Reporter's Notebook

Turn off the computer?

I’m a subscriber to Tim Clark and Mark Cunningham’s Soul Shelter blog, which attempts to, as they put it, “protect the soul against the deadening effects of techno-culture.”

My response to this blog is almost always the same: “Yes! Let’s turn off our computers and web phones already! Let’s forget about email for a while.” Because when I do those things, it’s often a relief. It helps increase productivity, or at least clarity of mind.

But, of course, I read the blog on a computer and you are reading these words online. I am a reporter on the technology beat. I am a nature-lover. I am enamored of my new laptop. But I often have more fun when it’s turned off. I am torn.

“How we interact with machines and technology in many ways defines who we are,” writes local anthropologist Amber Case. She posits that that communication technology such as cell phones and Internet devices help people connect with “community in an increasingly isolated urban environment.”

But does it also contribute to that isolation?

Communication technology has helped business take leaps and bounds in many ways. Deals are made via video conference calls. Employees can work and communicate from home, from the road, in a park. Businesses save on printing costs, and information is distributed faster than ever. But in keeping us connected continually, does that same technology slow us down?

How does communication technology affect you? Does it enhance your life and work, or does it get in the way?

--Charity Thompson can be reached at cthompson@vbjusa.com