Has Technology Changed The Way We Communicate?
About this episode
AUGUST 23, 2019
Is the art of a conversation dead? Has technology made us lazy? Today, most people can’t even go 24 hours without using their phone, a computer, or the internet. In this episode of the GEEK FREAKS PODCAST, Ron, David, and Celia discuss how technology has changed more than just the way we communicate, but how our over-dependence of digital technology is restructuring our lives and what the future of our digital world will look like.
Meet the geek freaks
RON HARRIS
VICE PRESIDENT
15 years in the industry.
Enjoys spending time with his family, riding his Harley, and finding time to sleep.
Fun fact: Ron broke both of his arms.
He's a simple person, enjoys work, but also enjoys being alone reading a book or learning something new. Loves candy DOTs!
Celia Kinney
I.T. DISPATCHER/FST COORDINATOR
IT Glue Certified Professional, 1st Degree Black Belt
Loves cats, energy drinks and anything AV related
In her off time you can catch her playing pen and paper games, studying Japanese, or snuggling her cats.
David Luper
ACCOUNT GROWTH SPECIALIST
Senior at Western Michigan University, Studying Sales and Business Marketing.
Has been to space camp 11 times.
Enjoys playing basketball, working out, and going to the movies.
Favorite foods are Popeye’s and Crab legs.
VIEW TRANSCRIPT >
Ron
Welcome to the Geek Freaks Podcast episode number three ‘Has Technology Changed the Way We Communicate?’ Guests today are David Luper and Celia Kinney. Did I say that right?
Celia
Yeah, you got it right.
Ron
Oh, what’s up? You might have to get a little closer there. Alright so I guess David you’re a younger man.
David
Yes sir.
Ron
Are you reliant on your phone? If you lose your phone what happens to your life?
David
A lot happens in a short amount of time, but right now I have two phones so that doesn’t happen.
Ron
What happens if you lose your phone Celia?
Celia
Uh not a whole lot I just kinda feel naked kinda like exposed.
Ron
Yeah. Yeah, so like every morning I try not to be like too tied to it because I have kids, so when I come home, I can’t have my phone on me because I have to play with my kids. But, in the morning the first thing I check before I leave the house is if I have my car keys, my wallet, and my phone.
Celia
Mhm.
Ron
That’s all I care about in the morning, which is stupid, but I know the first thing I do when I wake up is check my phone. So, you guys aren’t reliant at all, I guess. Maybe me so more.
Celia
Well do you use your phone as like your alarm clock and things like that?
Ron
Um yeah, now I do. Well I wasn’t for a while. But I just went back to it, it’s aggressive. It’s real aggressive I don’t know; do you use your phone for an alarm?
David
Yeah, oh yeah. It’s set to uh play a song every time that I am supposed to wake up.
Ron
But, you’re gonna learn to hate that song I feel like.
David
Yeah, I never listen to that song in the car.
Ron
Because it’s your wake-up song. Do you listen to music too? I got like the [music tones] just like chimes.
Celia
Uh no. I have my own custom alarm so that won’t happen where I hate the song and I don’t want to listen to it anymore. But I use like blaring sounds.
David
A custom alarm? You made it, you recorded it yourself? Like Celia get up!
Celia
Mhm. Kinda yeah. I record my own samples.
Ron
[Laughs] That would be scary. The screaming, yeah, I don’t know I would hate that. Do you think where we are at in life now, the technology our cellphones, or just technology in general is a help or a hindrance to society or what we do?
David
I think it’s a major help. Just like with anything there are pros and cons to everything, but I think most people’s concern is that it’s changing the way we have face-to-face interactions with people. But, in my opinion I think they only see that as bad because it’s changing, and people hate change.
Ron
So, yeah, I agree, and I don’t. It’s hard for me because I’m like in this in-between…
David
Yeah, you’re old I get it.
Ron
Yeah, I grew up with a phone, I had a phone it wasn’t like this cool of a phone. Ya know I had the Nokia that you could like…
Celia
The indestructible phone.
Ron
Yeah, but it was like a T9 AA, BB, CC. So texting was like damn near impossible, but now I see it like it kind of ruins my life because you can’t bullshit, like I can’t tell a great story with a good bullshit in there because people Google everything or like I’ll look it up right now and you’re like ah okay.
David
No, that’s false, you can still falsify things on the web.
