Hikikomori - Caused by Technology?

The rapid change of technology these days is the main reason why our age has been dubbed as the age of the Rise of Innovations. True. Technological innovations are being created every day, if not every second. Thus, also creating stir that we, the people using and creating them, need to cope with the changes that these bring.

Good thing if we can adapt to these changes. What if we can't?

Since all men feel pressure from the world and from other people, some people react by completely separating themselves. Hikikomori is term that Japanese use referring to the sociological phenomenon wherein some people choose to "withdraw" themselves from other people. In other words, they preferred to confine from their social lives, living in complete isolation. This is done by not talking to other people or even trying to interact with others, which ends up that they have very few friends, if none at all. In most cases, like that in Japan, youth would tend to lock up themselves in their room for a long period of time, sometimes taking years. There are many factors that may cause this, whether it would be a personal reason or a social one.
One of which reason that could trigger Hikikomori is the disability to cope with the changes in technology. Most youth, due to monetary limitations, tend to separate from others thinking that it is better since they are unable to use the current fad, like new cellphones or digital cameras. Their envy results to this decision, thinking that their incaspacity to cope will make their interaction with others very difficult.

Another reason may also be the complete opposite of the first. Some would tend to seclude themselves as they are very busy with the latest technology that they got in hand. For example, instead of going outside to socialize, young people would often prefer to stay inside their rooms and try out the newly released video game.

See how technology sometimes become a problem.

This can, however, be fixed with interaction with others and a little guidance and discipline from their family. Or if this is not enough, try reaching out with a good psychological advise. But most of all, try putting a little touch of humanity when we use technology. By then we can fully utilize and share the main objective of technology. Connection.

Japan's Age of Machines

Japan is the country in which most of us knows that have great expertise in creating innovations, specifically robots and machines.

I chose to make a time line of few of Japan's greatest achievements. Here is my compilation:

1945. The United States dropped the uranium A-bomb "Little Boy" on Hiroshima on August 6 and Nagasaki is devastated by the plutonium A-bomb "Fat Man" on August 9, leaving Japan to surrender on the war and to start all over from scratch.

1950. Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering Corp. (or Sony later) develops the G-type, Japan's first magnetic tape recorder.

1952. The debut of Astro Boy, a hero by manga guru Osama Tezuka. He is considered as more than just a fictional character but has become a cultural icon for the country.

1953. NHK begins TV broadcasting!

1955. Sony releases the TR-55, Japan's first pocket sized transistor radio after buying the license for transistor.

1957. Casio releases Casio 14-A, the world's first compact electronic calculator.

1960. Sony comes out with the world's first all transistor television set.

1964. First scheduled service of the Tokaido Shinkansen (bullet train) began.

1966. Middle-class consumers aims to get the "Three Cs" - a car, a color television and an air-condition.

1969. Kawasaki Heavy Industries begins manufacturing Japan's first industrial robot, Unimate 2000, primarily used to weld automotive parts together.

1970. Fujiko Fujio's comic strip about Doraemon, a robot cat from the future, debuts.

1973. NTT started offering fax services in all of Japan.

1976. JVC launches VHS-format video recorder.

1979. Sony releases its portable Walkman.

1981. Fujitsu Fanuc begins using robots to manufacture robot parts.

1982. Compact Discs and CD players go on sale, developed simultaneously by Sony and Philips.

1983. Nintendo releases Family Computer, also known as the Nintendo Entertainment System, bringing videogames to the living room.

1989. Nintendo comes out with portable Game Boy.

1994. Sony releases PlayStation game system.

1996. Nintendo 64, first 64-bit game system, goes to the market; DVD player released by Toshiba and Matsushita simultaneosly.

1997. Honda develops P3, a humaniod robot.

1999. Sony releases the Aibo robot dog.

2000. SoftBank cheif Masayoshi Son surpasses Microsoft's Bill Gates in paper wealth briefly.

These is just a brief summary and I may have left out some details. But if you wanted to add something, just leave out a comment. Thanks!

Sources: Time Magazine, May 2000 issue and Wikipedia.org

Vindication on Reading The Terms and Conditions

You are browsing the web, then you found this really cool site. And since you think that its worth that you sign up an account with them, you go through the registration process. Well. It then instructs you to read the site's Terms and Conditions. And it's 19 pages long! The same happens when you install a software, open source or licensed. You are asked to read this very long, very detailed and very, um, uninteresting list of things that you should comply. But what really is this? Is it important to read all of it?

