Blog # 10 I Love Technology, I think

I believe I am right at that point where I am going to turn into an “old person” concerning technology. (I used to be a counter helper at Lazerquick and was severely frustrated having to show old people all day long how to make a copy. And don't get me started about old people in the express lane at Safeway!) Don't get me wrong, I love email and the internet (Monty Python in English class!), I sarcastically dismiss newspaper salesmen at my door, and am completely paperless in billing and things, but something is missing from our lives. I can't tell you how many times I have seen a mother on a pointless cell call and wanted to say, “would you hang up and deal with your kids?” The reading from Remix about the lady who is online all day really scares me. There is a disconnecting from reality that is going on. I scanned a book in Kinkos once called, The High Tech Lockout. It was about the reality of applying for work in the new millennium and never being able to contact a real person. I find this highly irritating, and seem to be suffering from this alleged lockout, since it's been almost three years since I have worked steadily. But, in all fairness, there are many of my own dealings where I am glad I can just leave a voicemail, send an email, or not respond to a message. Gone are the days when you could knock on a person's door and they had to answer because they knew you knew they were at home.
Technology seems to be everything: all our entertainment, our daily functions, our finances and now, even our relationships. I am frustrated that my parents don't have email and I am expected to call them and talk to them. But I would hate for my children to think of me like this. It's only on rare occasions I run across someone who is tech free – see I don't even have time to spell out the whole word! And these people seem like oddballs now. But I admire their spirit and their stance. One day I will sit my kids down and explain life in the 60s and 70s, rotary phones and tvs with a huge channel changing nob.