A Being Of Technology

Has it ever occurred to you that almost everything in our society is driven by technology? Look at the way we dress, talk, and view things. When you look closely, it feels as if our whole lives are written along the lines of technology. If this is so then what are we really?

Homo Technologicus, user of technology, is what most of us are. Daily, we make use of things that are 

supposed to make life easier. Every day, we have personal experiences with such objects without knowing much about them. It seems almost impossible to function without them. Try imagining life without an alarm clock, cellphone or a computer? It has become unthinkable since we use them so often that they have become a part of our identity. But the ironic truth is that we keep using them but don’t even know how to fully utilize them. Most of us are only users of such advancements. Rarely do we see someone stop and think about how these things emerged.  

I guess I believe that we are all just mere users of technology since we cannot come to understand how each and every detail of it emerged. In fact, I don’t even believe that there exists a technology that sprung out of pure invention .This realization came to me when I thought about mobile phones. I know that we would most likely find that Dr. Martin Cooper was the one who invented it. But is that really true? Isn’t technology after all a revelation? Aren’t we just using all this technological information to “invent” new technology? When it comes down to it, it feels almost impossible to go down to every detail of technological advancements to create a new tool. The world we live in today is then just a modification of these patterns within technology and its self-revelation to us.

In a sense, my being a Homo Technologicus saddens me. I use my laptop every day without a clue as to what makes it work. I guess this issue’s connection to reality is what really makes being a Homo Technologicus saddening. Our society is defined by the technologies we have now. We classify our kind based on which gadgets they have, can use and can buy. This is a sad reality since the divide we have exists because of advancements we claim to use but do not even understand. 

CLAYGO, Filipino!

            Holding your food tray, you move past a multitude of occupied tables, looking for a vacant one where you can settle and enjoy your meal. After a few more rounds, you find yourself an empty one. To your disappointment; however, the table is full of food scraps and soiled wrappers. So, you wait a little longer until a waiter comes to clean your table.

            Does this sound familiar to you? I am 99% sure that your answer would be a resounding yes. This has always been the system of Philippine fast food chains. People leave all their scrap on the table and it’s perfectly ok because doing so wouldn’t really be a violation against common courtesy. It has always been the waiters’ job to wipe the tables clean -- not the ones who actually made the mess.

            In other countries, however, let’s take for example, the United States of America, it is mandatory for costumers to clean their table before they leave. It would have been overtly rude if they were to leave their trash on the table. Technically, it’s a Your trash, your responsibility kind of thing. It is no one’s job to clean your mess for you.

            CLAYGO, or the Clean as You Go Policy, very much applies in other countries. Why then does this policy not sit very well with Filipinos?  Could it be because we have been so used to having people, whose job’s to clean our trash, that we find it difficult and, perhaps, weird, to clean the tables by ourselves? Would this behavior reveal that the middle to upper class Filipinos are already prima dona’s without them even noticing it? Taking into consideration that labor here is actually very cheap, it has been a way of life for Filipinos to hire maids and have them do all the work you tell them. This behavior is similar to how we treat table cleaners. We actually take them for granted until we realize that life wouldn’t be as convenient and as good without them. I honestly think that this mindset can be wrong and must actually be changed. It’s not always good to have people do the most menial things for you when you can actually just do them by yourself. With that, guess what we can do to start changing this mindset. CLAYGO anyone?