In February 1983, Styx’s Kilroy put it brilliantly: “The problem’s plain to see: too much technology. Machines to save our lives. Machines dehumanize.”
Thirty-one years later, that rings true even more.
Technology does some tremendous things for us. But our smart phones also make us dumber – we rely on machines that we didn’t used to need, or even suspect that they existed.
It also gives us more obligations. Here is a list of the ways someone can already contact me, not including any face-to-face methods:
• home phone
• home phone answering machine
• cell phone
• cell phone voicemail
• work phone
• work phone voicemail
• personal email (2 accounts)
• work email (several accounts)
• postal mail to home
• postal mail to work
All of those require regular checking and responses. Now that I’ve ventured into Google+, Twitter, and Pinterest (but not Facebook), there are even more things to keep up checking.
Occasionally, there’s something interesting or of value, but mostly Tweets are like looking for seashells on the beach – there’s a lot of useless things to pick through. Still, the good “find” keeps us hooked just enough to keep coming back.
It seems like our SPARE TIME is being taken up more and more.
Domo Arigato, Mr. Roboto.
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