I worry very much about the youngest generation. Everybody now (age 5 to 50), whether they be at home, doing homework, watching TV, at the dining table, in a restaurant, or indeed working, (everybody) seems to be sat there playing with a mobile smartphone or tablet, and not participating in, or taking note of, what is going on around them.

I was told about the same thing happening at a Xmas lunch back in the UK, no one speaking and all the young children keying away at their smartphones & tablets at the meal table! The art of conversation is dying.

Before (in the past), if I walked past shops, bars, restaurants, massage shops, or in the case of department stores - walking past counters selling whatever, - staff would make eye contact and call out such things as: "hello, welcome, come in, 50% off, we have your size, (or in my case: hello handsome man), and generally promoting the wares they sell. Now I walk past ALL of the above, and the staff are looking down at their smartphones, keying in messages or even playing games, - even in shops & department stores, where they should be promoting their businesses and selling their wares. Staff who are often paid on commission.

From a Global Growth perspective, there is surely going to be falling profitability with many businesses over the coming years. Not to mention aspects like falling literacy and the inability to communicate in spoken sentences in our children.

I was having a conversation with a neighbour recently and she was looking down at her phone and scrolling messages whilst I was talking to her! My wife reads Facebook whilst I talk to her, - so I stop talking until she looks up.

I think it is a serious social problem, with implications yet to fully realised.

My step-daughter sits there supposedly doing her homework, with her phone hidden under a book and then sneakily sending and receiving messages. I joke and ask has your friend: eaten yet, brushed her teeth, been to the toilet, etc etc. Most of the dialogue on these social networking sites is unnecessary trivia. We make her leave her phone downstairs when she goes to bed, otherwise she sneaks it into her bedroom and hides it under the pillow and is then messaging late into the night. As it is, she takes her phone to the toilet for extended visits. So we've started making her leave it outside the bathroom.

The other pro-occupation is "selfie" pics. Photos taken of oneself in every pose conceivable, then saved and posted to social websites or sent to friends.

Did you spot in the news recently a woman in the UK sent a joyous "selfie" to her friends from her mobile (whilst driving) and within a minute, she was killed when her car crossed the central reservation and hit another vehicle. The police later confirmed the timing of the two events.

Those of you with young children, - be warned.

I know when my kids were young and computers came out, I stretched myself to buy a 486 computer which was faster, so that they, and I, could learn about computers and not be left behind by the onward moving technology. The world has come on leaps and bounds from there, and continues to accelerate.

What is the world coming to! (Will we be performing out own colonoscopies soon and posting them on Facebook. :-"

Food for thought

An excellent assessment Arjay and a subject i comment on when out and about ALL THE TIME .

THE ART OF CONVERSATION IS INDEED DYING , gone are the pass times i used to enjoy as a youngern replaced by the constant use of the gadgets you mention. Go in any restaurant and singles , couples and group diners are all focussed on their phones or I pads and not the others around or the food , zero interaction zero atmosphere , i dont see the point of going to a restaurant except for it saves doing the washing up .

Shop assistants are obviously "put out" at the inconvenience of having to put down there gadget to serve you ...i walk out as does my cash .... and as for the youth of today world wide ..talking/texting total garbage has now taken over as their prefered pass time .

SAD ...very sad .

DM

Part of social media is eLearning and the affects in that area is good – judging by the facts. The amount spent on eLearning has grown by around 60 percent over the last three years. Within five years it is forecast around half of all college classes will be based on eLearning. More than 40 percent of global Fortune 500 companies already use educational technology to instruct employees.

According to a report from IBM, companies utilizing eLearning tools have the potential to boost productivity by up to 50 percent. The analysts say return on investment in terms of added productivity is as much as 30 to 1.

What else does eLearning do? It boosts staff retention rates, increases revenue per employee and helps companies to remain competitive. What’s more, eLearning is more convenient, less costly and better suited to flexible modern working patterns.

So why does anyone use any OTHER form of training? Is it simple inertia? Do employers have cosy contracts with traditional instructors they do not want to break? Or is it about quality? Are there too many concerns about certification standards applied to eLearning courses?

Maybe it’s about interaction. Pupils in HR and every other profession need to build relationships with tutors and fellow students. Is that a weakness of eLearning?