Ron
So, I have to go and edit a Wikipedia page real quick.
David
There’s a there’s an old trick called the ‘Lorenzo Matter’ trick.
Ron
What’s that?
David
If you are familiar with ‘How I Met Your Mother’
Ron
I am not.
David
Okay so I’ll explain. You go into a bar and introduce yourself as a man named Lorenzo Matter and you tell a bunch of lies about yourself, but you’ve previously made a bunch of fake webpages confirming who you are as a liar.
Ron
That’s not nice.
Celia
That seems like a lot of work.
Ron
Yeah.
David
I mean like it’s one time yeah sure it’s work, but ya know whatever.
Ron
Yeah, but I’m just saying I can’t tell a story about a giant fish or you know what I mean because people look everything up now. We have a computer in our pockets, it’s crazy. Or I guess I’m guilty of it too, go out to dinner with your significant other and you spend at least 50% of the time staring at your phone instead of having a conversation.
Celia
I both agree and disagree with that because my boyfriend and I we go out to dinner all the time be we actually play cooperative games together. So, if I have my phone out and he has his phone out we actually talk about it and strategize like what we are gonna do in the game and then it passes time where we are not staring at other people or ya know it’s something we enjoy doing together.
Ron
[Laughs] Yeah, I understand that aspect of it. So, I guess it kinda depends on what you’re trying to get out if it. Uh we go out to the bars with our friends and we; all the wives and girlfriends will be on their phones looking at Instagram or Facebook instead of having a conversation and maybe sometimes it brings up conversation amongst them, but I feel like that aspect has ruined things. I was just thinking about this earlier when I was reading the articles about what we wanted to talk about. Dating, it has changed dating too, aggressively. That’s a big smile there too David.
David
[Laughs] Dating is a whole lot easier now.
Ron
But, is it harder…yes. But, is it harder for these people that you’re dating now to have a face-to-face conversation? Because everything takes place in a different world or in a phone yeah know whatever the case is.
David
I think some people struggle with the texting aspect of it, so they won’t know how to text somebody that they are interested in. But, I feel like if you’ve found a way to work the system ya know you know how to text someone, you know the right things to say, the right things to ask, but as far as face-to-face interactions I’ve personally never had an issue with that, but I don’t know that’s something some people struggle with.
Ron
So, I guess maybe not having that conversation is a negative, but a positive is you can meet people you never would before in your circle of friends.
Ron
Yeah I think what he was trying to get at is the new technology with dating kinda gives people the confidence, instead of walking up to a pretty girl and saying “hey can I buy you a drink” they can just match in Tinder and oh my gosh this person does actually have an interest in me because we both matched. Like they swiped right, and I swiped right. So that kind of gives them boost of confidence and like yeah, I’m gonna talk to this girl and if she texts him back that would be really cool.
Ron
Yeah, no and that’s the positive you don’t know until you know, I guess.
Celia
I try.
Ron
I don’t know, I don’t go out to the bars anymore.
David
I don’t do that type of thing. My body is a temple.
Ron
Well say you might go out to the bars David, do a lot of ladies and men buy each other drinks anymore? Or is it just like what’s your Myspace page babe?
David
Oh yeah for sure, guys still buy girls drinks. That’s uh but with that tho I think that’s more of a guy will just do it because they think that’s how you get a girl. But what I’ve seen 90% of the time the girl will be like okay thanks bye and walk away.
Ron
[Laughs]
Celia
Right, exactly.
Ron
Well I mean that’s kind of perfect too right? Free drink. Do you think you can go 24 hours without the internet, your phone, a computer?
David
What do I get in return?
Ron
Nothing. You just have to go once.
Celia
I’ve done that. Yeah, music festivals you can’t really have your phone.
David
I don’t think I could do it. No way.
Celia
A whole weekend.
Ron
I think I could do it.
David
There’s no way.
Celia
yeah.
Ron
No?
David
No, there’s too many people I talk too.
Ron
[Laughs] So it would take like a prize for you to?
David
Oh yeah if you’re like here’s $100 I would be like that’s too easy yeah, I would go without it, but just for fun that’s a waste of time.
Ron
Well maybe not for fun, maybe the scenario is that the network, the internet goes down on everything. Now your phone is just like used for to look at whatever is on your phone, you can’t access any information with the phone.
