New York Times
Nick Bilton is a British-American journalist and author.
I’ve also witnessed how technology has enabled terrorists to spread their message of hate and incite fear.
All these downsides have made me wonder whether these technological advances are worth it. Maybe we’re better off without smartphones, social media, cloud computing and apps du jour like Snapchat that we seemingly can’t live without today.
It’s a question I’ve been asking myself as I
When I seek inspiration or something to make me smile, I sometimes find myself visiting David’s Twitter page (@carr2n) to read his old tweets, which are filled with nuggets of wisdom, humorous insights and deft turns of phrase.
The last time I did this, I also realized that I was still following him. So were 455,000 other people, even though his last tweet was dated Feb. 12, 2015, and was directed at me after a little joke I had played on my dear friend and mentor. “>@nickbilton left me a VM because he thought I’m actually ancient enough to still listen to them. Took the bait. ouch. #gotyermessage”
Is he ever going to tweet again? No. And yet, hundreds of thousands of people (and a few bots) still follow him. That’s because technology still connects us (me) to David.
David Carr isn’t the only deceased person who continues to be a guiding light for me. My mother, who died last March, is still saved as a favorite on my iPhone, and I imagine will be there forever.
I still follow her on Facebook. Her emails are still saved in my inbox (though I feel guilty for having not replied to some), as is a video she sent me two Christmases ago explaining how to make her famous chocolate cake.
Thankfully, because of that front-facing camera, I get to scroll through pictures of her that she sent over the years.
In the 1800s, people would photograph the recently deceased, often in a family portrait, as a way of capturing one last moment with a loved one.
We do so through the digital footprints left behind on Facebook and Twitter, the photos on our smartphones, and all the morsels scooped up by search engines. Technology allows us to connect.
So does the good
Take driverless cars, which I believe will have a huge, unknowable impact on society.
The same pro-and-con situations will play out with other technologies, including drones, virtual reality, big data, 3-D printers, medicines, wearable computers and, of course, artificial intelligence.
We will worry about these new technologies. We will question them. We will demand changes. And we should.