Stevie Nicks: Technology has 'ruined our children'
Please, as you walk down the street today, as you eat something far too large for you at Burger King, and as you go home to those who claim to love you, consider whether any children you see seem ruined.
I ask this on behalf of Stevie Nicks, the singer from sometime band of the ages, Fleetwood Mac. Ms. Nicks has strong beliefs. And most of them seem to paint technology as a dastardly villain that has moved into every neighborhood, like a living voodoo doll, warping children's brains into its control.
In an interview with the Associated Press, Ms. Nicks laments people's failure to go their own way in the face of technological development.
"I believe that computers have taken over the world. I believe that they have in many ways ruined our children. I believe that kids used to love to go out and play," she said.
You might be tempted to wonder whether, if there's ruination of children out there, parents might hold a few percent of the responsibility, but no matter. Because the ruination needs to be detailed.
"I believe that social graces are gone because manners are gone because all people do is sit around and text. I think it's obnoxious," she added.
Could one possibly disagree? Even those whose lives revolve around creating more and more mesmerizingly gizmotic technology must occasionally come home only to have their children ignore them because they're texting, IM'ing, Facebooking or yakking on a cell phone to someone far more important.
Yet the truth is there are teeny role models who haven't succumbed to technological incarceration.
Take the "High School Musical" matinee idol Zac Efron. He was quoted by the sublime e-newsletter Popbitch as declaring: "I don't have a Twitter, a MySpace or a Facebook or anything like that. I kind of value people not knowing where I am or what I'm doing."
So you see, there is hope.
However, Ms. Nicks, who apparently avoids e-mail, cell phones and computers, appears to have one technological weakness. She owns an iPod. Though she claims to prefer to listen to music on more traditional (but still, in their way, technological) machines. And she is very concerned that music is currently being stolen.
"Buy music, do not steal music. If you do, you won't have any new music later on," she said.
This was shortly after declaring: "In the old days ... they would help you to develop into the artist that they knew you were going to be. In the last 10 years, the record companies don't have the money to do that."
In the days when the record companies were benevolent institutions, artists were being lovingly developed and children were not being ruined.
Does that sound like the 1970s to you?
By the way, Fleetwood Mac is on tour this year. You can buy tickets online. Just don't tell the kids.
Chris Matyszczyk is an award-winning creative director who advises major corporations on content creation and marketing. He brings an irreverent, sarcastic, and sometimes ironic voice to the tech world. He is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not an employee of CNET. 
30 years ago neighbors had block parties, bridge clubs, belonged to the local swim club, and kids played outside with their friends. Why? There was nothing to do at home. No cable TV, no movies, no computer games, no Internet, etc. Sure they had no choice but it was a lifestyle that had distinct benefits.
Today people live next door to each other for 10 years and never speak. Kids stay inside playing XBOX and watching MTV. More and more feel completely isolated and alone even though they're surrounded by milions of people. Why? Because everyone cocoons today.
Is it ultimately their choice? Sure, but we don't always choose what is best for us. See McDonalds, cigarettes, dope, etc. I'm not necessarily advocating a return to the pre-tech days of the 50s as there are surely benefits as well, but to think there isn't a downside too is being naive. It's like an alcoholic who drinks a fifth a day - sure it makes you feel better now but ultimately it's killing you on the inside.
also, and this is a little off topic for the rant above, but I hate the fact that she said "Buy music, do not steal music. If you do, you won't have any new music later on.." This is just plain stupid. There will never be a time when there is no music industry. It just won't happen. So if she wants to stop selling her music because she can't make money because people are "stealing" it then oh well, i don't want to listen to an artist who is only in it for the money anyway. (which by the way she can't say she's never recorded something onto a cassette tape from the radio...and if she does you know its not true). The fact of the matter is that it is the music industry's (and the artist's) job to know what their customer's want. If their customer's want free music, then find another way to make a living. Much fewer artists are touring now days because they don't have to in order to make a living. Its harder to legally keep the music you've bought for any extended period of time.
So Stevie Nicks likes itunes? Wait until her computer crashes a few times or her account gets hacked. The DRM that comes with itunes makes it not worth buying. So as a famous XKCD cartoon once put it, you can either buy your music, and then when your computer crashes (as all computers eventually do) you can either back up your music or you can recover it and move it to another computer while you fix the one that is crashed (both of which are illegal), or you can just get it off of a torrenting or file sharing site.... either way if you want digital music you will eventually become a criminal (good intent or not)
Come on Stevie, grow some brains under that dye-job!
People should listen to Stevie Nicks as she has a very good point. Her message is simple, you are living in the Present tense, pay attention. It is a simple message. You may find it very difficult to put down that iPod, or turn off that phone. There is no denial that it is difficult. I had doctors demanding to know the conditions of this patient, but regardless, the end was nigh and all she asked was for someone to listen. Look, you are not wrong or bad for deciding to live in the present tense. It was correct, as I was reassured by everyone, including the doctor on the radio, to listen to a patient?s last words. You must live in the present tense, that is the message that Stevie Nicks has always preached.
- by weezrules2327 April 10, 2009 5:06 AM PDT
- If you are suggesting we should be sympathetic for the record companies, you are very very mistaken. They have been screwing the musical artists for years, and unless the artist is an absolute blockbuster, like fleetwood mac, the artists get very little in the overall scope of things.
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(7 Comments)Look at what Radiohead did; they offered music for any price the customer wanted, the majority of people still paid for it, and in the long run they made an enormous amount of money by skipping the record companies altogether. Technology is not ruining anything, it was and still continues to push the evolution of music. I fail to see how having 20,000+ songs in your pocket of a diversified collection of music is bad overall for music. The internet provides new and upcoming bands chances they would have never had in a million years ten years ago.
Stevie Nicks is talking about 'the old days' while her band charges $150+ for tickets to their concert. She should not be a hypocrite and talk about the old days in regards to hurt profits such as record sales, but then implement modern practices that screw the fans such as obscene concert prices and service fees.
The former music industry leaders that are hurting right now are the ones who let technology evolve instead of evolving with technology. And no, we shouldn't be sympathetic for Stevie Nicks.