David
Nah, I mean that would be alright. If I can still text people that would be alright. Like if I can’t text people that would be a struggle.
Ron
Okay, I mean that’s fair. One of the articles we were reading was like 17% of kids, college kids couldn’t go without their phone for24 hours. That’s a lot. 24 hours isn’t that long. You could sleep for 12 of it.
Celia
That’s fair yeah you could.
Ron
And the other 12 find something to occupy your time with.
Celia
Take a really long nap.
Ron
So, digital dementia is something I, you guys all know I suffer from it because I can’t remember things if it’s not in my phone or reminded on my calendars. Can you name, let’s play a little game here can you name 5 phone numbers without looking at your cellphone.
Celia
Like can we repeat them or?
Ron
Yeah, I wouldn’t say them out loud, but do you think you in your head do you know 5 phone numbers without…
Celia
No
David
Oh yeah, yup. My mom, my dad, popeyes, umm
Ron
Popeyes [laughs]
David
Popeyes on West Main
Ron
That’s aggressive.
Celia
[Laughs]
Ron
I thought you treat your body like a temple?
David
Oh, I do yeah, you gotta treat it sometimes.
Ron
Yeah.
David
Sometimes you need a break.
Ron
I get it, oh I’m not saying anything.
David
Sometimes that break comes like every other day I don’t know.
Ron
Wow, that’s a lot of breaks. I couldn’t do it. Ahhh err yeah I could do it I lied.
David
Yeah no I think so like when I was younger and iPhones weren’t like as popular as they are now I had to memorize some phone numbers so that stuck with me, but now I just think I have like my mom and my dad’s and then a few I had like memorized from years ago.
Ron
Yeah like I know uh my childhood phone number, the office number, the service desk number, I mean I know numbers without looking at my phone, but what about birthdays? Every birthday I have is in my calendar and my wife puts it on there so.
David
Facebook now.
Ron
I don’t have it, so I don’t know people’s birthdays.
Celia
I typically keep a pretty good track of it in my head of people’s birthdays. So, birthdays I can get because not everybody is on Facebook like my boyfriend for example, he is not on Facebook so it’s really sad for him when his friends don’t say happy birthday to him because he is not on Facebook. Because they don’t remember it.
Ron
Yeah. Yeah that is a bummer, but uh when I had it for a little bit, I did appreciate the birthday messages. I’m horrible like I’m notorious I don’t know my kids’ birthdays. Like I do to a point I know when they were born, I just fudge it up sometimes I miss it by a day or two. My wife’s birthday is celebrated the entire week of April, the first week of April because I know her birthday falls somewhere in there, so yeah, I mean it’s a thing and I think it’s a thing because ease of use now. Like you said you remembered the phone numbers from when you were a little kid, you didn’t have an iPhone.
David
Yeah.
Ron
I mean that’s the point right there, now we are lazy, and we don’t have to remember certain things.
David
Well I think that’s the point of it though. So, we can be lazy. I don’t think it’s a bad thing.
Celia
But why would you want to breed a lazy culture? Why would you not want them to work at something?
David
What’s the point of working? Everything was being created to be automated right? Everything you’re doing is so you can be more lazy.
Ron
How about instead of lazy we say efficient.
David
Efficient, yeah there ya go.
Ron
Alright.
David
Yeah, you could chalk it up as being lazy but…
Ron
When you said that I totally thought of the captain on Wall-E who rides around in the chair and can’t stand up.
Celia
Yeah exactly.
David
That’s a move. That’s a great movie.
Ron
That’s a great movie. Solid movie. Um what about putting down your smartphone, like one of the articles was like I don’t know what it was, people touch their mobile devices more than 2,600 times a day. American, this is I’m reading this correctly, American touch their mobile devices more than 2,600 times a day.
Celia
Eh. I usually just leave mine at my desk if I need to or have to I don’t really rely on it too much unless I get a notification then yeah I will, but I don’t have to touch my phone.
Ron
Seems a bit high.
David
Seems kinda low to me.
Ron
You really grab it that much, touch it that much?
David
Yeah pick it up look at the time, messages.
Ron
Yeah, maybe that’s a true number then. That’s crazy. What else do you touch that much? David don’t…
Celia
Within reason.
David
[Laughs]
Ron
I mean literally you touch nothing else that much.
Celia
That’s fair yeah.
David
Well I don’t know about that.