What is it that eLearning does NOT get right?

According to the Business Briefing “Learning and Analytics” at http://bit.ly/UDXIst it could be about the inability of companies to establish robust statistics that clearly demonstrate direct links between eLearning and business improvement. “Without analytics,” it suggests, “you are at risk of driving your learning strategy blind, and never realising the results you expect to gain.” By combining traditional training reporting with business data from other systems (such as CRM and ERP) through use of an integrated HR management system, it is possible to quantify the commercial benefits of any eLearning activity in real time.

A different perspective is offered by another report at http://bit.ly/1jsvYw2 which suggests the problem is ‘content chaos’. Too many people want too many eLearning courses. The result? “Learning departments everywhere are straining under the burden of ever-increasing eLearning courses, online simulations, videos, manuals and podcasts.” So companies cannot keep up with changing levels of demand.

Or maybe it’s because eLearning has yet to take full account of the social media revolution. Could eLearning’s shortcomings such as interaction, course content feedback and quality standards be overcome by skillful use of social media techniques?

I love all the high techs stuff.....easy access to info, google knows what I want before I can complete a search string, cloud access on my desktop, my ipad, my smartphone....whether I'm here or in the middle of nowhere. Even facebook....while I'm not an active user myself, I do appreciate being able to keep up with my brothers, their families as well as our daughter back in the US. All that said, I thank the Lord I'm not raising a teenager today.

I'm sure society will adapt.....just as it did when my Polish grandmother, "What is the world coming to?" when the Beatles were on Ed Sullivan. Back when our daughter was a teenager, we'd catch her under her blankets in the middle of the night discussing 'world affairs' at 2AM with the portable phone. Despite our concerns, she turned out just fine.

All this social tech stuff isn't much different than the changes in diet over the past 30 years......44oz sodas for a song, ever expanding waistlines, bigger and even bigger starter homes. I take great comfort in having survived the 60's and 70's....when so many said our generation was doomed. I'm sure the next generations will survive as well.

One other worrying , to me , factor of these gadgets, is the immediate impact of the various postings. Here in Udon , just this week was a good example. On Monday a couple of students from the government Tech college accosted some others from a private one , in the melee a badge was ripped off the shirt and a picture of it was posted, being trodden under foot and burnt. Less than an hour later over a 100 students, many on motorbikes were confronting each other, outside the tech. The police were called after bottles were being thrown, to disperse them . The next day the two colleges combined to sort out the trouble makers and after a lot of wa-ing the issue was put to bed , so they thought. However a rallying call was put on facebook which ended up with one sending it's students home early to avoid the confrontation being organised on line , which resulted in a large gathering outside looking for trouble an hour later .
It's apparently still ongoing with the army now being called in to help the police today . :-"

First on a light note (serious answer follows):

How many teenage girls you need to exchange a light bulb?

Answer: two. One to do the job and one to take 200 pics of that and post them all on facebook

Seriously. I'm as much annoyed by the modern "autism" of people. They live in their small world without noticing the world around them, they move like zombies, their eyes fixed on their tech stuff.

It started with mobile phones and Walkmans. Mobile phones were only used to talk, later also to text. This is not long ago, not even 30 years (in my experience). I bought my first PC in 1994 (20 years ago) and around the same time a car phone (both for business). The car phone was attached to the car, so not really a mobile phone. That came a few years later.
Internet is about 20 years old in Europe, and for long it was not accessible for teenagers. When every kid was supposed to have a mobile phone, social networks jumped into that new market and took the kids total attention.

There is nothing to do about it, it's called IT development. The young generation will survive, no doubt about that. Just for me the quality of life goes down, in a way that people drift apart and do not communicate other than by texting of messages on FB. I have seen a couple, not living together, saying Good night I love you on FB!!!!
As parents or care takers we can try to tear them from their computers and phones. I do that by offering to play volleyball with them (girls like that) and even I found out that my 12-year old loves Barbie dolls, so I invested in this new tool to keep her away from the computer, at least for a certain period of time.

One of the most negative developments I see myself is the lack of warmth in their messages. Although a person has only once a year birthday, it seems to be too much trouble to write it out, they just post "HBD". I have seen christian people, used to say God bless you after a message, shortening it to GBU. I hate that, does nobody have time anymore to write three words full out? Can't believe it, really.

