Role of Technology

In online games there is what is referred to as the Holy Trinity. It defines the three roles which are needed for the best chance of success. My favorite explanation of these roles are damage, control, and support. They each have different roles and playstyles, and together they create a balanced team. The damage dealer eliminates the enemy, control individuals draw focus to themselves and control the battlefield, and the support helps keep everyone alive and enhances other players' abilities.

In our lives we all have dreams and goals. We are striving to overcome challenges and improve. As such, the role technology plays in our lives can determine how balanced our lives are. Technology can help give us the best chance of success or block our success. I would like to review two roles I have seen technology play in my life.

Control

The first I would like to talk about is control. This is by far my favorite role to play in games. I love being the character to jump into the middle of a fight. I lock characters down with stuns, taunts, silences, roots, cripples, fears, etc. I get in the enemies face, so they have to deal with me. Then I take all the damage they send my way. I control when we fight and where we fight.

Technology can play the control role in our life, but many times from the enemy team. With a ring or a beep a phone taunts us to answer. It silences our voices as we text the person at the other end of the table. The constant stream of information and videos can cripple our ability to work. An endless supply of games can root us in place for hours. We live in fear of missing an important post, tweet, or new article. It is constantly in our face and requires our attention. In many ways technology decides when, where, and what we will spend our time on.

Support

The second role is support. This is usually the role I play when not playing the control. It is all about helping your teammates succeed. Many times I want to stay in the back and unnoticed. I am looking for the struggling teammate to give them the needed heal or buff to survive. I want to keep everyone alive, and I want to give them the extra strength to overcome the enemy.

This is the ideal role I envision for technology. With all of its information and power, it can provide us with the knowledge and tools to succeed. It is there when we are struggling, but it stays unnoticed until needed. It is there for us. It helps us overcome our challenges.

Our Natural Tendencies

With all of this, it seems our natural tendencies place technology in a role of control. I have wasted many hours idly playing games, surfing the internet, and participating in social media. The natural tendencies of men and women lead us to mindless pursuits of happiness. We live in virtual worlds with virtual lives. We are ever consuming, but in the end we awake from our virtual worlds empty. Our own natural desires turn one of our greatest supports into a controlling master and enemy.

Choosing the Role

In conclusion, we have the choice to decide what role technology will play in our lives. It isn't easy many days, and I am still working on it with everyone else, but here are a few ways I have made the choice. First, I choose to control my technology when I silence my phone, turn it off my phone, or leave my phone at home. I have decided on times and places I will not answer my phone. I have created bookmarks to websites which help me learn, and I try going to these sites when things are slow. I plan and decided when I will use technology and for how long. I am also asking myself if what I am using technology for is helping me or not. These are a few of ways I am trying to choose technology as a support. I fail still, but I am choosing more and more what role I want to technology to play in my life.

David Stoddard