Ron
Maybe keys on a keyboard…
Celia
Or your mouse.
Ron
Work-related thing, but a non-important item. That’s crazy. So, as we talk about dementia, well digital dementia not dementia itself, but things we forget or often forget, I also you think of the other side of the coin I don’t have a lot of pictures of myself when I was younger like actual pictures. I probably have 3,000 photos of my kids on my phone.
Celia
And that’s incredible, yeah.
Ron
So, it’s like the other side of it now I may suffer from it in some ways, but David was saying the efficiencies of having it are much greater.
Celia
And not only that too cause I mean myself also I don’t have a lot pictures from when I was a child, but my family has been through two fires…
Ron
Yeah.
Celia
And that was when you had physical pictures, now I can take pictures of my family, my cats, and things like that and store it in the cloud, so if my house b urns down and my phone gets destroyed, I still have them. I can still look at that.
Ron
Yeah, I think that’s probably one of the best things about having these little computers with us is capturing memories, but uh then the shitty part is you go to concerts and you go things and people have their cellphones out and they are not watching, feeling the experience. To me that is weird because you go to a show to watch it and people stand with their phone in front of their faces recording it and I get you’re still experiencing it but you’re not living in the moment. Do you feel yourself seeking less in-person connections and are more satisfied behind the screen, so the thought behind that is more people seek, introverts are seeking more cyber-relationships, not in any sort of different fashion but people are easier to talk too I guess it goes back to its easier know to connect with people you’d never connect with, do you think that’s like a growing trend? I don’t feel like that’s stopping anyone when I was a kid you would meet people on Xbox or whatever it’s called and I think now its like what Tinder and all these dating apps and all these friend apps and you get to talk to a lot more people. That’s gotta be stressful though too.
David
Well I think I mean yeah you said earlier you get to talk to a lot of people you wouldn’t normally talk to. Like on Twitter you can “@” a celebrity and sometimes ya know they will respond back, so I think stuff like that is cool, but I think there is some uh people skills that are being lost.
Ron
Oh, I think that is a huge thing.
Celia
Mhm.
Ron
I think that’s a huge thing that people…the art of a conversation is being lost daily because people don’t know how to…like we should be able to all sit-down and have a healthy disagreement or an argument and walk away from it feeling okay. And I think that’s gone now too.
Celia
Oh yeah, absolutely.
Ron
I think everyone just wants to say their peace and that goes back to the internet trolls and you see people tweet at celebrities that are saying mean stuff like we’re nobody to anybody why are we doing this. It’s just wild, it’s just crazy to see that stuff happens.
Celia
It’s like an overconfident thing of like you’ll never get me because I am behind the glass. Like you don’t know where I live.
Ron
Oh yeah.
Celia
You don’t know what I look like, but I’m gonna take it out on you.
Ron
Yeah and I don’t know I think trolling has always happened in some form or fashion. I just don’t know if because everybody has an opportunity now.
Celia
This extreme.
Ron
Like I don’t give a shit what some guy in Arkansas thinks about me.
Celia
Right.
Ron
Yeah know it’s wild to think that’s a thing.
David
Trolling has gotten out of hand. They started doing the swatting, you saw that?
Celia
Oh yeah where they will call the SWAT team on your house.
David
They will call the SWAT team on people who are streaming live on Twitch where these videos are going around where they are being streamed and then all of a sudden SWAT breaks down their doors and they are being dragged out.
Celia
And they can’t trace where it’s coming from so it’s like you are committing a federal offense so to speak.
Ron
And that’s somebody watching that stream and ids just like hey…
Celia
Hahaha got you.
David
Oh, it’s pretty hilarious.
Ron
That’s aggressive, that’s so…
Celia
Have you been arrested? Do you mind if I ask you?
David
Have I been arrested?
Celia
Yeah.
David
No.
Celia
Do you know how scary it is?
David
Being arrested?
Ron
[Laughs]
Celia
Yeah.
David
I don’t think so.
Celia
Now imagine that with a bunch of people with riot shields.
Ron
Yeah that would be…
Celia
That’s terrifying and degrading.
David
I had to get picked up from the police station my sophomore year, I don’t think it was like being arrested.
Ron
You were detained.
David
I don’t know they were like get in the back, they didn’t handcuff us they were like you guys gotta get in the back and you parents are gonna have to come pick you up.
