OUR VIRTUAL INSANITY ... DOES TECHNOLOGY BRINGS HAPPINESS?

For those who suffers O.C.D = Online Compulsive Disorder

and us who keep checking emails every 10 minutes in the toilet, in the restaurants, in our kids end of the year concert and before we go to bed.

"Futures made of virtual insanity

now always seem, to be governed by this love we have

For useless, twisting of our then new technology

Oh now there is no sound for we all live underground

~ Jamiroquai

I love the song...and I love it being the hit in 1999, I think. Well this is before we wi-fi(ed) the (whole) world and Blackberry or IPhone arrived.

I am not a gadget person who responds and follow the instruction of computer-TV for yoga exercises, playing tennis or rafting.....

If you don't have a TV, no cellphone, no high speed Internet access at home, don't write emails, are not on Facebook, not on MySpace, and don't know what Twitter is... - Gee, what century do you life in? Do you actually exist?

Many of us equate technology with progress, improvement, and an increase of happiness. Even if the actual value of a gadget in terms of progress is not clear, they are often a source of novelty, and novelty - in technology, as much as in art, entertainment, science, or your peer group's gossip - can be pretty much addictive. For these reasons, technological developments are mostly considered positive changes, which in turn leads us to push forward these changes and incorporate them rapidly into our daily lifes.

But it must not necessarily be the case that these changes are good and lead to increased happiness. It needs time for us to judge on the advantages and drawbacks of changes. Dealing with unwanted side-effects is not an easy task, not one that takes place automatically, and not one that an invisible hand guides; it requires care, thought, and political institutions that ensure happiness is sustainable even on the expenses of dopamine-kicks. Instead of 'Can Technology make us Happy?', the question we should then actually ask is

If technology makes us unhappy, will we be able to realize and correct our mistakes in a timely manner?