mindless
techno-droids.

Martin L.W. Hall