Ron
Oh yeah, that’s a little bit different. So with the way things are and the way things are trending if you had to look into a glass ball and say what’s going to happen in the next 3-5 years what do you guys think is going to be the next wave of digital communication or communication or even tools that we are going to have access to, to allow us to be more efficient?
David
I don’t think it’s going to be communication, but definitely for sure I don’t know if 3-5 years maybe 10-15 I think we are gonna be paying for everything with our thumbprints like we are not going to be using credit cards or anything like that. We will just be using our thumbprints.
Ron
So, we will be the unique identifier to something.
David
Correct.
Ron
Okay.
Celia
They already have right now RFIDM plants that a lot of companies will actually track their employees with or put like money vouchers on and yeah, they will just go up and it’s just like and RFID chip and boom credits are disabled.
Ron
Yeah, I don’t know, not feeling it. I’ll stick with my cash.
David
That’s too bad, that’s how you are gonna have to pay for stuff now.
Ron
So, I show up with a $20 and they are like sorry sir we don’t accept that currency…
David
Only thumbprints.
Ron
Jeepers creepers, what if you don’t have thumbs?
David & Celia
[Laughs]
David
Ooo that would…
Ron
Yeah what are you gonna do
David
Good one there, good call.
Ron
Yeah, do you think that it’s affecting our future, like our kids?
Celia
Oh, absolutely.
Ron
Cause like when I think of my children, I think of the ways that I didn’t have to deal with cyberbullying because it didn’t exist. I had to deal with real bullying and they still have to deal with it some form or fashion, but now they can’t escape it and I think that’s the scarier part being a father is that you can’t run anymore because they can get ya. So, like the future of what is can possibly happen is scary to me. Probably not so much you guys because you’re younger.
David
I don’t know with cyberbullying my dad he always told me like there’s a way you can get around that. He’s like it’s called that power button right there you just hit that power button and turn it off and botta boom it’s gone.
Ron
Yeah I mean I get that but I think it would be incredibly hard to tell an adolescent kid that hey you can’t go on the internet or you can’t talk to your friends in this form or fashion because I think on some level at that age it’s addicting.
David
Well I think his point was if it bothers you so much…
Ron
Leave it.
David
Leave it alone.
Ron
Yeah.
David
If you can’t like figure it out or how to deal with it or how to get past it or grow thick enough skin um…
Celia
And a lot of social media nowadays they have protocols in place you can block people and disable the account, you can make it to where people can’t see you what you post, so instead of taking something that your child might enjoy away from them because there are mean people out there is almost not fair, it’s not fair.
Ron
No, that’s what is so so weird to me is that things are being ruined and things are being taken away from people because of…
Celia
Jerks.
Ron
Yeah, they can’t they can’t deal with or not deal with but uh like stop.
Celia
Yeah.
Ron
You know, you don’t walk into an online lobby and expect to be called the things you get called for no reason.
Celia
Yeah and you know those people would never say that to your face.
Ron
No, I know and it’s uh and again I think that it’s not the way the majority of the internet or the world and the internet communicates or works but it’s there and it’s something that as we get expose to it or that children get exposure to it we all have to be mindful of because it happens. I mean I don’t know like even if I play a game on my iPhone and there’s other people involved you can, I set my phone down and you can hear people screaming and swearing into the mic and I’m like oh gotta mute that I’ve got kids around. It’s crazy, I think it is gonna change. I think for good or bad I don’t know, but it’s gonna change. I think we are gonna go to a paperless system. I don’t know if it’s going to be a handprint or anything else, but I don’t know I think it’s gonna end up coming sooner than later with the way everything is changing. McDonalds has kiosks now.
Celia
Oh yeah totally.
Ron
Taco Bell had a kiosk the other day when we were in there.
Celia
They deliver now, so you don’t even have to leave your house.
Ron
Taco Bell is on that next level.
Celia
So does McDonalds. McDonalds delivers too.
Ron
Really?
Celia
Oh yeah. My guilty pleasure.
Ron
I won’t be getting McDonalds delivered.
David
This is news to me.
Ron
Well see we all learn.
David
That is a game changer.
Ron
We are learning.
Celia
[Laughs]
Ron
But, yeah anyways guys I appreciate it, thanks for your time today Thanks for listening to the Geek Freaks Podcast. Make sure you subscribe and tune in for the next episode.
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