If you were walking round Lancaster what do you think would happen?
Little children running around screaming? A business man in a rush as he barges past you? This is what I would expect. I’m sure you can understand my surprise when an elderly man started to talk to me. Shocked by this interesting development in my day I stood and listened to what he had to say. He began to tell me how a friend of his had died from eating too much chocolate. This revelation took me by surprise and I started to envisage some kind off chocolate assassin going round poisoning chocolate bars when no one else was looking. However, as the conversation progressed it became clear that his friend had been a diabetic and had ignored his doctor’s advice of doing things in moderation.
The conversation moved quickly from chocolate related deaths to how the man I was talking to had worked in paper mills and how it had all changed. He told me about how he followed his father into the business and had worked in mills all around the country ranging from Scotland to Wales. The conversation came to an end with him cursing how the rise of technology had changed the world. Admittedly I had thought at this stage that I was stuck in the middle of a revamp of Monty Python’s ‘Four Yorkshire Men Sketch’ and half expected someone to come up behind me and say ‘You thought you had it bad! Back in my day . . . ’
As we parted something the old man had said struck me. Are we really that dependant on technology? I look around my room and I can see many electronic items. My computer, lava lamp, games console, television, desk light, alarm clock, mobile phone and my radio. Eight things in one room. As I think about what the old man said to me I find myself wondering could I go a week, or even a day, without the technology that surrounds me? I would like to say yes, I must be able to and I would guess that the majority of you reading this article would say the same. However, when push comes to shove could we really do it?
Take a minute to consider your answer. No television. No fancy games console or music system. No mobile phones. Do you still think you can do it? Me neither. This poses another question. Are we slaves to technology? Has society changed so much that the power that man has developed over years now depends on whether or not the computer will do what we want it to?
I am not saying that technology, on the whole, is a bad thing. Thanks to technology lives have improved greatly. But where do we draw the line? Where does technology stop being a help and start being a hindrance?
If there is one thing I have learnt about technology over the years is that it inevitably fails. What then? Does the world stop until we are all back online surfing the web or until all our mobiles are charged up? I sit here thinking is the old man right? Are we now so dependant on technology that we are losing the skills our ancestors spent years perfecting?
As I switch off my lava lamp I start to think about the impact technology has had on our society. Technology is everywhere, from the cars we drive to how we communicate. The rise of technology has lead to text messages, instant messaging and face book. Of course all of these can have positive affects on our lives as they shorten distances between one person and another but what about the other side of the coin? The dark side of instant communication? How has technology affected our ability to interact on a face to face basis with fellow human beings? I look at my flat, seeing all the closed doors hiding people away, and yet I can talk to them online. I do not mean to say that when we go out to the bar, for example, we do not sit by ourselves, but next time you are in a social area take a closer look and you can see the separations from one group to the other like the networks on face book or the groups on MSN Messenger.
I will go as far to say that I am the worst culprit for this. This brings me back to the old man from the beginning of my article. We were talking for about fifteen minutes and I don’t know his name, and yet when I look at MSN Messenger I know exactly who ‘A being in search of meaning’ is. As I walked away, checking my mobile for any messages, I couldn’t help but wonder, is this what our society has become.
Jonathan Starr
Friday, April 27, 2007
Thursday, April 26, 2007
We’re all Going on a Term-Time Holiday
On Tuesday 16th January a large number of staff and students from our university found themselves getting free holidays to various places in Europe. Why? Not a charity giveaway but through a rogue email containing a link into the inner workings of the Ryan Air booking system.
The email found its way to a graduate student in Grizedale College. Not long afterward he was seen running down knocking on all the doors of his corridor shouting and subsequent flats yelling ‘Lets screw the bastards!’ It was not long until the majority of the occupants had booked themselves weekends away to Ireland, France and Spain with the only expense being the time spent deciding where to go. However, Ryan Air’s troubles did not end there as it was not long until the email was passed on to the next flat. And soon, through the power of the Internet a large majority of block 43 were browsing the Ryan Air website deciding where they wanted to go.
However, after deciding that it was cruel not to share this new found opportunity, the message was passed on to the college porters with instructions to pass the information on to security. Whilst this was happening, word was spreading about Ryan Airs problem as the email was being sent to various places around the country one going to Manchester and another getting as far south as Sussex, and to the east at Newcastle. The message was clear – pass it on. It was not long until word was leaving the world of universities as the email was soon sent out to parents who were then instructed to pass the email on to work colleagues. Soon employees of the NHS were asking for holiday leave so they could jet off round Europe for the weekend. This is not to say that the email stayed in this country. A few hours after the email had originally been received it was discovered that it had reached as far as Denmark, where university here invited there friends there to come and visit on the expense of Ryan air. It is unknown how far the email has reached (at the time of writing, 4 hours has expired from initially receiving email) and how many people find themselves on the receiving end of a free holiday.
A simple email has, at time of writing has so far been sent to around a one hundred people with the amount increasing quickly as the word spreads across the university and then all over the country. Between now and the beginning of February Ryan Air will be seeing a lot of students with some connection to Lancaster. (a lot)A day of great joy for members of our university, a day of great misfortune for Ryan Air, and particularly for one for one graduate student who is rubbing his hands with glee at having succeeded in spreading the word so widely.
Jonathan Starr
The email found its way to a graduate student in Grizedale College. Not long afterward he was seen running down knocking on all the doors of his corridor shouting and subsequent flats yelling ‘Lets screw the bastards!’ It was not long until the majority of the occupants had booked themselves weekends away to Ireland, France and Spain with the only expense being the time spent deciding where to go. However, Ryan Air’s troubles did not end there as it was not long until the email was passed on to the next flat. And soon, through the power of the Internet a large majority of block 43 were browsing the Ryan Air website deciding where they wanted to go.
However, after deciding that it was cruel not to share this new found opportunity, the message was passed on to the college porters with instructions to pass the information on to security. Whilst this was happening, word was spreading about Ryan Airs problem as the email was being sent to various places around the country one going to Manchester and another getting as far south as Sussex, and to the east at Newcastle. The message was clear – pass it on. It was not long until word was leaving the world of universities as the email was soon sent out to parents who were then instructed to pass the email on to work colleagues. Soon employees of the NHS were asking for holiday leave so they could jet off round Europe for the weekend. This is not to say that the email stayed in this country. A few hours after the email had originally been received it was discovered that it had reached as far as Denmark, where university here invited there friends there to come and visit on the expense of Ryan air. It is unknown how far the email has reached (at the time of writing, 4 hours has expired from initially receiving email) and how many people find themselves on the receiving end of a free holiday.
A simple email has, at time of writing has so far been sent to around a one hundred people with the amount increasing quickly as the word spreads across the university and then all over the country. Between now and the beginning of February Ryan Air will be seeing a lot of students with some connection to Lancaster. (a lot)A day of great joy for members of our university, a day of great misfortune for Ryan Air, and particularly for one for one graduate student who is rubbing his hands with glee at having succeeded in spreading the word so widely.
Jonathan Starr
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