Technology; Servant or Master

A few days ago, I spend a large part of my morning in a well known technology specialist store. I sat patiently observing the activity around me. The service I was there for, was mind numbingly slow and I had nothing else to occupy me, but to people watch.

It made me wonder what my life has become with all the technology available to me. How my generation, whose formative years had very little technology available, has evolved. What have we gained or lost with the latest advances? Are we better or worse off when we had none of these gadgets in our life?

I remember when spending time with a friend, meant you had to get dressed and use a form of transportation, to meet up. Now, you can have a social interaction in your living room with a virtual visitor, who lives thousands of miles away.

When I had my first job, a fax machine was magical in comparison to the telex before it. Now, I can send a multitude of people the same note with a press of a button. 

I moved away from home in the 90's (Yes that is how old I am), and recently I came across letters with postage stamps on them (oh horror), that my family used to send to me. Now we are in each others pocket at all times.

Let's not go back to high school, where all our research took hours or even days to complete. Now we have the wonderful world at our fingertips. How education and studying has changed!

To go back to me sitting in that technology store, people watching! What I noticed was that people lined up for hours to get a gadget repaired. They did not mind having an appointment, and yet still being kept waiting in order to repair an item, they had paid loads of cash for!! 

Let me try and explain this to myself! Here are consumers, paying a pretty penny for the latest gadget, that breaks down in a limited period of time, and having to waste half a day for a "specialist" to see them! Anything wrong with that picture?

I know that in our household of 4 people we have 4 smart phones (one is too young to have one yet), 3 tablets, various laptops, gaming consoles etc... How has that changed my life? Our life as a family?

Tremendously! 

I know for a fact I read less books now. I have plenty of gadgets with a wealth of time wasting places I can go on them. As I am writing this blog entry, I have 4 tabs open on my laptop. A shopping website, an email, a social media site, and a news site. I have been going back and forth, and not much writing is being accomplished!

My children's first love, for entertainment purposes is an electronic device, especially when they are alone. It's not a book, a puzzle, a train, a rubics cube, a doll, a ball, etc... and they tend to be the children that still enjoy the outdoors, sports, and board games. These devices make it too simple to be distracted with barely any effort.

My husband, who owns the two phones, works all hours and days of the year! A vacation is never without an interruption from his office. A day does not go by, that he does not have to check his emails, or have conference calls, or contact with the corporate world! There is rarely a full day off!

A few months ago, my smart phone died on me one morning. How dare it do that? I lived half my life with no such device. I needed a coin and a public phone to call mom for a ride! I needed to have a camera in my bag, to take a photo! 

...and yet, when my phone died, I was desolate, desperate, lost! I was scrambling around town trying to find a tech doctor to initiate life support on my device. I had no phone for nearly 5 hours that day! 5 hours! It felt like the longest five hours ever.
 I always thought I was not attached to my technology, I always said I can live without technology. I am ashamed to admit, that I cannot. I even admit, I may even be slightly over using and over relying on all the devices and gadgets at my disposal.

I know for a fact, that the younger generation, as per my daily interaction and observation with the teenagers in my life, are addicted to their devices, gadgets, accessories! Call them what you wish. 

The definition of addiction is: "the state of being enslaved to a habit or practice or to something that is psychologically or physically habit-forming, as narcotics, to such an extent that its cessation causes severe trauma". I know that our youth are enslaved to technology. The question is what about the rest of us?

Think about your day to day goings on. How much of your day is spend in front of a screen? How much of your time is wasted reading silliness you would not normally read? How much of your work day is spend replying to emails you should not be cc'd on? How many hours do you use watching cat or dog videos and the such? How much more could you accomplish without the technological interruptions? How much more human interaction could you engage in, without your face being stuck in a phone? 

I challenge you to go out for a cup of coffee alone. Sit in that cafe, and one, see how many times you check your phone while sipping that coffee, and two, notice those around you and do a mini survey of your own, of how other customers are spending their time? Attached to a device or otherwise?

Here is what I have learned: I am adamant that we have become slaves to modern technology. It has become an appendage rather then an assistant. A necessity rather then a luxury. We have allowed external forces via our dependence on technology to govern our lives. We unintentionally allowed ourselves to go down a path of no return, wherein our lives are unrecognizable without the use of technology.  I, personally, will work harder at ensuring that technology and all its usefulness, is not my master in my home. To remind myself daily, that those physically in a room with me, are more important, then the possibilities virtually. Will you?