Technology

First, an apology to my faithful readers for no blog on Wednesday, my computer took off. Actually, it took 2 days off. It apparently went into some kind of stress overload. No matter what I tried the day to access, its reply was “insufficient resources”.


Then it got really scary for me- it would not shut off! I’m not kidding. I spent 20 minutes trying every way I could to shut it down. It wouldn’t do it! I finally had to pull the plug and wait for the battery to die. I rushed it over to my “computer emergency room” to be worked on. The doc never will found out what happened but he was able to bring it back to life. Yeah!!

Which brings me to today’s subject- technology. I was dragged kicking and screaming into the new age of technology! I was probably the last person on the planet to own a microwave or at least in the non 3rd world countries. My first cell phone came about 6 years ago. I’ve only upgraded to a new phone twice in that time. I added texting a few months ago. I’m still using a big fat TV which gets no channels because we don’t have a converter box and I refuse to get satellite.

Why? I’ve thought a lot about that. The last few days I remembered one of the reasons I resisted all of it for so long. Technology changes your lifestyle whether you want it to or not. You become dependent on it. After a while you forget how you used to do things without it.

For instance, having a microwave meant if you forgot to take something out for dinner it was no big deal. Pretty soon, you stop taking things out for dinner. Soon after that you stop planning for dinner at all. Now, the question “what’s for dinner?” can cause actual panic attacks. We used to have it covered.

Cell phones mean your kids can call you anytime at all! Going shopping used to be a quiet break from home. Now home just follows you along. Spouses and kids left at home used to have to think for themselves to solve any problems that came up. Now, you’re standing in the checkout line at Wal-Mart listening to the kids arguing on the other end about whose turn it is to pick the TV show. Next they are fighting about the phone. And there you stand helpless, stressed and pissed!

IPODS mean that you never have a quiet moment just to think and feel. No wonder many of us have sleep problems. Our brains are meant to have process time- if we don’t allow it during the day it will do it on its own during the night.

I didn’t realize how dependent I had become on my computer until it was gone. I headed for my office a number of times before I remembered it wasn’t there. I fought it for years but it happened in spite of my best effort. I am a technology addict!!! I’m not sure how I feel about that!

That’s the view from my side of the street today, what’s yours?