Sounds like something from the Seventies football hooligan era trubrit

I wonder what will happen in year xxxx when someone is so busy on his "electrobrain 3" that he forgets to do something important, and the whole electricity system of the world shuts down and there is nothing to recharge the batteries with

TTFN

The young people today will hold similar opinions about the generation following them and the use of future technology. The planet's going to keep rotating folks. Those bloody rebellious hippies didn't turn out too badly.

I'm more worried about the terminator machines that will come perhaps in some of our lifetimes - machines that can make the decision to kill without human input. The US can't be far away from having these "babies".

GT93 wrote:The young people today will hold similar opinions about the generation following them and the use of future technology. The planet's going to keep rotating folks. Those bloody rebellious hippies didn't turn out too badly.

I'm more worried about the terminator machines that will come perhaps in some of our lifetimes - machines that can make the decision to kill without human input. The US can't be far away from having these "babies".

Aren't they called Soldiers GT?

I recollect reading of an incident in the US where a young teenage girl invited her friends to her birthday party, via Facebook, without realising that she had not restricted her privacy settings to friends only and that the message was open for all to see. Evidently the family home was deluged with thousands of "guests" and her parents had to call the police to cordon off the road and turn people away.

An example linked to customer service, is a Vietnamese coffee shop I occasionally visit in Tha Sadej market, Nong Khai. When it first opened, we tried it out and enjoyed chatting to the staff about Hanoi where two of them came from. Now if we go, they've all got their heads down and don't even see us come in. When they do, it's a case of take our order, deliver it as quickly as possible, and back to viewing movies on their smartphones. If I walked quietly, I'm sure I could sneak in, serve myself and sneak out again, without being noticed or inconveniencing them at all!!

I remember at school having to copy down pages of written material and sketches, from the blackboard, and then copying it up neatly for homework. Well the latest development from that seems to be illustrated by step-daughter's teacher writing up material on the whiteboard, step-daughter then photographing it with her smartphone and then displaying the photo and copying it up at home for homework. .... However, I find myself asking: ..."But are Korean boy bands part of Science homework?"!!

It's called BIOLOGY arjay

trubrit wrote:One other worrying , to me , factor of these gadgets, is the immediate impact of the various postings. Here in Udon , just this week was a good example. On Monday a couple of students from the government Tech college accosted some others from a private one , in the melee a badge was ripped off the shirt and a picture of it was posted, being trodden under foot and burnt. Less than an hour later over a 100 students, many on motorbikes were confronting each other, outside the tech. The police were called after bottles were being thrown, to disperse them . The next day the two colleges combined to sort out the trouble makers and after a lot of wa-ing the issue was put to bed , so they thought. However a rallying call was put on facebook which ended up with one sending it's students home early to avoid the confrontation being organised on line , which resulted in a large gathering outside looking for trouble an hour later .
It's apparently still ongoing with the army now being called in to help the police today . :-"

Just drove past the Tech collage where this took place and it looks like round two had just taken place today ,, lots of police , motorbikes laid about and students being carted off in police trucks and meat wagons ... all quiet on the Western front now tho.

Remember the days when football hooliganism was rife ,, social media played a big part in its organisation ...

Agree with most posts here , yes its great for accessing info and all the other stuff but it is stifling conversation , banter and the all round atmos of a few folks meeting up ... oh yeah shop assistants should be bull whipped if caught on their phones whilst at work !!

DM

SanukJoe "One of the most negative developments I see myself is the lack of warmth in their messages. Although a person has only once a year birthday, it seems to be too much trouble to write it out, they just post "HBD". I have seen christian people, used to say God bless you after a message, shortening i"

You're getting out of touch there fella! The newest generation wouldn't even bother with "HBD".....they'd simply send a sticker that says "Happy Birthday". Seriously, I've seen a few LINE ?conversations? that were nothing but different stickers sent back and forth.
I have no doubt that that girl who drives the pimped up Hello Kitty car around town is a big fan of sticker conversations. Stay away from that!

