I find it amazing of how many people complain about so many social issues, issues that are completely preventable. So many people rely on computer technology to do their thinking for them. While technology has made our lives better some ways, it has made our lives worse in other ways, simply because of the dependence on it for convenience purposes. This may sound old-school, but it’s actually true. Computers were originally meant and developed to be as aids to humans, not to take over all our purposes. Let’s take phone communication is no exception, having been compromised by the overuse of popular features that are, in-essence, garbage to everyday life to the common people.
Speed-dialing is used so much that people don’t think to dial phone numbers anymore. As a result, most people no longer remember phone numbers. Phone systems have set up so much automation that now people sometimes don’t know how to reach their desired party anymore.
Caller ID was originally set up for law-enforcement and other front-line services to track down emergencies. Eventually, it was mainstreamed to the point of making people feel they know whose calling. Now with all the spoofing, caller-ID has become a virtually useless feature, yet people still believe in it to alter whom they feel is actually calling.
Call-forwarding was originally set up for the purpose of people being able to reach doctors and police in the event of distress. Along the way, it had been mainstreamed to reroute intended calls to alternative numbers at temporarily locations as a way to reach people “out of the office”. Today, it is used to intercept and reroute calls to places the caller never intended.
Call trace was a feature originally intended to track down parties making harassing or otherwise prank calls and reroute them to law-enforcement. Today it has become advanced to one of the main methods for tele markers and scammers to acquire personal information on others.
Blocking features were originally set up as to protect people from potential crimes. It has become overused and in time has become even one more method to cover-up wrongdoing. Today, blocking is a main feature in censoring people, and it popular with those who can’t get a grip with their own disposition, or overall have something(s) to hide.
Computer database systems were originally devised as to set up efficient systems for mailings or fund-raisings. Today they are so advanced that they can easily be used for more wrongdoing than otherwise in phone solicitation.
Three-way calling was originally for the purpose of expending conversations to include a third person.
Today, it is used for spying and has become so advanced that the third party is able to acquire information without being suspected or traced.
People should not mistake these features to be obsolete or outdated. These features are not only on landlines, but on cellphones and digital voice communication over social media. The abuse of all these advanced communication services had driven many people to resort to virtual private networks (VPNs), which are marketed for security purposes, but can be costly and create hiding places for criminals or other people of wrongdoing.
I, like many people have found that all this advancement on communication features intend to advance us, has gotten so bad that it Is actually digressing to an anti-social society. The best progress in communication technology is the manual operations decades ago. Real technology advancement is based on capability, not convenience. One doesn’t have to be a technician to figure all this out, just someone that observes human behavior. Yet, criticizing the downside to technology can be offensive to a technician, no matter how good she or he is.
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