It is not yet decided what the full impact of this screen information technology might be on society. We are experimenting as it grows, images become more vivid. Screams are popping up like technicolored tulips all around us and VR is next. Though me and my partner still find time to get outside, ride bikes and climb mountains, it is clear that we are combatting the force of the screens. Society is enchanted on mass by all this new tech and surreal imagery, it's in our lives, no matter how hard we try to resist it.
We are the first generation to be fully exposed to this. New parents don't know how much time to let their kids play on their screens. It was easier when it was just the TV to say just one hour a day. Now when the devices are also learning tools, portable communications and navigation devices, the lines are blurred. The kids are after the screens like candy and are taking two or more at once. I sometimes have five screens going, three computer screens a tablet and a phone. It does seem a lot like crack, i wouldn't recommend this for my kids. At work most people have more than one screen, I've seen some traders run eleven! I'm jealous of them, I feel I need more! At the hotel I'm at today there are even TV's in all the booths next to the pool. It looks bazaar then you consider that they are also above every bar counter, on the walls in restaurants and by the elevators, not to mention in all the rooms and, just in case we are all carrying portable units in all our pockets or purses. Never mind electrocution, clearly if you don't bring screens there isn't much of a pool party in this town.
To me this is kind of sickening. A withdrawal from reality and from living in the moment. I also think this wall of screens is part of the reason why many people are slow to get into Bitcoin and crypto currencies. When people already spend time trying to get away from the screens of work and generic hotel resorts, Bitcoin can seem like a step back into the digital void. Worse still, when they see a person like myself, who used to spend more time on sports and adventures in the outdoors, it can seem like and A class technological drug, one step up in buzz and addiction to the screens that people are used to.
Bitcoin and crypto currency are certainly advanced technology. Etherium could be likened to heroin for home programers. There are even social effects in the community which resemble addictions. Some enthusiast find themselves falling into a rabbit hole of crypto currency research and end up isolated, up all night, forgetting to shower and only able to relate to other enthusiast. This is strange because it's a concept, its not like looking at a screen or a drug, there is no specific act or drug. I argue that it is not the same type of addictiion. Bitcoin doesn't nail you to the couch and capture your attention with revenue grabbing flashing lights. It lets you reflect on the world and to learn things like coding that where once just an obscure magic. This can take a lot of time, but it can also make technology less overwhelming. Crypto currency inspires devoted fascination, but it is not a digital entertainment addiction.
To some a mix of technology and money seems like a monster to be avoided. Both concepts are mind boggling and very much a sideline to having fun in the moment. Crypto currencies are however a concept of the moment. They are actually designed to help us escape the monster that is our legacy financial system. They can reduce the influence of the financial system on our lives. Something the anti-money crowd can get behind. They are also often designed not to take over our lives with screens and actually reduce the amount of digital hardware required in our daily lives. One phone per person might even be a reduction. We can get rid of eftpos machines, credit cards, bank statements, adding bills, the continual pin numbers and personal information forms, the money changing when we are overseas and the currency calculations, the call centres and the lunch time queues. The new advancements can free us from the parts of technology that we don't like, making transactions a smaller part of our lives, in doing this they can give us more time to focus on nature and other things that matter.
Even so, mass enchantment is here to stay and screen addiction is on the rise. The latest move of world gaming company Steam, accepting bitcoin, is capitalising on this. It's a perfect match for 3D gaming screen junkies who do freelance programming for bitcoin. Crypto currencies are not going to stop this. We should however, be careful not to confuse bitcoin as an A Class side car for holographic harley screen lovers. Bitcoin is not really a digital tether and it could actually help us cut some cords. It's already curing some of the side effects of technology and our financial system that liberal environmentally conscious friends try to block out. Screens may be dividing society, but Bitcoin is not. Greenpeace even accepts bitcoin.
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