The statement that the younger generation will voice similar opinions about their youngsters wouldn’t be so laughable if is was not for the fact the current younger generation do not have the ability to hold a conversation about any subject, how the hell they are going to voice opinions would be interesting. They are led by consensus of ideas or opinions from the electronic means they covert , dismissing all human contact despite knowing that that human contact, will probably offer them a far more intelligent viewpoint than the one they seek on the diverse electronic methods be that texting their friends or even Facebook or Twitter . They have lost the ability to judge people by body language or even tone of voice, they have become in some cases dehumanised, as social interaction the mainstay of many of our life’s learning experiences are non-existent.
The fact that they may well survive is not an issue , but communication will be limited to electronic means, even maybe down to family life , interaction between parents and children limited to text messages , it happens now, so WHY NOT .
Our humanity evolved as a result of our ability to communicate one to one and one to many, losing 50% of that ability will restrict our evolvement I think. Meaningful communication is one of the gifts we as humans have whether it be to each other or to masses, regaling it to merely electronic methods is a huge retrograde step that may well have serious consequences on life over the next few decades. We supplant social interaction with unemotional electronic communication, which to me makes George Orwell and his predictions lame by comparison.

Khun Paul wrote:The statement that the younger generation will voice similar opinions about their youngsters wouldn’t be so laughable if is was not for the fact the current younger generation do not have the ability to hold a conversation about any subject, how the hell they are going to voice opinions would be interesting. They are led by consensus of ideas or opinions from the electronic means they covert , dismissing all human contact despite knowing that that human contact, will probably offer them a far more intelligent viewpoint than the one they seek on the diverse electronic methods be that texting their friends or even Facebook or Twitter . They have lost the ability to judge people by body language or even tone of voice, they have become in some cases dehumanised, as social interaction the mainstay of many of our life’s learning experiences are non-existent.
The fact that they may well survive is not an issue , but communication will be limited to electronic means, even maybe down to family life , interaction between parents and children limited to text messages , it happens now, so WHY NOT .
Our humanity evolved as a result of our ability to communicate one to one and one to many, losing 50% of that ability will restrict our evolvement I think. Meaningful communication is one of the gifts we as humans have whether it be to each other or to masses, regaling it to merely electronic methods is a huge retrograde step that may well have serious consequences on life over the next few decades. We supplant social interaction with unemotional electronic communication, which to me makes George Orwell and his predictions lame by comparison.

KP ...... bloomin heck I AGREE WITH YOU ,, human interaction from an early age forms personalities and real face to face friendships but lets not kid ourselves that social media addiction is limited to the young and teens ... it has also taken over the lives of many middle aged as well , go to any restaurant in Udon and people watch , on every table , every age group some will be on the I phone or Ipad ... i refuse to sit with any one including Dao if any of these gadgets come out i simply move to another table or go sit at the bar ......i find it rude and totally unessessary and IMO there comes a time to leave the bloody phone alone and interact in the natural way ... business can wait - but can the inane nonsense about what the niece had to eat earlier ...

rant over !!

DM

In stead of watching soap series they NOW prefer to communicate with their friends and/or read info/news.

Why not?

The College where these rumbles are taking place - is it the Santapol College diagonally opposite the old Big C? If so I will change my route as I regularly pass there with my six year old on a motorbike and don't want her caught up in this s***e with these retards,

Here is the future complete with a 'hands free kit'

http://www.youtube.com/embed/VRRnXq41UV ... r_embedded

Take notice of the motorcyclists the next time you're driving around town. They are now texting/reading their smartphone while attempting to drive their motorbike with 1 hand!! I'm not speaking about what goes on at a red light intersection or while riding as a passenger because that's nearly a guarantee of whipping out the smartphone to check their facebook, twitter or god knows whatelse accounts while waiting for the light to change. As best I can tell this is a serious addiction. Just walk around Central Plaza and you're guaranteed to see tons of people walking and texting at the same time. I went to eat dinner with my wife and watched as a young couple entered the restaurant sat down and promptly whipped out their smart phones. By the time we had left these two idiots had not said a word to each other and only pulled their face out of their phone to order. This same scene is repeated nearly everywhere. It indictaes to me that these people lead a very shallow life and display no common sense whatsoever.

Waited to pick up my daughter at school last week. Eleven adults there including me and seven of them either texting or 'playing' on their phones. That was a few days after I witnessed at first hand the school homework Thai style. A group of six girls huddled round an open book on the centre of the ground encircled by them clearly copying from it but that's another story.