Technology: Life in Forward or Reverse?

Technology can be a great tool:  Rob was able to complete his thesis and graduate from the PhD program in 4 1/2 years thanks to the Internet and the wealth of information at his fingertips; my sister-in-law was able to Skype with her husband when he was away for two weeks on a business trip in Arizona; my son is able to download songs which he then teaches himself on the guitar.

However, technology isn't so fun when you spend an hour and a half researching and writing a detailed blog about the London riots only to lose it with one press of a button!  Technology isn't so fun when you are at the Orlando airport and the computers are down and the waiting line gets longer and fuses get shorter.  Technology isn't so fun when you keep getting phone calls saying you haven't paid your water heater bill, but then it turns out that it's the people who had your phone number before you. 

Technology has moved us so far forward and yet at the same time it has put us in reverse.  We would not be where we are today without technology.  However, when technology breaks down due to a technical error or due to human error, we are lost.  It has both simplified and complicated our lives.  Nobody can do anything the old fashioned way.  Remember the old credit card contraptions that rolled across your credit card and made a copy of it?  Remember when cashiers made change in their head?  Or how about a face to face conversation rather than two teenagers sitting side by side on a couch texting each other?

Yes, technology is great but I miss the days when we did things the old fashioned way.  Yes, we had to use our brains more.  We had to use our imaginations.  Life was simple.  And I wouldn't have had to rewrite my blog today!



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