The Terms and Conditions is the list of, well, terms and conditions that a certain company, group or individuals set when you are joining them or using their resources. It is what they wanted you to comply with. It is here that they state their rights on the content and their limitations as a provider or yours as a user or as a member. For example, when signing up on a certain site, you need to agree first and confirm your acceptance on the rules that they set, which includes the permissions that they provide you, the restrictions on the use of their site contents, your conduct while on membership and lastly, the indemnity with you participation (meaning, you hold them not reliable for any action that you take on or outside the domains premises).

But is it really important to read all these before agreeing? Yes. I would assume that most of us here would rather skip this step by simply agreeing to the terms and conditions without understanding it. But this is wrong.

There are advantages in reading through all of it. One of which is that you will be informed of what are your limitations, thus, preventing future issues out of their support. For instance, you did something that violates the terms and conditions of a software which resulted for the program to not function properly. This would be one of the situations wherein they would not offer any assistance to solve the problem, your problem.

But you can also use your limitations on their terms to review if your benefits do outweigh them. I mean, you wouldn't want to spend or waste your money on something not useful, right? But this is most of the time committed because of the wrong information due to self assumption, something that could have been prevented if you read through their conditions.

Another advantage is to know what it the scope of your possible actions that do not violate the law. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act protects original content on the web and reserves the its rights to the original author. This is the law that is mostly ignored by internet users. But well, the law excuses no one.

Always read the Terms and Conditions. It may take a while, but it is very worth of your time.

Astro Boy Teaser Released!

Remember my post about Astro Boy - The Human Side of Technology?

Well just passing by to make an update that IMAGI has released the official teaser trailer of the movie. Check it out!



Great trailer. And from the looks of it, it seems that they are keeping into great consideration it's previous anime structure. Definitely worth the watch!!

Most Annoying Alarm Clocks

Technology can go great just like Pleo. Innovations like these are so magnificent that one would awe and believe that we are very close to another age, the generation of technology. If you are thinking like this, continue reading, and then think twice.

I was actually browsing the internet and viola! I found lots of alarm clocks that are funny, innovative and not only it assures waking you up, sometimes, it will leave you in a bad mood the whole day. *groan*

There are lots of it and the following are just the few.

The Flying Alarm Clock.

This clock has a spinning top that goes off of it and flies around your room when the alarm turns on to the time you set it up. Geeky right. But wait there's a twist! You have to catch it and put it back on place to turn off the alarm! Still thinking it's still geeky?

Wake up? Five stars out of five!
Leave you annoyed for the rest of the day? Three stars out of five. To think that would be fun.

Chrome Clocky.

Alarm goes on. You still sleepy? Try to hit the snooze button and it will actually roll off of the night stand, fall on your room's floor and run. It will not just run, but worst, it will hide from you on a new spot everyday. And alarm only turns off ones you catch it.

Wake up? Five stars out of five!
Leave you annoyed for the rest of the day? Three stars out of five. At least you get a good morning exercise. lol!

Laser Target.

All you have to do, in order to turn off the alarm, is to shoot the target with its laser beam. Sound easy. Still dizzy? Snap out of it!!!!

Wake up? Five stars out of five!
Leave you annoyed for the rest of the day? Four stars out of five. Simply annoying.

Nooby.

Here is the machine that will verbally abuse you. It starts nice, waking you up with a greeting. “Rise and shine, it’s time to get up!” Ignored? It'll wake you up again. This time, it gets nasty. And in order to turn it off, simply wring the clock's blue neck. Be careful, once it senses that you are angry, it will ignore you.

Wake up? Five stars out of five!
Leave you annoyed for the rest of the day? Five stars out of five. I mean, think about it.

Puzzle Alarm and Whack-a-Mole Alarm.

Puzzle is a distant cousin of Whack-a-Mole, and both of them are bound to ruin your day. To turn the Puzzle alarm clock off, you have to solve the puzzle at its top. It gets hard when you are half asleep and the pieces you put together will go off if you don't solve the puzzle fast. Now imagine if it's dark. Nerve racking.

On the other hand, with Whack-a-Mole alarm clock, all you need to do to set it off is to, ofcourse, whack a mole. Now not just guarantees to wake you up, but also to leave you annoyed the rest of you day.

Wake up? Five stars out of five!
Leave you annoyed for the rest of the day? Five stars out of five. I've tested Whack-a-Mole. Trust me, you don't wanna try it.
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