As technology advances, the skills we develop to survive go through changes.
For example, when the horse was the primary means of transportation, many more people knew how to ride. Once the horse was replaced by the automobile, horse riding became less important.
In the present day, the speed at which technology advances is enough to make your head spin. Any single person can travel almost anywhere in the world, from the deepest ocean depths to the highest mountaintops.
In addition, we have labor saving devices all throughout our homes, from dishwashers to vacuum cleaners to electric toothbrushes. Our food stays fresher longer due to refrigerators, we can quickly warm meals in the microwave, and there are even cat litter boxes that will clean themselves.
But by far, the biggest change to our personal lives comes from the digital world, from the personal computer to the Internet to the smartphone. Many tasks that would take us hours or even days can be accomplished within seconds using the smartphone with a connection to the Internet.
So What?
All of these devices save time and make us more efficient. (Or do they?) There can be a downside, however. We learn certain skills that serve us well throughout our lives. But some of these skills are atrophied when we don’t use them, or they may not even be developed in the first place.
For some, it hardly matters. If we, collectively, forget how to wash dishes by hand, does that make much of an impact? Probably not.
Other cases are less clear. As emails and text messages replace written communication, do we lose the ability to compose letters? Does that impact our ability to communicate effectively?
There are many examples of things we used to do regularly that have now been replaced by the tools we have developed. Which skills have you lost due to technology?
Related questions: How have we changed? Are we too busy? What material possession means the most to you? What role does technology play in your life?
I’ve definitely noticed that my handwriting — print and cursive — has gone downhill now that most of my writing happens through typing on some device.
My memory sucks for a few reasons, and technology is one of them. Who needs to remember most anything? You can simply Google it.
I get lost. I am very good at getting lost. Can I count on that as a skill? But I digress. Years ago Hudson’s Street Maps — scores of pages in a printed book, with each page a a small part of a grid for a city — saved me. Map-reading was a skill I mastered. But now Siri is my savior with respect to navigation.
1. As Michael has stated, handwriting.
2. Relaxing & Clearing my mind. This one shows that I should unplug more.
I don’t think that I’ve lost skills due to technology. Much like how you never forget how to ride a bike, I think that those skills are still there, just sitting is my subconscious waiting to be revived. That being said, I don’t memorize phone numbers anymore.