Is technology making us soft?
Spoiler alert = YES!
But we know that today because we live in a time where you can sit on the toilet and order up your dinner, groceries, call a cab, text a friend and watch a TV show on your phone…while you take a dump at the same time.
Ergo, 1960s folk were prophetic, for they had none of these advances and yet they could see that tech was going to turn us into weaklings, robots being the big concern here.
Dr. and Mrs. Loren (John Hoyt and Iren Tedrow) have cut themselves off from the world, holing themselves up in their home where robotic servants of the doctor’s own design cater to their every need. The old folks need not do anything but sit in their study and relax while their mechanical servants do it all.
Their daughter, Jana (Inger Stevens) thinks this is a totally crap lifestyle. She’s young and she wants to get out of the house, see the world, develop skills and learn how to take care of herself. She wants her parents to do the same, join her in getting out there.
Well, depending on your age you can probably guess the underlying themes. The young want to explore the world and seek out adventure. The old have had the shit beaten out of them to the point where the world has lost its luster – i.e. it’s better to relax at home rather than get smacked around by the cold, cruel world.
And of course, there’s the question of whether tech will improve our lives or turn us into big softies. Even further, will robots be our trustyworthy helpers or will they scheme against us and take over?
Further, sometimes young people need to make a decision. Your parents are old. They’ve been around the block. They’ve been to the school of hard knocks. They’ll give you the best advice they know – set your sights low and focus on just getting by because if you shoot for the stars, you might end up crashing into the weeds.
Whether you follow that advice is up to you. You love your parents but at some point, you’ve got to leave the nest and decide what’s best for you. You want to follow their lame yet safe advice? Do it. You want to throw caution to the wind and chase that crazy dream? Do it…but actually do it. Don’t wait around for their blessing. You won’t get it. Just rip off that Band-Aid, have that blow out fight, then go on your way and make that dream happen.
Sadly, Jana seems trapped in that middle area where she wants to get out and chase dreams but she wants her parents to tell her they approve and that obviously isn’t going to happen.
Anyway, what say you, 3.5 readers? Will tech help us or ruin us?
Bookshelf Battle 
already ruining us in some ways. Our communication abilities have lots of breadth, but little depth. We’re fidgety and anxious because technology has helped raise us so much and we don’t now what we’re missing, but know that something’s off. I’m very much like the daughter in that one the way you describe her, though I haven’t seen it. Now there’s one I gotta see!
There was definitely a dual theme – a) that you have to get out and experience the world rather than rely on tech. Funny they saw that at a time where they didn’t have much tech at all. Perhaps people thought staring at the TV for too long was a sign of bad things to come. B) At some point in life, your opinion about what’s best for you will differ with your parents’ and you’ll have to defy them if you’re sure about what you want to do. A lot of times parents are right but sometimes they will be wrong. That’s a very hard thing for a young adult to do, to say, “Huh, I think Mom and Dad might be wrong…”
Yeah, and I’m still working on that…now I REALLY need to see that episode (hee hee)