How great are the technological advancements of today?

• I work for a company is San Francisco and live in Colorado.
• I run a blog with people in Belgium and England.
• We can hold conversations with people in Tokyo, Melbourne, London and San Francisco simultaneously.
• Using RAD software we are able to write, debug and deploy software in a fraction of the time it took just a handful of years ago.

Ah, these are truly wonderful times we live in…Or are they?

According to a study by The United Nations’ International Labor Organization (ILO) US workers are putting in more hours than anyone else in the industrialized world. ILO statistics show that the average American worked nearly 2,000 hours in 1997 — up from 1,942 hours in 1990, the equivalent of almost two working weeks more than their counterparts in Japan.

WHAT? HOW CAN THIS BE? What about all the technology? Isn’t the whole point of technology supposed to make our lives easier?

Since the beginning of time we invented technology for one purpose and one purpose only: to make our lives easier.

Take the plough (American spelling: plow) as an example. The plow is a tool used in farming for initial cultivation of soil in preparation for sowing seed or planting. It has been a basic instrument for most of recorded history, and represents one of the major advances in agriculture. The plow has changed greatly throughout time, becoming more and more advanced with each iteration, but it’s function is the same – help make our lives easier.

So why are we working longer hours? The whole thing seems counter-productive. Shouldn’t better technology mean less hours working and more time spent doing the things we actually want to do?

Maybe the Amish have it right after all? Why continue to make technological improvements if the payoff isn’t more free time?

I can’t help but laugh at my neighbor each time it snows. I’m out there shoveling my driveway the old fashioned way — with a shovel; and there he is with his snow-blower. The thing is he also has a health club membership to 24 Hour Fitness! Do you see it? Put away the snow-blower and get your Lose Weight Exercise done while removing the snow…

I suppose this post is just a rant, but sometimes it’s enough to make you want to chuck it all and rome the Earth like Kwai Chang Caine. We need to slow down and remove the phones from our ears, which have become an almost permanent limb, and enjoy life. It’s too short and you never get the time back. Stop working it away and go to the park with your family.