Technology – A Love / Hate Relationship

The buzzword for today is technology. You know about technology and you are either a) a technology lover (a.k.a. geek) or b) a technology hater (a.k.a. the rest of us). The underlying problem is that love it or hate it, we can’t avoid technology.

Technology was so much simpler when I was growing up. We thought that the ultimate advancements in technology were eliminating telephone party lines; being able to see a wet black & white Polaroid photograph in 60 seconds; and getting high by sniffing mimeograph paper fumes. Good times. But now, technology is moving at such a rapid pace that it is impossible to keep up, especially if you are still in a mimeograph fume fog.

By now, most of us are aware of the presence of “smart phones”. These are cell phones that can do almost anything. They can plot your route, take pictures, check on stock prices, make restaurant reservations and even convert dollars to euros. They are very smart phones. Unfortunately, too many of them are in the hands of very stupid people.

Stupid people with smart phones spend most of their time paying attention to their shiny new phone and too little attention to what is happening in the real world around them. We see it every day when people try to text and drive, or even talk and drive, and very often wind up crashing, after which they use their smart phone to call a tow truck.

Even when walking on the street, people use their smart phones to send a text. This causes them to occasionally walk into a phone pole or fall into a fountain, providing the rest of us with great glee.

Technology has also given us computers and at the same time, made us addicted to them. Computers are the new heroin except they are more expensive and there are no needles involved.

Today, computers come in many forms like desk top, lap top, and tablet. Each one is designed to make the other versions look out of date so that we are constantly buying new ones or updating the computers we have. And while computers have saved us countless hours in the library to work on a term paper, they have also created unnecessary problems; but that’s the price you pay for free porn.

The fact of the matter is that we are up to our ears in technology and if we aren’t careful, the machines are going to take over. The machines already know our “favorites”, our “likes”, and our passwords, so it’s only a matter of time before robots become our rulers. (note: I could have inserted a Mitt Romney joke here but opted not to.)

I ask you to join me in a return to the good old days. Instead of texting someone, talk to them, It’s the same number. Rather than visit with your neighbor on Facebook, walk next door and have a coffee. And instead of spending every waking moment checking e-mails, texts, tweets, and whatever else, take a few moments to smell the roses, or, better yet, the mimeograph paper.

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