How gadgets are redefining quality time→
One family. One room. Four screens. Four realities, basically. While it may look like some domestic version of “The Matrix” — families sharing a common space, but plugged into entirely separate planes of existence through technology — a scene like this has become an increasingly familiar evening ritual. As a result, the American living room in 2011 can often seem less like an oasis for shared activity, even if that just means watching television together, than an entangled intersection of data traffic — everyone huddled in a cyber-cocoon. Call it what you will, it is a wholly different form of quality time.I really enjoyed this NYT piece on the way modern technology is changing the way we spend quality time with our loved ones because I thought I knew where it was headed — that gadgets are pretty much ruining everything — but instead it arrived at a much more positive conclusion. So texting during dinner is all good now, right? [NYT]
Rather than a sign of a dysfunctional relationship, such behavior can actually be interpreted as the sign of health, said Ronald Levant, a professor of psychology at the University of Akron. “People who think every minute we’re together we have to connect are going to drive each other crazy, because we all need some alone time, no matter how compatible a couple might be,” Dr. Levant said. “At a certain point in your relationship,” he added, “your task to keeping the relationship vital and refreshed is managed togetherness and separateness. Technology could be used as a tool to assist that.”
