Is technology making us stupid? Author suggests 'Internet sabbath' to students

OGDEN — It gets us where we're going, tells us how to get there, entertains us on our way and, at times, lets us stay put in the first place.

It connects us, instantly, with friends and family across the globe. It heats our homes, washes our clothes and keeps our lawns green.

The term "technology" is broad, but as machines become more capable, are humans becoming less?

After that question was posted on Facebook, Deseret News readers responded that with the advent of modern technologies their handwriting has suffered, their ability to spell without a checker has decreased, their friends and family can't hold a conversation without distraction, they rely almost exclusively on mapping software to find addresses and at times have had a sense of panic when they can't access their cellphone contacts.

"My siblings, I don't even know their cellphone numbers off the top of my head," said Jordan Liau, 24, of Provo.

Ten years ago he could produce the phone numbers of his friends and neighbors from memory. But today, if pressed, he said he'd be lucky to remember more than 10. Like most smartphone users, making calls is only one feature on the device Liau checks hourly for text messages, emails relating to his job with BYU Catering or updates on his friends' Facebook pages.

"I could probably be without Facebook for a day," he said. "It wouldn't kill me; I would just feel separated."

In William Powers' opinion, that separation may be just what the doctor ordered.

Powers, author of "Hamlet's BlackBerry," spoke to Weber State University students Thursday about finding a balance between their physical and digital lives. He said he began thinking about the topic of his book — which encourages people to create unplugged "Walden Zones" (from a Henry David Thoreau novel) in their homes — after noticing subtle changes in his own life.

"I was a hostage to my own connectedness," Powers said, standing in front of an image of a man with a cellphone taped to his head. "My attention span was getting shorter and shorter."

At first, it was his work as a writer and journalist that was affected, but in time he noticed the problem had extended to his family life as well.

"We were kind of drifting away from each other in the digital age that's supposed to bring us together," Powers said. "Old-fashioned togetherness will always have supreme value."