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WE LIVE IN an age where leaving the house without your phone brings about the same feeling of dread as that dream where you walk into work naked.
Gadgets and gizmos have become integral parts of our lives, the infinite possibilities of what we can do with them dazzle us and coax us to engage with them even as we walk, talk to others or wait for a bus. Have we become enslaved to their ringtones and tweeting delights? Or can we continue to benefit from them as they open our minds to the wonders of the world beyond our living room sofa?
How many times have you tried to have a conversation with someone who was more interested in their phone? How many times has someone answered a call while speaking to you? “I’m sorry I really have to take this” while pointing to the phone? We have all done it; did we really need to take it, or was it too tempting to swipe and say hi?
It wasn’t too long ago that bringing a mobile phone home for the weekend was a disturbing intrusion of private life. They have now made their way into the bedroom and (I have heard) can sometimes replace the post coital cigarette. The even scarier thing is, the next generation won’t even realise how bad mannered it is not to give someone your full attention. So many grow up with parents who are more interested in what someone tweeted that what happened in school today.
The New York Times has referred to social networks as antisocial networks, tempting us more and more away from the real social engagement and interaction. My 16-year-old son no longer cares when he is grounded: he has Facebook, Twitter, instant messenger, Viber and What’s App to connect with his friends. If his friends are busy he can engage soldier friends on Xbox. He is never alone and never bored.
Being constantly connected can lead to a massive leakage of time. If you are one of those people who gets notified when someone posts on Facebook, mentions you on Twitter or posts an article you have no interest in on LinkedIn, you are allowing the external world to control how you spend your time and what you focus your attention on. It’s time to take back the control of your life and your time.
It’s obvious to all that technology will continue to play a major part in our future. There is no reason to fear this fact – the advantageous are too numerous. New media and new technologies bring with them many great advancements in human connectivity and globalisation.
The secret to our success as balanced technology users is to stop being reactive, allowing ourselves to be ushered from one location to the next and getting distracted from what we need to do right now. The secret is to stay in control, to treat our friends and family with the respect they deserve, to make time for connectivity and time for silence.
As long as we remain the master and make all the decisions about how we spend our time, we can relax in the knowledge that technology is a powerful force for positive change.
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well Im very wary of use by dates, best before dates though are a different story, if it looks ok and smells ok, and tastes ok, its usually ok, well Im my opinion anyhow.
I have to laugh at some people do you honestly think something goes bad the minute it turns midnight on the day it says on the package. It’s about how you store it, the shop stored it, how it’s been transported and how the manufacturer made it, you control only 1 element of it so check it taste it eat it I say
It depends on the product. I’d never chance flaunting the best before date on meat but things like cheese, milk, jam, marmalade etc. are fine unless they’re visibly or smellably past their best. To me, to waste perfectly good food is a greater crime than using my own discretion to evaluate the relevance of a mathematically- and cautiously-calculated use-by date.
I like how this article tells us that 50% of people don’t know the difference between a best before date and a use by date, how this is alarming, and yet fails to make an attempt at actually explaining the differences to the reader…
Then you’d better re-read the article!! Cos it does tell you!!
Or that 50% of people make up half the population !
Ha, to be fair, that was added to the piece after it was published – we’d assumed that our readers were in the 50% who knew the difference between use-by and best-before but we’ve clarified it, just to be clear :)
I think to a large extent, shops are covering themselves with the dates they put on food and I’m actually glad that people are using their own judgment more rather than wasting food.
The real shocker is that a third of the population don’t currently have food poisoning.
My mother is a great one for this, turns my stomach, I throw stuff out the day before use/bf date, real fear of pouring out scummy milk
These kind of things always amaze me, despite the name, common sense isn’t that common. It’s all very well saying that sell by labels or eat by labels are just advisory and if you reckon it’s ok then it’s safe to ignore them, a load of rubbish. Supposing you were to be walking along a cliff and you see a sign warning of the danger, telling you to go no further, as you gaze at the crumbling edge try ignoring that one. Mind you, some do, the same sort of person who ignores road signs.
Those dates on products are there for a reason, they’re primarily there to protect the comsumer by guaranteeing a product is safe and of course they protect the retailer from any litigation too. If you ignore them and become ill it’s your own fault, if you decide to examine your food, judge its colour, texture, smell and the “look of it” to judge if it’s safe to eat, this is guesswork, I’d prefer to take the guesswork out of what’s safe and what’s not safe to eat.
The problem is, it’s all guesswork, Brian. The dates are arbitrary. I’ve bought food that has turned out to be manky well before it’s use by date. But most of the time, I find that food is fine beyond it’s use by date. I trust my own judgement on a lot of food types well above the retailer… who in my opinion are thinking of themselves primarily.
But you’re right, if I get ill, it’s my fault. It hasn’t happened so far.
yeah but even with HACCP mistakes are made with perishable goods, so id sooner abide by use by dates, no point in a visit to the hospital over a two euro chicken fillet that’s gone
That’s where common sense comes into it. Anyone who ignores the use by date on a 2 euro chicken fillet will probably fall victim to something meritorious of the darwin awards sooner or later.
Don’t eat processed food, I eat paleo, and regularly eat food past it’s use by date, be it meat, veg or fruit. Never made myself sick.
have your say