Teaching with the use of modern technology reduces the amount of mental activity done by the students. Some technological innovators even tell their children to use pencil, paper and books at school, as technology is seen to hamper the early learning process. The engineers of these new products and ideas prefer their children not be exposed to technology until they are older.

There appears to be a dramatic decline in general knowledge and real problem solving. Reading and writing have degenerated. Our culture expects instant gratification on all levels, including in the romantic realms. Patience in people is dwindling. It does appear that the freedom technology created has not been used with responsibility.

People are working themselves into panic-dominated lives. A politician bragging about generating jobs was answered by a family man: “Yes, three for me and two for my wife to make ends meet!”

Our collective attention is drawn to celebrity worship and all this scandalous television seems to change people into passive observers watching the worst of human behaviour. We are losing our faith as well.

Man used to live close to nature and now he hangs images of animals and plants on the wall. He buys pre-packed chicken instead of rearing it. Cities are full of non-smiling faces, confirming that people are not as happy as when parents in the past pushed prams to a local field to see children play and climb real trees. The modern mother wraps up her children and takes them in a high-tech car to a school full of pictures of nature hanging on a wall.

Parents in the past activated more physical and mental processing in their children out of living closer to nature.