I love this paragraph because I think it distills and represents the pain and suffering so many people now feel around the role of technology in their lives:
I like technology just as much as the next person, but sometimes I find myself feeling overwhelmed with it all. I rely on technology everyday to do my job, to stay connected with friends and family, to drive, to withdrawal money from the bank, and to learn new things (What would we do without the internet?!). I could go on and on about the technology that I use on a daily basis, but it might take forever. Sometimes I feel like I spend more time with my computer than with my friends and family. I often wonder if I would be able to spend one whole day without any technology at all. No TV. No cell phone. No car. No computer. I would just need a book (paper, not electronic), board game (Yup, they still make them!) or a good conversation for entertainment. Ah….a day without technology sounds great to me!
And yet it’s noteworthy (and again, quite representative) that the author goes on to reflect on all the ways that technology makes life better and easier, especially for people with disabilities. That’s how it goes: technology overwhelms, scares and worries us…but we recognize that it’s worth the high price it exacts.
When are we going to stop searching for the off switch, and instead find a way to live with technology so that we can enjoy its upsides without suffering so much over its impact?
Living in a place where the power goes out more frequently in the winter – I kind of like the forced off-switch.
I have been interested in technology since I was in high school where I took a class in basic electrical theory and electronics where my project was to build a radio. I was first exposed to computers in a work situation in the Navy in 1963 when I placed inventory punch cards and gathered them when removing items from the shelves. In the 1970s I took a college course in computer theory that would be useless now. I started using computers at home with the old Commodore 64. In the 1980s I worked with Tandy TRS DOS in shipboard medical records. In the late 1970s and 1980s used computers as a pharmacy technician. As the Navy became more computer intense usage became routine. I joined the Internet in 1994. I was so hooked that except to eat I was on the computer for 38 hours before finally going to bed. Before I learned to avoid most crashes I had many all nighters.
I kind of have to laugh at the media declaring that older people have a hard time grasping technology. I am going to be 67 in another month and I have been able to keep up. I do wait for new software until the glitches are out. My wife was a fast learner. In the first year she was online she became as familiar as I was with several more years experience.
I think that for those of us who do lots of research online we develop a certain way of thinking. When I go on a search engine I can find within seconds what some of my online friends have searched for for months. Now that the Web is more mature I am finding fewer and fewer people who can’t find what they are looking for. Our brains are changing to think in certain ways.
Ray