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TIME MAGAZINE, JUNE 4, 2001, VOL.157 NO.22
Wired, But a Bit Worried
Will interactivity improve our lives? TIME's readers praise easy communication and openness but think we should slow down
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MESSAGE BOARD |
Will interactivity improve our lives? And how?
Tell us what you think
Multimedia Feature
Our Interactive World, an hour-long special hosted by CNN's Michael Holmes and Tumi Makgabo, featuring luminaries from the world of information technology
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I think interactivity is incredibly tempting—"smart" cars, "smart" homes, the works. We see the potential and we salivate. The downside: hackers and viruses, which threaten our privacy. We've learned to live with these threats but the question is: Do we have to? If the risk is someone stealing our identity or pirating our credit cards is interactivity really worth it? As consumers we should be pushing corporations and governments to be increasingly vigilant about online and wireless security. I want my PDA to drive my car while I talk with my wife on a holographic visor as much as the next guy—but not if it means my privacy is at risk. There has to be a middle ground.
Clinton Keet
Taiwan
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 Interactivity will make it harder for politicians to fool people because more and more of us will be better informed. |
Nils-Arne Lindqvist
Sweden |
 I am deeply concerned that we're somehow lonely in this society. |
Naomi Yamada
Japan |
 Will everyone be able to share it? Unfortunately, I'm afraid some nations will profit from it and go on exploiting others. |
Jose Luis Villanueva Hernandez
Spain |
 Being able to access information easily will help us make better decisions in everyday life. I can only hope that the digital divide will not become too large. |
Sven Aelterman
Belgium |
 Technology will eventually make us lazy and impatient. |
Vivek Shankar
India |
| Unless we are careful, we will become too immersed in the interactive reality we create. |
Jurgen Swanepoel
South Africa |
| Interactivity creates togetherness with other people. It makes life so much more exciting. |
Dinah Samuel
Malaysia |
| It will make the world smaller by allowing us to interact with others at a click of a button. Yet it will also make the world a bigger place as people broaden their horizons. |
Sarah Yerrington
U.S. |
| Technology breaks barriers and allows people of all races to interact with less prejudice. |
Connie Vivero
The Philippines |
| Interactivity will not improve our lives. With the flood of information, finding things that are of quality and enriching becomes much more difficult. |
Aaron Jeffrey Hames
Japan |
| Interactivity makes life easier, yet more hurried and consumer-oriented. Plus, it's turning the world into a teeny, homogenized global village and that is ultimately boring! |
Alta van Zyl
Italy |
| I find that my professional and personal lives are merging together and sometimes I hate that! |
Dina Zaman
Malaysia |
| By enabling people to get to know each other, interactivity will allow us to understand each other better. |
Bamigbetan Kehinde
Nigeria |
| I doubt that it will improve our lives; it may lead to more confusion. |
M. Michiel Van Der Mey
Germany |
| Superficially, interactivity improves our lives. But at the end of the day we're still stuck in traffic and we don't have enough time for our families. |
Angela Ballas
Israel |
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Wired, But a Bit Worried
Will interactivity improve our lives? TIME's readers praise easy communication and openness but think we should slow down
Raising Flags on the High-Tech Highway
Marso's invisible "killer" is not a person, but a satellite that seeks
and destroys mobile phone users with a zap from outer space
Europe Tests Waters of e-Politics
"Britain is not ready for a Net election," says Mo Mowlam, a plain-speaking British politician
E-innovation, Estonian-style
Some countries have an e-minister.
Cutting-edge Estonia has an e-Cabinet
Firms Take IT to the Poor
People live on little more than a dollar a day in Ghana, west Africa, putting them squarely on the have-not side of a growing digital divide
Helping People to Help Themselves
CNN's Charles Hodson recently interviewed Carly Fiorina, CEO of Hewlett-Packard, on the digital divide
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Magazine
Stories from this week's issue
Ethics
Big Brother is watching the Net. Do you care?
Living
Talk to your thermostat, surf from the toilet, phone your fridge
Entertainment
Music mixing as easy as logging on to a website and typing on a keyboard
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Specials
CNN's hour-long special program on Our Interactive World, hosted by Michael Holmes and Tumi Makgabo, featuring luminaries from the world of information technology
Brian Bennett, reporter for TIME magazine, interviews MTV Asia's LiLi, a virtual veejay
Lili on her life and work: chat transcript from May 31, 2001
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